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.

The crazy folks from down under have done it!

Imagine being a kangaroo. As a kangaroo you naturally love mountain biking. But alas, it is such a hassle getting the bike to and from your favorite trail. You've tried adding a hitch mounted rack to your tail, but it chafes and you are losing patches of hair. You tried putting it into your cool little marsupial pouch. But with each hop the handlebars smack you square in the nose and the pedals dent the 40oz Fosters stored in your pouch.

Well, the cool folks at OnYerBikes have come up with a solution. A folding Mountain Bike! Now you can have a snazzy Full Suspension rig complete with SRAM X9 components that folds up small enough to fit comfortably in your pouch so that you can take it anywhere! Check it out at:

http://www.onyerbike.com.au/

The Pimp putting the hurt on at Froze Toes!

The Pimp, 3-Bowl, Fixie and I went over and tried our luck at the Winter Worlds (a.k.a. Froze Toes) yesterday. Those guys raced the 19+ 5's while I was in the 3/4's. I took out at 11:30 and did a fairly easy 31 mile loop only losing the pack at the last few meters up to the line. I felt pretty good about this considering, well it's February for christ's sake and it was a 3/4's race.

For the other guys, I expected nothing less than a win. The GORC boys failed to come home with the hardware, but did put on a good showing. Unfortunately, our boy Fixie got segregated from the other two for being an even number. Apparently, there were too many 5's and due to their unsafe riding skills, were forced to half the field. That left Fixie to fend for himself and the Pimp and 3-Bowl to wreck havoc on their own. It sounded like they attempted to stir the field, but couldn't get anything going until the final few miles. With a couple guys off the front, the Pimp attacked dragging 3-Bowl with him to the line. At 30+, 3-Bowl was set adrift and the Pimp came across the line in fine GORC fashion as the picture below will prove. Great job by those guys to make it a race!

Mardi Gras Survived Successfully!

Thanks to all of the tips it was a breeze making it through another Mardi Gras.
Here, our own Sniker risks life and limb to ensure that the keg tap was installed correctly. She gave it a very thorough inspection, and after giving it a thumbs-up, the beer was flowing again in no time.
It was that kind of personal sacrifice and generosity that allowed everyone to have a good time, even on such a cold, blustery day.

The Final List for Surviving Mardi Gras

"From last weekend's Dog Parade. No, really, she had complete control of the situation."


The List

1. Don't give alcohol to minors. They can find it without your help.

2. Bring warm clothes. You can always take them all off.

3. Warn surrounding partygoers before attempting a kegstand. Never interrupt the flow of beer unless absolutely necessary.

4. If two or more kegs are present and one contains quality brew always, always, always, drink the shittier beer first. Never move backwards, it's hard enough to stand.

5. Skanks and bead whores prefer shitty beer, especially Bud Light. Remember this.

6. Never pass out in public.

7. If it's past 3pm, it is not considered inappropriate to ask the hot lonely female behind you if she wants to use the restroom at the same time because, hell, you can just piss in the sink. This can lead to tip 8.

8. Always lock the door when using the restroom. No explanation necessary.

9. The Jagermeister goes quick. Get in line if you want a hit. A $40.00 bottle will disappear in 5 minutes.

10. Drain all combustible motors of gasoline, including but not limited to, chainsaws, lawnmowers, leaf blowers, motorcycles, cherry pickers, tractors, and model airplanes.

11. Hide the drained gasoline - even from yourself.

12. Finally, never ride down a flight of stairs on a sled no matter how badly that hot chick begs you. It always hurts like the sky is eternally blue.

GORC Wants Your Ca$h

Yep, the Trail Pimp's got expensive taste. What with buying new trailbuilding tools, paying for newsletters, posters and other printed stuff to get the word of GORC out, and even putting on the Midwest Mountain Bike Festival, things add up. What better time to renew your membership?
Not a member yet? 10 bucks a year is a bargain to help maintain and develop new singletrack in the STL, isn't it? Don't forget to check out the work schedule to see other ways you can help.

Workdays this Weekend

There are several workdays going on this weekend. Why not get out and help build some trail.

First, is our own re-route and maintenance at Matson Hill on Saturday, from 9-1. We're going to re-route the one climb that's become a little too rough to sustain. As usual, there will be a ride afterward pending the weather.

If that's not enough for you, SMBA has a workday going on Sunday, Feb. 19th to reroute a section of the Cove Hollow Trail. This is a really fun, technical trail which is going to be even better once they get done fixing up a few sections.

Also, for you people in Illinois, Rod is having a workday at Lake Lou Yaeger near Litchfield on Saturday the 18th. They're steadily getting trail built and pretty soon it's going to be a place to go for mountain biking. There's a real nice lake for swimming there as well.

Human hybrids

The Stokemonkey is a human-electric hybrid drive bicycle kit. Think of a really long bicycle with racks, bags, and a back seat that's supposed to pedal easier than a regular bike. From the webpage it looks great for people with long commutes, people who use a bike instead of a car, or MILFs that want to haul their baby home from the grocery store. It's sold as a $1350 kit that attaches to a bike with an xtracycle freeradical kit already on it, so by the time you have something that works you're looking at easily a couple grand. Too bad, but it's still less than it cost to rebuild my truck transmission and clutch.

This is not to be confused with the human-animal hybrids that a less clever chimp warned us about. We've got labs full of them already and now they're on T-shirts.

I got this link from a decent interview with the founder of Xtracycle in some online environmental magazine called Grist. The interview is pretty good and has some other silly links in the middle. (thanks BobF)

disclaimer: I haven't used the stokemonkey and I haven't seen any human-animal hybrids around here.

all the LINKS:
human electric hybrid
human animal hybrid
Kipchoge Spencer interview
Xtracycle
Grist

Tool Review: Fiskars Loppers

I borrowed a well-worn set of these 15-inch Fiskars Powergear Anvil Loppers for a while at an OTA workday and was pretty impressed. They went through stuff as big as my 24" bypass loppers but were a lot lighter and quicker. I think the geared drive works well with short handles. With the longer-handled geared loppers you have to move the handles a long way to get it onto whatever you're cutting. I like the small size because you can carry them easier and munch through scrubby brush faster than with the big'uns. Long handles are nice for thorn patches though. Anvil loppers are generally better for hard woody stuff, (and trailwork) while bypass are easier on the plants in your yard that you're pruning, not killing. Both work fine. Also, these are made in Finland, so they have that freaky european playschool style going, if you're into that.

If you're looking for a little set of loppers, these are GORC-recommended and worth the twenty-something bucks. Besides, the club already has a bunch of big loppers now thanks to a discount from Fiskars. For some reason Lowe's didn't have them but Home Depot did, although the last time I was at Lowe's they had a screaming closeout on fiskar's 24" bypass loppers for $12, and of the two big-box stores, Lowe's usually has nicer stuff.

Tip List #2 for Surviving Mardi Gras

Wearing too many beads will attract the dirty ladies who think that just your acknowledgement of their existence is enough to warrant them ownership of your best beads.

Beware the female with the most beads. She may be hot but she probably works the pole on amateur night.

Respect anyone who limits their drink intake to shots (or Pun's Hurricanes) all day and later wants to shotgun a beer or two. They will win. Unless that tall engineer guy shows up.

The bathrooms will be backed up for at least 30 minutes, plan accordingly. Eventually they may not even work. At which time you will rely on Plan B and find that bush you scouted earlier on the way down.

Microsoft wins a round in the online mapping war

When Google came out with their mapping service it was the best thing out there, at least the best thing out there free and not requiring installation on your computer. Now they have google earth which is also pretty cool, but dog slow on my old computer. It's neat but hasn't been all that useful to me yet, mainly due to the old PIII-550. And while maps.google draws strange cartoonish maps that are very good in cities, it's worthless for small towns and country roads, even in Missouri where the country has a lot of roads. The roads don't get labels until you're zoomed in so far that only one is on the screen.

Well microsoft has jumped in with both feet with the curiously-named local.live.com. Unlike google, it actually shows the names of the roads at useful times. The maps of the boonies are better and it has aerial views, click-and-drag panning, and google.earth-like zoom-in when you double-click. It works ok for me with firefox on windows 2k, winxp, and linux, although like windows, it makes my computer slower when it's up. I have no idea if it runs on a mac.

Example: where do you think this is? (You have to click these images to see them full-size.)



Worthless... Maybe this will make it more clear.



And what the hell is up with this All Roads Named 3 business? I've seen this all over. Many MO highways get erroneously numbered 3. Maybe that's why they hide the labels...

Google Maps still has some things going for it, but I guess they're going to have to step it up in the accuracy and usability departments. I still use both, and I'm hoping one of them will decide to show us rivers someday...

As always, your mileage may vary.

The Great Randini in Action

Randy shows how it's done at Chubb on Saturday. To put in perspective how big that log is, remember he's on a 29er!

Jedi at SIUE

The only thing missing from the ride last night was the Pimp and his Vistalite.
Between forgotten and half-charged batteries we decided to do about half the ride jedi-style.
The clouds were really low so we were able to get a lot of reflected light from the university, which was enough to make it rideable. If you think SIUE is fun when it's completely dry, you should try dodging the trees when the trails are a little wet-- jedi!

Boonen scores a hat-trick in Qatar.

Somebody's been hittin' it hard in the off-season.

Monthly meeting February 1st

GORC's next meeting is Wednesday, February 1st, at the Schlafly taproom downtown, in the Elliot room. Just ask Kevin the bartender in the North Bar.

It sneaks up on you like rent.

Tip #1 for Surviving Mardi Gras

Prequel Tip #1: These may or may not be the best tips as I don't remember if last year's tips really helped all that much.

Since this is a bike-sort-of bloggle then let me recommend you parking and riding to your designated party spot.

Of course, take a piece of shit that you don't mind getting knocked over, pissed and puked on. It may even get stolen before nightfall.

Should you still own said bike when it is time for you to leave the premises, may I also recommend that you lower the seat ...

(if possible and/or won't cause you to vomit due to the stress of trying to lower your seat with your bare hands)

... so that you may not grind the pavement with your Hurricane-drenched face.

That is all.

More tips next week featuring how to keep your chain on while running from the Man and how to get your tilt on by 10:30am.

From the Rockbreaker Archive

Straight from the man himself: "That's the trail down to Pelican Island. They are old 3 wheeler / ATV Trails. This is back around 84 or so, when some of the guys would bring out their old 24" wheel single speed BMX race bikes. We would go down the trail so fast you would actually ride up onto the side of the berm. You had to go fast or you would get down into that nasty center line. When you got to the bottom of the hill if you came in too fast you would not be able to stop and you ran into the itch weed. Then you rode as fast as you could to the river to rinse off. They called it a heritage park and made it that it would not be able to be developed. It is near Douglas Rd. and Persimmon. Closest big intersection is New Halls Ferry and Shackleford."

More on Singlespeed World Championship

For those of you who aren't quite sure what to make of things when JohnnyD starts going on about Singlespeed Worlds; wikipedia has an entry to explain things. At the moment, it's still under construction.

So what are you doing August 18-20?

Rollergirls in St. Louis

If you haven't heard it yet, women's roller derby has hit the big time. The post had a big story this week and tonight at the Way Out Club there's a benefit show for the St. Louis Arch Rivals. At least a few women or girlfriends from the St. Louis cycling community are on the team. More importantly, the bands playing tonight (The Vultures, That's My Daughter, and Mothra's Mutha) rock. Think garage punk, a la the Wayback Machine on KDHX. As for the roller derby, it ought to be fun. Hopefully they'll be playing soon. Maybe it will last this time...

LINKS:
Post-dispatch story
St. Louis Arch Rivals

Rockbreaker's Old School Mountain Biking

These photos are part of Glenn Meyer's MTB Archive. I'm not even sure where and when these pictures were taken other than near St. Louis a Long Time Ago.

I'm really looking forward to hearing about what that bike is doing in the tree.
Check out those gaiters.

Gas Thief Escapes on Tricycle.

This kid is stealing natural gas. Evidently this is common in Pucheng, China.

There's a little more at National Geographic news if you're curious. I just thought it was a cool picture.

Page Avenue Bridge Bike Path Closed

Just a heads up for those of you who use the bike path along the Page Avenue bridge, that there is a sign up stating the bike path is closed temporarily on weekdays from January 16th to January 27th.

Friday the 13th

May you enjoy the night watching TIVO.


Or having a night out on the town.

OTA Announces 2nd Chainsaw Certification Class

The OTA has announced a second chainsaw certification class to be held Feb. 11th and 12 th in Ava, MO. They do list two requirements this time: First that you are a member of the OTA, and Second that you are willing to do chainsaw work on the Ozark Trail.
Interested people should get in touch with Robert Smith of the OTA by January 19th. The class will be filled on a first come, first served basis, so act soon.

What's all this double-clutching stuff, anyhow?

Bob Pease writes the Pease Porridge column in Electronic Design magazine, one of those freebies they send to dork engineers. It's actually pretty good, and Pease is a colorful curmudgeon who writes about whatever the hell he wants. Since we have a truck driver in our midst who's taken double clutching on as his tagline, here's Pease's What's all this double-clutching stuff, anyhow? article. I've read him for years. This guy drives a volkswagen bug around silicon valley to get to work at national semiconductor, but he usually knows what he's talking about even if it's not electronics. Correct me if I'm wrong, Mikey D.

Here's the crux of the matter:

First, you take your foot off the gas and kick in the clutch. You shift into neutral, AND let the clutch out. You wait perhaps 0.3 to 1.0 seconds for the engine to slow down from its high revs, depending on how fast you were revving when you started to shift and how much inertia the engine has to slow down. THEN you kick in the clutch and shift into third, and let the clutch out quickly, feeding the gas appropriately. If you have judged it right, when you let the clutch out, there isn't any JERK. And when you shove the lever into third, the gears and engine are at a synchronized speed, so there's minimum wear on the synchronizers, which are the tiny clutches that bring the clutch plate and the gears into smooth synchrony. There's also usually less wear on the clutch plates.

But there's much more, including naturalists playing tricks on condors.

Solutions seeking problems section

I'd file this one in the "what were they thinking" file. It's on the floor next to my desk with a bag in it. In addition to the unfortunate name, the Topeak Bikamper Tent looks like a pretty ridiculous product. Let's see, it costs almost $300, it sleeps one, it's heavier than a decent 2-person backpacking tent, ties up your bike, requires a bike, and takes a long space to set up. That it can attach to my handlebars for transport doesn't make it any better. Yikes.


Disclaimer, I've never used one or seen one in person, but it's pretty low on the priority list right now. The only mention of it I've seen wasn't a proper review either.

RR: Lost Valley - 1/07/2006

13 of us met at the Mound Saturday afternoon and had a nice little 20 mile jaunt around the Lost Valley trail. The large number was probably from the "cabin fever" effect brought on by not being able to ride off-road for awhile due to lack of cooperation from Mother Nature.

5 of the crowd were from Illinois, so they must have really been feeling it to drive all that way. The trail was in great shape, so get out and enjoy it while you can.

Berrecloth in Discovery Channel stunt

Berrecloth in Discovery Channel stunt
Darren BerreclothPhoto ©: Specialized

Specialized Factory rider and BMX stunt envelope-pusher Darren Berrecloth was selected to be one of the first athletes to be featured on the Discovery Channel's new series "Stunt Junkies." Each 60-minute episode of Stunt Junkies takes viewers behind the scenes of an unimaginable stunt, for a close look at what it's like to push the limits of personal expression and defy danger.
During the filming of Berrecloth's episode, the Discovery Channel paid a visit to Specialized and got an inside look at how the rider's latest bike, a 2006 Specialized Demo 8, was engineered, tested and built. With the Discovery Channel cameras rolling, Berrecloth also took the time to launch from a two-story high loading dock into the Specialized warehouse. "We've had a lot of interesting things happen around the office in the past thirty something years, but nothing that crazy," said Specialized founder and president, Mike Sinyard.

Berrecloth's episode of "Stunt Junkies" will appear on February 1, 2006 at 10pm on the Discovery Channel.

Some MTB history

Check out Charlie Kelly's mountain bike history page. It's a mother lode of old-time mountain-bike historical photos and stories.

Plus if you poke around there long enough you can find some sexy (and not-so-sexy) photos of cindy whitehead. If you haven't wasted enough time there already, check out the subtle really weird bikes link. I think the Bodysail is my favorite bad idea there, and there are some other pretty bad ideas, the surf bike, the side-by-side tandem, etc. Farewell, fine afternoon.

Oklahoma in the Hotseat

While canoeing the lower Buffalo river in Northwest Arkansas last weekend we saw smoke and an airplane going back and forth looking at it, didn't know if it was a wildfire or prescribed burn. Then coming back to civilization we saw that Oklahoma, Texas, and a little bit of Arkansas are getting pounded by early-season wildfires. We camped along the river probably 1/2 mile from #26 on the map above (Duck Head WF) which is 1500 acres big by now.

Note if you're camping in Arkansas any time soon that most of the state has a burn ban in effect. The mountain biking there is great and not that far away, plus it's a little warmer. Ouachita, Syllamo, or Womble, anyone? Missouri is not yet a high fire danger on the NOAA map but it still might be better to throw that Christmas tree in the lake for the crappie instead of burning it...

tom

LINKS:
Active Fire Map from the Forest Service
NOAA drought outlook and explanation of the high fire danger
Arkansas burn ban map
NPR story about wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma
the inevitable Wildfire prevention tips

GORC's Dark Underside

Yes, believe it or not, GORC does have one. Despite all the recent talk about buttery smooth trails, and singlespeeds, there are some club members who like to ride on, off, and over things rather than having a leg fall off trying to keep within radio range of the likes of 3-Bowl, the Crusher, and Terbo.

Here's proof of their existence, as caught by an NSA super-secret, motion-detecting forest cam at an unidentified location.

Declassified 01042006 -13:22 - reference: nsa.gov- locale:Midwest_Sector5684547881