Burnin' Google Earth Update

For those of you who are getting ready for the Burnin' at the Bluff; Google Earth has added a major update of the imagery for Missouri. These latest ones taken in 2005 showing some rather stunning views of Council Bluff Lake.

Calling all single speed freaks

Check out this folding single speed. It only weighs 12.6lbs and can easily carry a rider weighing up to 13stone 5 lbs. It folds up to 67cm x 30cm x 16cm which is roughly 26"x11"x6". The lightweight wheels provide such an amazing angle of incidence that you can easily attack pavement cracks with confidence. And with some strategically placed lead weights, you could even make this meet the minimum weight restriction for the Tour de France! GIDDYUP!

New Telleck Branch Connector at Council Bluff

Ever been riding at Council Bluff and seen the trail that heads off from the first bridge? You know, the one you rode a couple of hundred yards, came to the swamp caused by the beaver dam, and then had to turn around, or do a balancing act to walk across the dam, all the while trying to avoid the briars? Well, that's a thing of the past! The OTA spent this past weekend cutting a new reroute into the hillside above the old trail. It's now wide open to use Council Bluff campground as your base and head out for one-way rides of 8, 16, 25 miles or more, depending on which section of the Ozark Trail you want to ride. The second page of this map gives an overview of what's out there.

Ozark Trail Update

It's been a lot of work, and slowly but surely, the downed trees from the strong spring and summer storms are being cleared away. 2 out of the past 3 weekends have seen some GORC members helping out, clearing our adopted North Trace Creek section. About 11 of the 16 miles are now clear. GORC also cleared the Council Bluff trail, which as some of you may have heard had over 40 trees down on it 2 weeks ago.
This past weekend, the OTA had a maintenance workday and cleared all of the trails from the Telleck Branch to DD and 32, including some work on North Trace. Just to show how difficult a task this is, by the time a couple of us rode over the Trace and Middle Fork sections north of Hwy. 32 the next day, there were already 3 new trees down!

Gorc beauty makeover

As many of you know, we at GORC pride ourselves on our ability to makeover some of the areas trails. But the trail themselves have asked that we highlight one of their hidden talents. MAKEOVERS! As you can see they specialize in facials. I received the Moonlight Ramble facial.

The trail has many secret ingredients they use, but they have allowed me to talk about a few of them. Pavement. Don't underestimate the power of pavement. It comes in several different colors. From black to grey, or even red! I chose the black pavement. We used just a touch below my left eye, under my nose, and my chin. I got a couple of cute temporary tatoos as well. I know! On the face? but they just looked like little mouse whiskers and I took them off later.

Julie on the other hand received the Lost Valley facial. Hers was a mixture of gravel and dirt. They grind the two up into a mixture and she chose to focus on the right side. The concoction started above her right eye and followed it down to her chin. She chose some tatoos as well, to go above her eye. Very nice, but she chose to keep them hidden for our monthly galla. She wasn't too sure if GORC would except facial tatoos. Julie is new to the club. I had the privilege to be there for her first facial. Afterward, she had so much excitement we were worried she couldn't walk out. So, a very nice fireman cut the chain and let the trail chariot come pick her up. Curb side. What service! It was also Bryan's birthday. Julie missed the pretzel, but we'll get her one of her own someday.

Anyway, I am sure you have seen a lot of others touched by the hands of the trail. Each one of us are able to get our own unique makeovers. No two are alike. Some are full body makeovers! The price of these makeovers can be anywhere from free to whatever co-pay your insurance charges. But believe me, they are worth it!

Want to know what it's like to have a borg sit on your head?

This helmet is kind of crazy. It can play music, let you talk on the phone, listens for sirens, has a gps, voice recorder, and motion activated turn signals.

Say goodbye to the mundane task of counting cracks in the road on your commute to work. This thing will even let you record a note saying "crack ahead" and play it back when you hit those GPS coordinates. The only thing it needs is a mechanism to allow the wearer to pay attention to the road while riding...

http://news.com.com/2100-1008_3-6111162.html

Biking in Mark Twain National Forest

While wading through the Forest Service site for Mark Twain National Forest, I came across a page which lists all of the trails open to hiking and biking. There were a few I didn't know about. I'm not sure what kind of shape they're all in, but it's nice to know that other options are out there.

5.17 gallons of fun

There will be a 5 gallon keg of schlafly summer kolsch 1n group campsite B, free for volunteers. Non-volunteer hangers-on can donate $$$ or be sneaky, depending on how light the keg is. Enjoy the last of the summer seasonal brew. It'll get there Friday night and last as long as it lasts. So we'll have fun rain or shine. It's not too late to come down and help us this weekend, with the trail, the food, and the beer.

Now Mesa Cycles is giving anyone who helps a discount on their entry fee to the Burnin' at the Bluff 12-hour race on Oct 7th too.

Please sign up on our forum here.
http://www.gorctrails.com/board/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1724

If you don't like signing up in public, you can email tom at onespeed at gmail /dot/ com too but there are no guarantees I'll get it after lunchtime friday. Or just show up. We ain't picky.

Into the Woods Again, Aug 25-27

This weekend we're heading down to Council Bluffs lake for a fun-filled weekend of riding, camping, and maybe a little work. On Saturday August 26th we'll be doing chainsaw, handsaw, lopper, and signage maintenance on the North Trace Creek section of the Ozark Trail. This is a great OT section that GORC has Adopted through the OTA's Adopt-A-Trail program. We haven't worked on it since February (at least three good windstorms) so we expect a good day's work for as many people as we can get down there. You do not need a chainsaw or chainsaw experience to help. We need helpers as much as sawyers right now. We'll split into crews (usually 2-5 people) each with a chainsaw in a bike trailer, to divide and conquer, so you get to ride your bike even during the workday.

The US Forest Service has given us free camping at council bluffs on Friday and Saturday nights (Group Campsite B). And GORC or gorc members are footing the bill for some fine quality free beer and BBQ for saturday night (disclaimer: strategic beer reserves are always recommended). We even have our favorite chaos butterfly coming down that afternoon to start the grill and tap the mini-keg.

There are four trails to ride from one place in this area: Council Bluffs, North Trace Creek, South Trace Creek, and Middle Fork. So there's plenty of riding (or working if you're so inclined) for the rest of the weekend. Ideally we'll have enough people to make the work go fast.

If you think you can make it, please let us know on the forum at http://www.gorctrails.com/board/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1724
There are more details there too.

Sunday Rides at Greensfelder

Steve Smith, who recently took over as the trail steward for Rockwoods Range, is going to be having regular rides at Greensfelder.
The rides will begin at the Roundhouse parking lot on the first Sunday of every month beginning at high noon, weather permitting. The next one is set for Sept. 3rd. If you haven't been out to check out the extensive rerouting that GORC has done at Greensfelder, now's your chance. The rides will cover some variation of the Dogwood and DeClue trails, plus they will also throw in bits of the existing trails in Rockwoods Range, like the Fox Run Trail. The plan is to keep this ride at a laid back pace, so if you want to find out more about the trails here, have some fun with fellow GORCers, and maybe have a few frosty beverages, then come on out.

Remember When...

Since I didn't make it out to Greensfelder today for the First Sunday ride, I decided to remember the nice, cold days of February, when it was too cold and wet to ride. Wait a minute, which is better, having it too cold and wet, or too hot and dry?.... Well, you decide for yourself. Also included is a shot of the "virtual kiosk" there which must have melted with the snow.

SIUE Eats Bikes

So maybe it's not Chubb, but it just goes to show that even on "buttery smooth" trails, when you're railing around corners, and twisting through trees, you have to pay attention. And one of the buddies of Thomas from over at Wild Trak found out that maybe a Wal-Mart special isn't such a good investment.

Great Music Brought to you by Bicycle

Check it out, the Ditty Bops have ridden their bikes here from L.A. and they're playing at Mad Art (the old jail in Soulard that's now an art gallery FRIDAY NIGHT, that's July 28th! Opening will be Maid*Rite, the gals who played country at the midwest mountain bike festival in April.

Go to the their blog and read about their adventures getting here by bike and hybrid vehicle, and whatever they had to eat that day. Click around on their really good website and find lots of pictures and stuff. More importantly, you can listen their music and see if it's your cup of tea, kind of retro swing jazz type stuff. Same for Maid*Rite's page too.

Also this weekend, Bad Folk with The Monads on Saturday night at the Schlafly Taproom. The Monads stole the show at the MMBF and Bad Folk is great too, think Split Lip Rayfield and Uncle Wilco or something, but different, rock music played on country instruments. Plus it'll be cheap, small, unpretentious, and have better beer. Both bands are great live. This will be an awesome show. [update: Also on the bill is Angry Panda, and the show goes from 8:00pm to midnight or so.]

What's Floyd Drinkin'???

Read this editoral question from O'grady. It's a riot.

Anybody know what Floyd's drinking? I want some for my next pre-ride preparations!!

How To Steal A Bike in NYC

These guys set out to see how easy it was to steal a bike in NYC. They used several different methods in different parts of the city, all in broad daylight, and no one even bothered to look to see what they were doing. Well, no one except for the guy who tried to help out and show them an easier way. Even the cops making an appearance aren't interested.

A New Jersey for "The Tour"!

I'm going to propose a new jersey for the Tour de France.

The "Team Mullet" Jersey. The only problem? The winner is obvious!

Vladimir Karpets has the best mullet in the pro peloton.





Now we just need to get this jersey off-last year's winner:

Ride Report: Silver Lake

On Sunday, a few of us rode one of the lesser known trails in the area; the Silver Lake Trail in Highland, Illinois- about 35 miles NE of downtown St. Louis.
The trail itself isn't very long. Only 4.5 miles out-and-back, but it includes a lot of fun little features along the way. It's tight and twisty, even more so than the SIUE trails, and there are many wooden bridges, including one that's a good 40 ft. in length, so there are plenty of chances to test your bike-handling skills. It follows the contours of Silver Lake, and then has around a half-mile loop section that puts you within earshot of I-70 before rejoining the main trail.
This probably isn't a trail you'd want to have as a frequent destination, mainly due to the lack of mileage, but if you're looking for a little change of scenery, on a fun trail in a nice setting, do a couple of laps here, head over to the nearby SIUE trails, and you can certainly have an entertaining day. One other thing to note is that while the trail is within Silver Lake park, for some reason, there's no swimming allowed in the lake.

Firecracker 2006

Fun and dirt were had by all. Greensfelder dished out the good times, rocks, and dust. There were a few casualties along the way. Retro Craig busted a spoke right off the bat and then busted his shifters later on. Flats were had, one by one, and then F'ed had the mechanical to beat all this warm summer day. He broke his 1x1. Damn! Thanks to Rob for putting this one together.

Tour de France Mapping Update

The TDF site now has an official link to the Google Earth file of the Tour route.
Now you can also track the race in progress directly in Google Earth, with a live link showing the situation of the race along the route. I'm not so sure how well this will work for tomorrow's Stage 7 Time Trial, but it sounds like fun, anyway. The link and how-to explanation can be found here.
Here's another site which allows you to track the position and vital statistics like heart rate, speed, stress and power of a few selected riders who are using special equipment on their bikes allowing this information to be transmitted. With accompanying blog explanation.

GORC does Whistler!

A small, select group of GORC members hit Whistler, BC Canada for the World Mountain Bike Conference, and some uber-technical riding last week. Here's some teaser pix, we'll get pictures, and maybe some movies onto the website very soon.

One of the early rides we did (Thursday evening) was "A River Runs Through It", this is a fairly well-known trail that features numerous stunt sections. It was a complete blast to ride. In fact you don't so much as ride these trails as you do "session" them. We'd often stop and ride sections of stunts over to take pictures or just to 'clean' them. Here's your's truly on one of the stunts.



Fast forward ahead a few days, and we hit the bike park. Kirb and I rented some monster bikes (Rocky Mountain RMX's 8-inches of travel!!) and tried to go big. Well, we didn't go as big as the bikes are capable of, but we did have some serious fun. Here's a shot of the GORC-Prez himself airing it out over a tabletop jump on "Crank-It Up".



Good times, no injuries. We'll get a new gallery section up soon.

Tour de France Time

Google Earth View of part of Stage 16, Wednesday, July 19th

Well, it's that time of the year again. Here are a few links to help get you ready for this year's Tour:
-If you have Google Earth installed on your computer, you can just click here to view the Tour route in 3D. (You'll probably have to rotate the globe around to France because the intitial view is still centered on the US. Funny.)
-I posted a link to TDF Blog last year. It has all kinds of interesting and unusual Tour-related items.
-ESPN's Cycling News Wire has photos published by the various wire services pretty much as soon as they're available to the public. Usually different than the ones found on cyclingnews.com or Velonews.

Chewie Does the Lumberjack 100

Lumberjack 100

The Lumberjack 100, a 100 mile MTB endurance race was held this past weekend up at the Big M Trail System near Manistee, Michigan.
A couple of our biking friends, Aaron "Chewie" Smith, and Nate Phelps have made the big time, not only finishing 57th and 58th out of 58 finishers, but getting their pictures on cyclingnews.com as well! Great job, especially considering that only 58 out of ~170 starters finished the race.
12 and 1/2 hours in the saddle in 90+ degree heat. Ouch. Oh yeah, Chewie did the whole thing on a fixed gear, and Nate rode a singlespeed.

St. Charles County Parks Mountain Bike Training Class

Eight participants showed up for the first St. Charles County Parks "Inroduction to Mountain Biking" ride. Four GORC elves showed up to help steer the participants around the park. SCC Parks employee Kent "trail shredder" James had a nice introductory level course laid out and everyone survived the the trek. All present seemed to have a pretty good time and I personally hear many saying "I'll be back to do this again next month".

The ride lasted for just over an hour and several folks went out for a few more miles after regrouping at the original start point.

I fully expect this ride to grow in size and when it does, there will be multiple groups going out covering varying skill levels. This is the perfect way to introduce that friend, relative, significant other, kid, stranger or coworker to mountain biking. Its also a great way to help someone who is familiar with riding to step up their skill level. We'll do our best to make sure anyone who shows up doesn't end up seeing something like this...

What:
GORC Mountain Bike Training Class

When:
2nd Wed. of each month, May 10 – Sept.13
6:00 PM–Dusk

Where:
June & July - Quail Ridge Park, Wentzville
August & September - Matson Hill Park, Defiance

Which Line Would You Take?

This is the spot on the trail at Big Bear where Rockboy broke his chain. The picture was taken looking against the flow of the trail. The line over the roots was the original trail, but proved to be a lot trickier than most riders were willing to chance, especially with the damp conditions. There were usually about 10-20 spectators here waiting for the carnage. Once the alternate line wore in, it wasn't quite as interesting.
So, which would you choose; the fast, straight shot over the roots with the risk of your front tire sliding and running you into one of the trees, or the safer, wider one which forced you to slow down?

Tilly the next generation

Ok, here she is. We got her from Gods Creatures. An anti-death adoption agency in SPFLD MO. She is approximately 12 weeks old now. Obnoxious! And wakes up at 5:30am leaping onto the bed and playing with your toes. She is the newest addition to the Adams's family and already pi$$ing off the Mandster. Anyway, she is helping fill the hole that Harriette made when she left us. RIP little Harriette and watch us down here going through the hell of kittenhood. Steph

Greensfelder Trail Elf

For those of you wondering who Kent, the Greensfelder Trail Elf is, here's a picture of him doing what he does best. Next time you see him, please thank him, a non-GORC member, for all the hard work he puts in at our workdays. Ok, well, maybe not hard work.
Don't worry if you see him wandering around in the woods talking to himself. That happens all the time. He's really ok.

Snap the flowers

Because sometimes it's worth stopping. Here's an article from MDC full of tips on taking pictures of wildflowers. I don't know when it was written but it seems a little dated -- there is no mention of digital, but photography is still photography, just quicker now. There's good info on lighting, improvised diffusers and reflectors, flash, composition, etc. If you're not comfortable controlling aperture and depth of field you might want to read up on that too. But past the basics, the real key seems to be having a good eye for photos, or just bring Frank with you like GORC in Colorado last year. Many of the modern small digital cameras have great macro focusing and some of them even have the controls to get really experimental. Then when you get back on the bikes you can use the same camera to shoot videos of your friends dropping off ledges. Or mount it to your handlebar for videos that would make you sick. This modern world...

Bridge to Nowhere

It made me sad to see this construction out on the Grotpeter Trail at Castlewood.
I thought about how many lunches the materials used for it might buy for workdays spent repairing and maintaining the deteriorating trails there.
It seems like it would be more useful to teach how to build sustainable trails, or reroute around problem areas, rather than attempting band-aid projects such as this.

Ride Report: Greensfelder

The DeClue reroute at Greensfelder is finished, so 7 of us decided to ride it on Sunday. We started at the Roundhouse parking lot and began by riding Dogwood counterclockwise. Dogwood is in great shape, even after taking a pounding during the Spring freeze-thaw cycle. The climb out of the valley back up to the Roundhouse has a few rough spots where it crosses drainages, but is entirely rideable. Next, the awesomely fun section of DeClue down to Allenton Rd.
Then it's up the steep, rocky grinder to the Radio Tower. Not much has changed with it. In order to enjoy all the fun stuff going clockwise on DeClue, there aren't many alternatives.
DeClue is in good shape aside from a few wet spots below the rock garden where post-holes have collected some water in the drainage.
Up, up and away, then the rollercoaster ride. Mountain biking doesn't get much better than this!
Regroup at the cut-off before beginning the next rocky section. So far, the Punisher is crash free!
Through, around, up and over the rocks until you get to the steep, rocky downhill section. Well, it's not there anymore. The trail continues straight, bypasses and cuts back across the old section in a S-shape before rejoining the existing DeClue section. Along the way are ledges, dips, alternate lines, off-camber screamer sections, and other assorted fun. Um, Randy, the trail turns left here.
You're only on the old trail for about 50 ft. and then there's a keyhole which directs you down and to the left--watch out for that ledge! Down, down, around. More ledges, rocks, turns, a bit of climbing, hoops embedded in trees, the "loading dock", and then back to Allenton Rd.
Then the hardest part is trying to decide which way to head next; back up the way you came, or hit the fun section across the road. Better do both!
We need to put a lot more wheels down on this trail. Don't forget the Off.

Illinois Riding in the Shawnee

When most people think about riding in Illinois, rocks are not usually the first thing that come to mind. Well, for those of you who aren't aware of it yet, there's plenty of rocky, technical riding in the Shawnee National Forest near Carbondale.
Our friends down at SMBA are working hard on some existing trails there that needed a little TLC. If you like Chubb and Greensfelder, with maybe a little of Matson Hill thrown in for good measure, then this is the place for you.
Pete and Gigi were down there recently and kindly submitted a few photos of their ride on the Cove Hollow Trail. Cove Hollow and the Cedar Lake Trail share a common trailhead, so you can get in a tough ride of up to 22 miles if you're so inclined.
There are other trails down there as well, so check out the website.

Greensfelder Workday Saturday 5/20

We're going to try and finish the re-route this weekend, but there are several somewhat complicated sections left to build, so we'll need help from all the experienced GORC trailbuilding experts we can get out there.
The map shows what's been done to this point, and what we hope to finish is shown in red.
If you haven't been out yet to see why some GORC members consider this to be one of the most fun, and exciting trails in the area, now's your chance.
Be aware that I-44 has some major construction going on around the 6 Flags exit, so you might want to consider an alternate route. Here are a few other alternatives:

You Were Wrong Cabinet Sanchez

This site features "poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines." The Cabinet Sanchez one apparently got things started. I know I've been getting some crazy ones lately.

SIUE Connector Trail

Here's a detail of the newly constructed connector trail between Trails 1 & 3 at SIUE. Previously, you went to the first intersection with the cross-country trail and followed it down to the bottom of the hill, made a left, then a right on the asphalt. Now, the connector branches off to the right just before the cross-country trail, and takes you around to a short section of asphalt which leads to New Poag Rd. and on to the trailhead of #3.

In search of the blue agave

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, the anniversary of the invention of the blender, here's a fourteen page article about tequila and mezcal. I figure it'll take an evening to read it for those inclined to learn more than they need to about the stuff. Happy 84th birthday to the magic spinning blade, and catch a cab home if you drive to the bar on Friday.

Bill Introduced to allow easier development of trails in MO State Parks

News from the MOBikeFed.
In case you missed State Rep. Mike Sutherland's talk at the MMBF, here are the details of a bill he introduced back in Feb. to make it easier for groups like GORC to build trails in Missouri State Parks:
Rep. Sutherland's amendment allows one organization to help across several (or all) Missouri parks and allows expands the scope of the allowed activities to include trail building.
In short, it allows organizations like GORC, EarthRiders, and IMBA to work with the Missouri Parks to build trails of all types.

Ozark Trail on the TeeVee

Not everybody gets the Ozark Trail Association's weekly email updates so I'll post this up here. John Roth of the OTA (and GORC, but he keeps that on the DL) just had a really big weekend with the Middle Fork / 200 mile grand opening celebration. Here's a great five-minute interview with him from last week on the KMOV-4 TV morning show. Click this link and then click Part 3. He even plugs mountain biking on the OT in it. Go OTA.

MTBr's spankin' the roadies!

It's been a good week for old MTBr's gone road racing.

First, Floyd Landis spanks'em good in the Tour of Georgia (not the "Tour de Georgia", as the promotors named it. That's lame) The second-to-last stage up Brasstown Bald was fantastic, with Danielson and Landis stalking each other up the hill. Danielson later admitted to making a potential "tactical error" by not attacking right from the start of the BB climb. Landis was able to cover his every move on the way up. Landis used to race for the GT mtb squad.



Yesterday, Cadel Evans showed'em his backside in the final ITT to win Romandie. Cadel is a former MTB world champ with Cannondale.



Keep'em comin' boyz! The Giro starts this weekend.