Support Your Local Mountain Bike Club!

Mountain Biking is a great sport for everyone to enjoy whether your a pleasure rider, out for fitness or an avid racer and there are many riders of various skills and abilities of all ages out riding today. And one thing you can do is support your local mountain bike club and by joining the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA). Here in the Fort Myers (Florida) area and points south we have the Florida Mud Cutters. By joining such groups you can help revitalize park funding for the Lee County Parks & Recreation and increase trail opportunities. And hey, if your reading this- then you're like me and are always looking for new single-track to ride and enjoy. Not only can you do your part local but nationally as well.


Mountain bikers have an opportunity to voice their support for a dramatic increase in National Park Service (NPS) funding. A proposed bill would appropriate the largest ever funding increase for the NPS--at least $100 million annually--and dramatically improve visitor experiences, including those on single-track.

This bill, H.R. 3094, will provide funding for a series of signature projects around the country, including those for new trails. A plan for new single-track in Big Bend National Park is one of 200 proposed projects selected from more than 6,000 applications. Supporting H.R. 3094 will improve chances for similar projects.

It takes just a few seconds with IMBA's simple online form.

Tell your friends. Ask all of your riding partners to take action.

H.R. 3094 is a crucial component of the Centennial Initiative , a 10-year plan to enhance the National Park Service for its 100th birthday in 2016. IMBA and the Outdoor Alliance strongly support this bill and associated programs that will restore the luster of our National Parks System and set the direction for the next century of park management.

Mountain biking is an ideal tool for reacquainting a new generation of Americans to their national parks. This human-powered, quiet, low-impact activity helps get more people out of their cars and exploring parks on narrow dirt trails. By expanding this use in appropriate areas, the National Park Service will help visitors form lasting bonds with our most valuable natural landscapes. As a family-friendly activity, mountain bicycling also provides a fun, exciting, appropriate way for visitors to engage in healthy exercise in National Parks.

Another way to do your part, come see me at Trek Bicycle Store of Estero (proud to be locally owned) and buy a Trek or Gary Fisher Full Suspension Mountain Bike.

Trek & Fisher Dealers are working to get people to ride their bikes and make a more bike friendly world, one mile at a time.

We all know the world has some problems; gas is expensive and cars pollute, the roads are congested and humans are getting bigger. And not in a good way.

Luckily, there is a solution to these problems. A solution that burns calories, not gas. It doesn't waste fuel sitting in traffic. Something that could even bring communities closer together.

The solution is the bicycle.

With 40% of non-work related car trips being taken being two miles or less, what would happen if more people took the short trips on their bike? What if more communities had a "Safe Routes to Schools" plan so kids could ride to school safely? What would the world be like with more bicycle friendly communities?

Imagine arriving at work fresh instead of frazzled. Parking within feet of the building! Your kids getting exercise to and from school. Better still, commuting by bike IS exercising! And there are no carbon emissions from burning calories.

We all can ride and we have only one planet. Trek and Trek dealers challenge you to join us in making the world a more bike friendly place. You can start by riding your bike. It's the greenest thing you can do to help the earth.

MADISON, WI --John Burke introduced an ambitious advocacy program last night during Trek World. Trek’s president asked retailers to participate in its program, dubbed One World, Two Wheels.

Burke said Trek will provide leadership and commitment, as well as ads, brochures, T-shirts, billboards and signage. Trek & Fisher will donate $10 for every full-suspension bike sold to IMBA, for a minimum of $600,000 over the next three years. Trek also will donate $1 per helmet to Bicycle Friendly Communities, for a minimum of $1 million over the next three years.

Burke charged all U.S dealers with helping Trek to achieve one “very important” goal: to increase U.S. trips by bike from 1 percent to 5 percent by Trek World 2017.

And when it's time to renew your Florida Automotive Registration, update your license plates and get some of these for your car.

See you out on the trail and remember to keep the rubber side down!

Why go 29er ? Big wheels are just faster...

Gary Fisher Superfly
( Carbon Frame & Made in the USA! )

There's a few very good reason's why so many of us ride and race 29er mountain bikes. It's all about the big Mo, Momentum, that is... You see, 29" wheels are bigger than 26" wheels. And the bigger the wheel, the smaller (relatively speaking ) the stuff the wheel rides over, thus decreasing your angle of attack. Why is this important or why should you care? Reducing the angle of attack lets you roll over obstacles faster, smoother and easier than you can with smaller wheels. Another great thing about the 29er wheel is how it creates a longer contact patch with the trail. (think snow shoes) Now the longer-contact-patch is very key, this helps you float through mud, sand, snow, and also improves traction when climbing. Not getting bogged down helps you maintain your momentum, this is a very good thing. Which brings us back to momentum. The great science type people of Pepperdine University found that 29" wheels ride 6 percent faster on uphill courses and 3 percent faster on cross-country courses than their 26" cousins.* This happens because 29er wheels are less affected by dips, bumps, roots, rocks and soft terrain than smaller wheels. Oh, and the Fisher design helps stability by lowering the rider's center of gravity in relation to the axle. (Complements of Fisher Genesis geometry - a tale for another post. So, to summarize , 29er wheels equal increased momentum. Increased momentum equals more speed. More speed equals profound joy and happiness due to more singletrack ridden by sundown. And to clear up one myth, 29er bikes fit riders of all sizes, tall or short. After all I should know and I'm not tall!

Gary Fisher Rig
( Single-Speed )

And now with the G2 geometry the 29er's ride is increadible! G2 Geometry started out as a project to improve the slow-speed handling of Fisher bikes. Fisher's existing Genesis Geometry already excelled in climbing, descending and handling at speed. The one area we wanted to improve its handling was in tight singletrack and technical climbs.

Fisher Ferrous
True Temper OX Platinum (Steel) 29 w/eccentric bottom bracket
As they say, "Steel is real."

G2 accomplished this by increasing the amount of fork offset. This reduced the amount of trail to make it steer quicker without changing the rest of its handling characteristics. While increasing the offset, we reduced the reach to the handlebar to allow the rider to weight the front wheel more accurately.

The difference between too much trail and too little has been experienced by all of us. Think about going around a really sharp turn: take it too tight, and too slow, and you'll dab to the inside. You've oversteered.

Fisher Supercaliber 29
Fisher Race Day 6066 T6 aluminum main frame

Now think about the last time you over shot the same turn: you've understeered and ended up in the woods. Why does this happen? A good part of steering performance rests in the amount of trail. Too much trail and you'll oversteer (some feel this as wheel flop or dive) at slow speeds and understeer (overshoot the corner) at high speeds. Too little trail and you'll understeer at slow speeds and oversteer (feels twitchy) at high speeds.

*Source : Summary of the Gary Fisher Bicycles Two-Niner Project by Holden S-H. MacRae, Ph D.

Caloosahatchee Mountain Bike Trail

Caloosahatchee Regional Park, part of the Lee County (FL) Parks & Recreation, is located at 18500 North River Road in Alva, Florida. This park contains almost 800 acres for the outdoor enthusiasts with the North Side of the Park having 10 + miles of Mountain Biking, hiking and and horse riding trails.

(Mountain Bike Trails are marked with the green on the map)

The Florida Mud Cutters Mountain Bike Club have been instrumental in the development of the trail system on the park's 400 acre North side. The park opened on March 6th 1999 and to this day volunteers are key for providing the trail maintenance.
And after making my recent move from Ohio to Florida, I found the trail to be a really great riding with a bit everything for all riders. The trail systems has open fast sections, a few nice jumps, plenty of tight twisty single-track, some challenging rocky sections and even a few decent quick ravine type climbs. And with the loop being 10 miles, you are sure to get a good workout- especially after two laps. I can only imagine how good the night riding to be out here and the wildlife that will be out then. ( See the Mud Cutter's web page for info. about that )

The Rock Garden Section

Twisty section through a grove of trees


It's the dry season now but I'm sure this is put to good use in later months.

I nice quick climb through some loose sugar sand.

The last section opens up and you can really smash the big ring though here as you head back to the trail head. You also get a decent head wind in some of the open sections.

I've be told the open grassy section, that have been recently mowed down, usually have the grass growing to be over six feet or more at times giving you a maze to race through.

My ride stat's :
Bike: Fisher Paragon
Weather: mid 70's and sunny
Avg. : 10.2 mph
Mx : 18.5 mph
Distance : 20.1 miles (two laps)
Time : 1 h 56 m 18s
Av HR : 155 bpm
Total Ascent : 446 '
Total Decent : 398'
Elevation : 48 ' above see level

2008 NUE Schedule

Tentative 2008 Schedule:

Cohutta 100 Tennessee April 19
Mohican MTB 100 Ohio June 7
Lumberjack 100 Michigan June 14
Breckenridge 100 Colorado July 19
Wilderness 101 Pennsylvania July 26
Fool’s Gold 100 Georgia August 16
Shenandoah 100 Virginia August 31
Tahoe-Sierra 100 California September 6
Best 4 out of 8 All ties broken at the final event

http://www.nuemtb.com/

Mohican State Park Trail Grand Opening

Event Date/Time : Saturday, October 20 th at 11 am

"Ohio Mountain Bikers:

It is SIGNIFICANT that the "NEW" Chief of ODNR and the "NEW" Chief of Forestry, as well as Dan West, Chief of Parks, are showing up to recognize this grand opening! The Governor has been invited but there is no word yet on whether he will attend.

With a new administration in place, I think it is especially important to show our support publicly in order to keep mountain bike advocacy on the front burner with our new state government.

This formal public event will be covered by the press and is an excellent opportunity for mountain bikers statewide to let the new management at ODNR recognize the contributions made by ALL OMBA member clubs,
including the Mohican/Malabar Bike Club.

This is a great opportunity to show state leaders and the press our numbers if you can attend!

And if none of that is important to you...think of it as another great reason to ride the new 24.5 miles of flowing single-track that loops around the gorge! "

A downloadable PDF map as well as directions are available at mohican.net

Hope to see you there!(-"

Ryan O'Dell
Mohican/Malabar Bike Club
nolimit@mohican.net
_________________
Have you joined your local OMBA chapter? Support OMBA and your local chapter today! http://joinomba.org/amember

post info. courtesy of Ryan O'Dell

IMBA/OHC/ADT/ODNR Trail Weekend

HUESTON WOODS STATE PARK Nov. 9-11, 2007

International Mountain Bike Association - Ohio Horsemen’s Council - American Discovery Trail - Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Friday Nov.9
7-9pm Slide show and Social- Trek Store West Chester

Saturday Nov. 10
9:30-11:30am IMBA slide show and presentation: Building sustainable trails- Park Office
11:30-12 noon Grants and funding presentation by ODNR Bring your proposal!
12:00 noon Lunch
12:30pm Dedication of Dr. Paul Daniel Trail Volunteer Cabin
1:00-4:00pm Trail building- Campground
4:00-6:00pm Hueston Woods Future Use Committee- Hueston Woods Resort [coffee & cake]
7:00-10:00pm Night bike ride/bike-lights provided by Light & Motion
Free Camping Info ph 513 523-1316

Sunday Nov. 11
10-3pm Mule ride and trail work at Horsemen's Camp
12 noon Barbecue (bring something for the grill)

IMBA Trail Crew Visit

IMBA's only Ohio visit is coming up this November 8th - 11th 2007. Hueston Woods State Park will host the IMBA Trail Crew weekend and we need your help to make it successful.
The Trail School will have representatives from CORA, MVMBA, American Discovery Trail, Buckeye Trail Association, Ohio Horsemen's Council, Ohio Trails Partnership, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Oxford Audubon Society, Miami University Depts. of Geology, Engineering, and Botany.

We will also be unveiling the new Dr. Paul Daniel Trail Volunteer Cabin located at the trail head, as well as a self-guided bike tour map and a newly routed advanced "Hell and Back" 7 mile loop.

If you are willing to be part of an ad hoc committee for this event, contact the man, the myth the legend who brought us this fine event : bob@bikerbob.com
And certainly get out and go ride Hueston Woods!

To get you ready for this great event here is a few more excellent links and key information:

Click Here

Gary Fisher Bicycles are the official bike supplier of the of the Subaru/IMBA Trail Crew, providing cutting edge bikes to keep IMBA's field teams rolling. The company also supports IMBA financially as an Above-and Beyond Corporate Member

LOCAL TRAIL MAPS

There are two links on the Cincinnati Off Road Alliance home page at www.mtbohio.com/cora that help you find all the local trails and maps.

Map of Local Trails – takes you to a Google map with pinpoints for each of the trails in the area. Click the pin point and it will give you the name of the trail and the approximate location.

Local Trails – lists the trails in the area. Click “read more” or the park name and it will take you to a profile of the trail. Click “trail map” in this profile and a downloadable map will appear.

TRAIL SOLUTIONS BOOK

Trail Solutions: IMBA's Guide to Building Sweet Single-track
https://secure2.convio.net/imba/site/Ecommerce/1824089260?JServSessionIdr009=3prkc3r0k2.app6b&VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=1101&store_id=1121

In my opinion, this is the best trail building book I’ve found. Easy to read, broken down into logical segments, simple illustrations, and great pictures. Well worth the money if you want to get into trail building or just want to learn why trails are built the way they are.

TRAIL DVD

The federal government has free trail literature including DVDs, manuals, and publications.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/rectrails/trailpub.htm
The DVD is modeled after the IMBA Trail Solutions book. It’s 40 minutes long and covers the most important aspects of trail building. The web site also has trail construction note books and wetland trail design books.

TRAIL SCHOOL

We are heading into the best time of the year for trail scouting and building. What better time to attend a Trail Building School put on by IMBA’s traveling Trail Care Crew? These folks travel all over the country providing education on proper trail building. They will be at Hueston Woods November 8-11. You can attend as much or as little as you wish. These are usually free but they ask that you pre-register just so they know how many to expect. Usually, there is a classroom session on Saturday morning with trail building in the afternoon. Contact Bob Feldman a.k.a. “Biker Bob” for more information. (email listed above)

IMBA
The International Mountain Bike Association has a wealth of resources at www.imba.com. Some of the major ones include:

TRAILBUILDING AND MAINTENANCE
http://www.imba.com/resources/trail_building/index.html Several helpful articles.

TRAIL TOOL GUIDE
http://www.imba.com/resources/trail_building/tool_guide.html Places to order tools and other resources.

A schedule of events will be posted soon.
Links and Information provide by myself, Bob and a key CORA member, aka - Ohioburg.

Come ride and help fight cancer!

Join us Saturday, October 13 at 10am and
Ride for the Cure!

Riding is always fun, but on October 13 your ride can take on even greater purpose. Ride with us to increase awareness of breast cancer and raise funds for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The ride will be 10 miles or 25 miles and will leave from our store in West Chester. No rider will be left behind, so we encourage everyone to come out and ride.

Following the ride there will be live music, free food, free beer and free prizes!

To Register Online Click Here

For More information Click Here

Caesar Creek & John Bryan 6 Hr Race Photo's

Caesar Creek - OMBC Race # 9 - Sunday, Aug. 19th

Helping some fellow racers before the race.

relaxing before the race start...


Joe taking one of the technical descents.

Race Results

Single Speed (expert distance)
First Name	Last Name	Time
1st - Joe	Devault	2:31:12

(overall for expert class Joe was 2nd on his Rig!)

Expert Women
First Name	Last Name	Time
1st - Amanda	Sproat	2:00:27

(Amanda set a new course record for the ladies...)

Sport Senior
First Name	Last Name	Time

7th - Jason

Barker

2:20:49

Novice Senior
First Name	Last Name	Time

6th - Matt

Cunnigham

1:14:51

John Bryan 6 HR Race - Psycho Series - Sunday, Aug. 26th

Just before the start.

Results :
Joe Devault - 1st - Single Speed Solo
Jason Barker - 4th - Single Speed Solo
Amanda Sproat & Bridget Donovan - 1 st - Women's duo team

1 World 2 Wheels

Trek & Fisher Dealers are working to get people to ride their bikes and make a more bike friendly world, one mile at a time.

We all know the world has some problems; gas is expensive and cars pollute, the roads are congested and humans are getting bigger. And not in a good way.

Luckily, there is a solution to these problems. A solution that burns calories, not gas. It doesn't waste fuel sitting in traffic. Something that could even bring communities closer together.

The solution is the bicycle.

With 40% of non-work related car trips being taken being two miles or less, what would happen if more people took the short trips on their bike? What if more communities had a "Safe Routes to Schools" plan so kids could ride to school safely? What would the world be like with more bicycle friendly communities?

Imagine arriving at work fresh instead of frazzled. Parking within feet of the building! Your kids getting exercise to and from school. Better still, commuting by bike IS exercising! And there are no carbon emissions from burning calories.

We all can ride and we have only one planet. Trek and Trek dealers challenge you to join us in making the world a more bike friendly place. You can start by riding your bike. It's the greenest thing you can do to help the earth.

MADISON, WI --John Burke introduced an ambitious advocacy program last night during Trek World. Trek’s president asked retailers to participate in its program, dubbed One World, Two Wheels.

Burke said Trek will provide leadership and commitment, as well as ads, brochures, T-shirts, billboards and signage. Trek & Fisher will donate $10 for every full-suspension bike sold to IMBA, for a minimum of $600,000 over the next three years. Trek also will donate $1 per helmet to Bicycle Friendly Communities, for a minimum of $1 million over the next three years.

Burke charged all U.S dealers with helping Trek to achieve one “very important” goal: to increase U.S. trips by bike from 1 percent to 5 percent by Trek World 2017.

Here's a few photo's taken when I rode England-Idlewild a little while back. ( Photo's taken by James Geyer of Geyer Photography)

Fast Laps at John Bryan

Rainout dates wil be used this year...

Getting ready for the start of my lap.

Joe Devault getting ready to tear it up at John Byran...

The Week in Review

Sunday - July 29th

94th Tour de France, July 7-29, 2007

Stage 20 - Sunday, July 29: Marcoussis - Paris Champs-Élysées, 146km
Alberto Contador crowned Tour de France champion

The Tour de France finished things up with Stage 20 and the classic ride on the Champs Elysees with Alberto 'Kid' Contador of Discovery Channel enjoyed the cloudy and damp Parisian day riding in the maillot jaune which he easily kept after ending the final time trial with 23 second edge (on Cadel Evans) and American Levi Leipheimer riding in 3 rd, pedaling toward the podium on the newly designed 2008 Trek Madone road bikes.

While all that was taking place in France, I was in Northern Kentucky (Burlington) at England-Idlewild for the KyMBA / Psycho Series mountain bike race. It has been my first race since before June and moving down to the Cincinnati area. So I have had to reset my season training and start back up mid-season and play catch up with everybody else who has been in top shape for months now. I raced in the Sport Category (19-34 yrs) and ended up 14th out of 28. Our distance was just over 15 miles in 1 hr and 33 min. It was an intense race with fast tight corners and quick switch-back climbs. And a nasty climb to the finish that left you legs thick with lactic acid and your heart rate in it's upper limits.

Tuesday - July 31st
I grabbed the Paragon and headed out to ride East Fork State Park, where the Psycho Series race was going to be at on Sunday- but has since been cancelled due to the Park being double booked with two events.

Distance : 16. 5 mi
Time : 01:37:42
Avg. : 10.1 mph
Mx. : 22.5 mph
Cdc Avg. : 73 rpm

Wednesday - August 1st
CORA group ride at Landen-Deerfield Park. A great single speed trail in the area, to bad the trail is only 2 miles. It was nice to get my Fisher Rig out and give the a spin for a change. The trail does have two really nice creek crossings that are sure to get the feet wet and short but 10% grade climb to finish things up.
Laps: 3
Distance : 5.13 mi
Time : 0:38:37
Avg. : 8.0 mph
Mx. : 16.9 mph
Cdc Avg. : 50.2 rpm

Thursday - August 2nd
Harbin Park MTB Challenge
This grueling series is a time-trial format covering more technical and challenging sections of the Harbin Park MTB trail systems. Advanced is two laps ( 7 miles), Beginner is on lap (3.5 miles).
Laps : 2
Distance : 6.83 mi
Time : 50:03
Avg. : 8.3 mph
Mx. : 37 mph
Cdc Avg. : 77 rpm

England-Idlewild Review

Just across the Ohio River in Burlington (KY) is England-Idlewild Park. This is a beautiful setting with a picturesque creek, mature woods and lots of interesting terrain. The park consists of a .5-.75 mile beginners loop - wide single track with nice elevation changes that follows the scenic creek and back to the bridge; a 2.5 mile intermediate loop -single track with interesting terrain, elevation changes, tree underpasses, and tree and gully crossings - that follows the creek on the opposite side of the beginners loop; a 3 mile highly technical expert loop and a 5 plus mile advance loop. Over ten miles of mountain bike trails! The trails here are marked very well with signs letting you know which trail your on. Actually one of the better marked trail I have ever ridden.


There are several Teeter-totters through out the trail. At the entrance to the trail is a nice skills park with a decent size rock garden, several good jumps and a Teeter-totter for practice. Off the advance trail is a free ride area as well.
Right now the conditions are dry , very dusty and fast.

Skills Park at Trail Head