local bike things happening this weekend

There's a lot going on in St. Louis this weekend for bikers.

On Saturday the DRJ Racing team (and host of the local norba race series) will have a free mountain bike clinic at Castlewood state park from 9:30to noon. Rumor has it GORC will have a table and help out a bit. All ages and skill levels are welcome.

Saturday night is the cargo race in the city. Scroll down a few posts for more info.

And on Sunday 4/2 there is an informal work party at the Penrose Park Velodrome. So if you want to go help clean up the place and do some general spring tasks there, 11:00. See this thread on fis stlbiking for more info.

Oh yeah, and there's always bike riding...

Trigger traffic lights with your bike shoes

For those people not named Skywalker, this cool article shows you how to impregnate your shoe with a powerful force capable of triggering traffic lights to switch to green. Not sure if it works, but it's easy (and cheap) enough to try out.

Check the link out!

What can you carry?

This flyer just floated into my mailbox. I've seen some around town here and there too. Someone must know me well. I've long enjoyed riding my bike, carrying stuff around on it, racing, drinking, olde-timey line-art, and Engrish.

Here are both sides of it. Blogger resized the images so click them for the full effect, or click on this pdf if you want to print it yourself. Four for the price of one.

Batten down the hatches!!!

The GORC World HQ recieved word late last week that the Surly Crew from Mini-Apple-Puss, will be dropping in on our little party known as the MMBF.

THey're bringing a couple of items worth noting, a lemon/lime green 1x1 frameset to give away, and a bunch of demo bikes to ride. So, after you ride the Trek, Specialized, Orbea, or Kona, Get your freak on aboard a Surly Pugsly.

Oh yeah, it's a crappy pic, but who cares....


Get the skinny:
Surly Blog

Lost Valley - The "In" Place To Be

Yep, there were all kinds of people out there on Sunday enjoying the beautiful sunny weather, and nearly perfect trail. We ran into the Beeg and a couple of his buddies, Pete, GiGi, and Joe, Mike Dunston, and Rob, Barb and Boone. JohnnyD's car was at the Mound, so he was somewhere in the area. Supposedly we just missed Dug and the Pirate. There were lots of other hikers and bikers as well. Hopefully, everyone will be happy about helping to build trail that so many are getting out and using.
There are a couple of trees down right before the bridge, but you can ride under them. Otherwise the trail looks great, and is ready for lots of visitors from the Festival.

The Velodrones

SRAM commissioned some robot sculptures made out of parts from their various products. They look pretty cool, and are made of "brake levers, crank arms, suspension forks, cassette teeth, and other components. " This one here is the "evil" one.

South Trace Steeplechase

First off, nobody but bikers divides the Trace Creek section of the Ozark Trail in two. As far as the OTA is concerned, it's just Trace Creek. It doesn't matter, but we usually think of the section North of the Council Bluffs connector as North Trace and South as South Trace. It does make sense in a way because the trails feel different and not too many of us do day trips that involve both.

Second, the connector to C-B is a mess thanks to a bottomland trail put underwater by some enterprising beaver dam construction. It's short anyway, and you can avoid it if needed.

Anyway, a recon team of three hit the South Trace last weekend. We parked at the Middle Fork DD/32 trailhead and rode until our turnaround time and rode back. South Trace Creek is clearly one of the gems that makes the Council Bluffs area the quadruple crown of Mark Twain National Forest mountain biking, with well over sixty miles of singletrack ridable from one place -- in three directions from a really nice campground! I can totally see why two friends of mine had their bachelor parties on this trail. It's better than pole dancers and shower scenes, and the only thing you'll need any ones for is if you rip a tire!

North Trace is singlespeed central. So are council bluffs and middle fork. South Trace SS would be a real challenge if you don't put an easy gear on. I liked it just fine with gears, especially with the leaves and logs. South Trace is more technical than North and goes up and down steeper hills steeper, if that makes sense. There is a lot of cool scenery and creek valleys to ride in and out of and lots of exposed rock. Between the OTA and its adopt-a-trail program it's signed well enough to follow if you're careful when you cross the fire and logging roads. We weren't careful enough. Remember, two markers on a tree or one marker angled sideways usually indicate a turn.

OK, I mentioned the logs. Right now there are tons of logs across the trail. That needs fixing to make this as fun as the other three and Berryman. Many of the logs have been cleaned up with the handsaws so they're not hard to walk over, or if your name is Randini you could hop a lot of them, but it gets old. GORC just got six members certified to run chainsaws in the MTNF so we're trying to set a date for a sawyer run after the festival to put it right. Look for something in late April or May. We'll need help, and we'll NEED to ride it unburdened the next day. It's gonna be sweet.

links:
OTA's description
OTA's hi-res maps of TC
Our little gallery from Saturday (it was a riding day, not a picture-taking day)

The Science of Mountain Biking

The National Geographic Channel is running a show called "The Science of Mountain Biking" which looks pretty interesting. Of course, I didn't find out about it until after it ran for the last time this month. Here's a summary of the program. The listing showing the next few times for the show is here.

Land Between the Lakes

The short story is, GORC changed gears and went to Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky this past weekend instead of going to Syllamo. The weather looked better, so we opted for the sure bet.

Seven of us went down and rode the Canal Loop on Saturday and the North South Trail on Sunday. We put in some serious miles for this time of year. We found out that the Pirate is a travelling convenience store as everytime we stopped, he pulled something else out of his pack to eat. Paducah has a pretty good little wood-fired pizza joint downtown. They chose to stick us out on the heated patio since we didn't make a reservation, "like" whoever heard of a pizza place needing a reservation anyway? Salsa Dos Niner frames will crack, sorry Kirbs.

We had a great time, covered over 50 miles of singletrack and I am feeling the pain today.

When is the next trip?

Berryman report

Just a quick update on the Berryman Trail. A few of us rode it a week or two ago. I had planned to haul the chainsaw around and put my new USFS sawyer certification card to use. I somehow forgot the skewer for my front wheel so I borrowed the one from the BOB trailer. No chainsaw for me that day, thank goodness. The Mark Twain National Forest people have spent some of our tax dollars on an Americorp crew to help clear that and other nearby trails. They're clearing both deadfall across the trail and hazard trees near it. Plus they've put up new "BT" trail markers and better markings at the BT/Ozark Trail intersections too. It's all money well-spent if you ask me. The Berryman is a great ride right now.

Expecting lot of dead wood in the way, I carried my new "big" folding saw, the Silky Gomboy 300, with a foot long cutting blade. Getting through a 9-inch diameter log didn't take long at all. It's much better than carrying a power saw for a day that's going to be mostly riding and with no big logs. Full review of Silky saws to follow someday.

Ron got a good GPS trace of Msr. Berryman and Matt and Ron have been working on the map and descriptive text, so stay tuned at here for a simple and printable map from us in the near future. In the mean time there are Berryman maps and info at MissouriTrailMaps and STLbiking

a dang lot of links:
Mark Twain National Forest
Silky Gomboy 300
GORC future home of berryman map
Missouri Trail Maps Berryman page
STLbiking's Berryman page

Klondike Double Switchbacks

Here's a pretty descent picture of the double switchbacks out at Klondike. This past weekend we had 18 people come out and do a little pre-fest maintenance to the trails. We re-worked one of the switchbacks on the Hogsback and did a little benching here and there where needed. For the most part, the trails were in good shape. The west side of the park was totally ready to ride despite the deluge of rain we've had recently. After a couple dry days, I think the Hogsback would be in similar shape. Most sections were slick, but solid underneath.

Greensfelder Scouting Mission

A few GORCsters were out this weekend checking things out for the partial re-route of the DeClue Trail we're going to be working on in the next couple of months (4/15 & 5/20). We walked around a lot below the current trail looking for features that would be cool to run the trail over or around. Pretty soon there was pink tape fluttering all over the place. Terbo and Matt have spent a lot of time working on this, and it looks like their hard work is really going to pay off.

Dura Ace on sale at Best Buy?

Shimano is testing an electronic Dura Ace 10-speed group. It's going to have these slick little LCD's on the brake hoods, and electronically actuated Front and Rear Derailluers.

sounds cool, but what happens when your batteries die, as your're pulling towards the Schluresburg Road climb? Now that would suck.

I'm waiting for the bigger LCD that'll mount to the stem. All you need is a memory stick, and you can watch porn while you ride!!!

False Alarm at the Oasis

OK, you don't really have to go to the news story to get this one, here's the executive summary.

* Florida band names itself This Bike is a Pipe Bomb in a cheesy attempt to get publicity

* Ohio University student puts band's sticker on his bike

* Ohio University police close off part of campus and call in the bomb squad

* Band gets publicity

The most worrisome thing in the article was this quote from a sophomore who couldn't get around the police tape:

"I'm extremely upset because I walked to class, and it was canceled."

I fear for our future.

I'm not checking out that band because, well, that's just what they want us to do.

Just Say No To Mud

Dirt Rag's website has an article about riding this time of year and what can happen when wet or thawing trails are ridden. Most of the info comes from NEMBA's website, which also provides a little more in-depth analysis.

While we may not be in quite the same situation as they are back east, this photo of the climb out of the valley on the Dogwood Trail at Greensfelder shows that we can develop the same sort of damage to our own trails. (Yes, there are bike tracks there, too.)

Good stuff happening in Southern Illinois

The fine folks at Shawnee Mountain Bike Association, Southern Illinois' IMBA Club, are building some tasty new trail, like the beautiful logride option above. See more pictures from their last workday here. They're working this Sunday March 5th and don't have nearly the number of people in the area as we do. Most of the time that's a great thing. On workdays, not so much. The best plan would be to go ride one of their many trails on Saturday, camp, and work Sunday. I know, too much sh-- er, stuff to do... seems to be a problem for everyone. Go ride down there sometime anyway. It's not all that far.

There's more info on this weekend in the our forum here, and of course at SMBA's website.

Can't wait to ride with these guy's

Editors www.editorsofficial.com

Birmingham, England, UK

Members
Thomas SmithChris UrbanowiczRussell LeetchEdward Lay

Editors (never The Editors) are a British indie rock band from Birmingham, England, who met at Staffordshire University , comprised of Tom Smith (lyricist/vocalist/guitarist), Chris Urbanowicz (guitarist), Russ Leetch (bass guitarist) and Ed Lay (drummer). Their brand of epic, sweeping indie rock is frequently compared to other purveyors of such, including Joy Division, The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Kitchens of Distinction, The Chameleons, and Interpol. However, the band is considered to have achieved their own unique identity which differentiates them from these comparisons.
The band were not always known by their current name, but were known as (The) Pride, before they changed the line-up and became known as Snowfield, becoming a popular unsigned band. They remained with this name until they signed with Kitchenware Records in September 2004.
The band's debut single "Bullets" was released as a limited edition of 500 on Kitchenware Records on January 24, 2005; it quickly gained support from radio stations such as Xfm and 6 Music. As other singles were released their popularity and fanbase grew larger.
Their debut album The Back Room was released on 25 July 2005, to critical acclaim.