MountainbikingX.com

Win a trip to the Tour De France, plus more…..

Dale — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:34:21 +0000

I am finally break my couple month posting silence to bring you the readers(all three of you) a deal that is too good to pass by with out me spreading the word. First I will lay down a little background so things make better sense on why I care in the first place. For a about a year now I have been following the posts on a website called www.fatcyclist.com written by a man named Elden that both made me laugh and brought tears to my eyes. To understand fully what I mean read these posts and you will know a little a bit background about Elden and his family. That post was from 2007 I also had to read a little in the past to get the full affect now onto the heart wrenching section of the site. Elden and his wife Susan through all of the sadness and hard times opened his life to the world he continued to post even though at the worst of times in his life. Along the way he started to raise money for theLiveStrong foundation to fight cancer and raise money he with the help of others all over the country has raised more than $500,000+. Other people started to take notice and more money rolled in. He has done great things in the wake of the sadness of his wife passing away. If you have some time check out www.fatcyclist.com and do a search for Susan and read many of his post that are both touch and inspiring in how strong people can be and what greatness can come in the wake of such sadness.

Now on to the more upbeat section of this post, sorry if the last part was a downer but I had to lay the ground work. How this all start was that Elden posted a joking letter to Johan Bruyneel the head cheese of the new RadioShack cycling team about how he could ride for them and would like a chance. I am pretty sure Elden thought that was as far as it was going to go, until Johan Bruyneel more or less called out Elden on a post that Johan wrote on his own blog. Offer him up a chance to try out for the team when the training begins next week in Arizona. Now not only did he called out Elden but he challenged him to see how good he really has become at raising money, Elden has to raise $10,000 dollars for both Livestrong and The World bicycle relief to be able to join the team in Arizona. Now Elden is not just asking for you to give money. When you donate you will also being entering for you chance to win one of two great bikes, hell maybe even both if you are that damn lucky and enter both contests. One is a 2010 Gary Fisher Superfly geared, top of the line everything. The second bike he is giving away only happens if he raise $25,000 dollars for both of the charities. It is a bike he could actually get from the Team RadioShack signed by the whole team, yes he is giving up a bike he could keep. It is a 2010 Trek Madone 6-series with Sram red components which will be signed by Team Radio Shack, including Lance Armstrong. This is how the contest work, you get your name in the drawing once for every five dollars you give to Livestrong, fifty bucks equals 10 chances to win, simple enough. Livestrong equals Gary Fischer bike, World Bicycle Relief equals Trek, if you want a chance at both you will have to throw five bucks at each contest. He also has some great second and third prizes that you can read about here and also enter to win one or both bikes.

Normally I don’t push constest or donations you all know that but this is too good to pass up, plus I sure would like to see him and get to read about his ride with team Radio Shack.

UPDATED 12/8/09 Elden has met his goal of $25k but now Johan Bruynaal has upped the goal again to $50,000 and a trip to the Tour De France if he meets it. And yes you are enter to win a trip to the TDF no matter which fund you give too. Seriously this is too good not to drop five bucks to especially if you figure out your odds, they are pretty good.

Sturgis, SD BAM festival.

Dale — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:50:42 +0000

I have gotten my hands on a poster a couple of days ago(thanks Fitzy) about festival coming up on July 11th, in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Now for those of you that don’t know a group of us local guys and gals went down to Rapid City in May to the Fat Tire Festival and I have to say riding in the Black Hills is a mondo good time to say the least. Now with word of the Sturgis BAM the excitement has perked back up once again. BAM by the way stands for Bike, Art, and Music add in a few brews and sounds like a good time to me. The endurance bike Race/Ride/Tour registration starts at 7:30 and the shuttle leaves at 8:20. It sounds like it is going to be the section of the Centenial trail from Piedmont to the Sturgis City Park. The cost of the ride 25 dollars and that is for the Shuttle out the the Piedmont trail head. It sounds like they expect you back into town by around 2:00pm so you still have time to take in some of the other events. They will have bands playing starting at 11:00am with the last band taking the stage at 9:00pm. Actually looking at the poster they have all kinds of activities for the whole family going on all day so this is a good event to bring the family to and squeeze in a ride in the AM. Make sure to check out all of the events going on at www.sturgisbam.com, one final note the best part is this event is free!

Bike Week June 14th thru June 20th

Dale — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:38:04 +0000

I am here to tell you about this coming weeks biking activities, and it looks like a good week. Epic Sports along with Bismarck parks and rec is putting a full week a bike related events on in the area. It all starts on Sunday with the Bismarck triathlon, Monday is a an easy ride along the river. Tuesday should be a good day to go and check out the bike Polo that is being held at 7pm at the Sertoma Soccer complex behind the old Green Mill building. Wednesday is the day to scrounge up all of your old bikes parts and head up to Epic Sports for a bike parts swap. They will also be giving away hot dogs, plus everything in the store is on sale from 12 to 8. Friday is the start to the Race to Sunset on Saturday with a Time trial competition along with a slow race. Make sure to stop by one of these events to show your support for biking in Bismarck. I am attach the bike week poster for you to check out.

Chainlove.com my New Found Crack!

Dale — Sat, 16 May 2009 03:28:24 +0000

I am not positive who I can thank for this latest crack like habit. I am thinking it had something to do with Frank and Chad but who was the first pusher I am not sure. For any of you who know me know I attended an Ebay anonymous meeting a few years back for that habit. I am a deal junkie and these sites have sprung up some bad habits once again. I will have to get used to seeing the UPS guy again. Now the gist of the sites one new deal every half and hour you normally can only buy one item per IP address so keep you ebay reselling dreams to yourself. They also claim to watch ebay and ban you if you try such tactics. Have fun and check back often there are some good deals on some quality items no bargain basement nashbar items on the sites.

www.chainlove.com – bicycle related items
www.bonktown.com – bicycle related items
www.Brociety.com – snowboard related items
www.steepandcheap.com – outdoor related items
www.tramdock.com – more winter items and outdoor

Monday Night Ride is in full swing

Dale — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:16:48 +0000

The winter has finally given up its strangle hold on us and the Monday night ride is back and better than ever. OK, not so much better as it is back. This last week we had a group of about ten or so making their way around the singletrack. Now once again if you are a beginner feel free to stop by someone will take you under their wing. Now I know what you may have heard and yes some of us are a little competitive and we may leave you behind but we promise not to forget about you, and we will have a cold one and a pat on the back waiting for you at the end. The trail is such that even alone you are always in view of someone else so you are never really alone. Have I sold you on my B.S. yet? I sure hope so. I would like to see many new faces this year. I know you are out there. As always and for the rest of the summer the place is Sleepy Hollow park, the time is 6:30pm.

Also our beer drinking has now become official with the purchase of a beer permit so feel free to stand around shooting the shit and have a brew. Now I know what you are going to say what are we going to do when you are not there, just have the cops call me I will vouch for you guys — really I will.

Tour de Barry’s Ride

Dale — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:46:37 +0000

This coming Saturday the 16th at 10:00am there is going to be a group ride that is a must do. It is called the Tour DE Barry’s and it will tour the singletrack trails in the Bismarck/Mandan.

This group will meet at Barry’s Bikes at 10:00am. From here we will ride to Sleepy Hollow park where we will do 1 lap around the Singletrack trail there. Then it’s onto Pioneer Park doing 1 lap, then riding over to the Mandan side along the Ski Trail eventually ending up at Sunset park where we will ride the Eagle trail also doing 1 lap around the singletrack trail. Then it is onto Fort Lincoln State Park where we will surprise, surprise do 1 lap, and then it is back to Barry’s Bikes for some refreshing brews. We will also more than likely be stop off somewhere along the way to have some lunch so please remember to pack some money.

This is going to be a good ride open to all, you can ride all of it or just a portion. If you time it right you could probably join up later on someplace along the way. Hope to see you there.

Out of hibernation

Dale — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:52:34 +0000

Yes I am still alive. I have just come to the conclusion mountain biking during North Dakota’s winters are pretty boring so what is the use. I will be posting more soon about the group rides that are on deck for this year.

FALL. DOWN. FESTIVAL. September 20th

Dale — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 23:05:48 +0000

Alley Cat III race results

Dale — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:39:05 +0000

I didn’t know much about this race when I signed up for it. The info was sketchy at best but that’s never stopped me before. About forty riders showed up to take part in the race, a few more than last year.

The route took us from a start at Seratoma shelter #11 all the way to the other side of town at Sleepy Hollow Park by way of Pioneer Park, Central Market, and K-Mart, with a brief stop by US bank on Third Street. The goal was to get to all of those spots first and get back to shelter #11 in one piece. The added kicker was that at Central Market and K-Mart you had to purchase something so you were at the mercy of the check out person, the other spots had a deck of cards to prove you found the spot.

I had a great time doing this and have to suggest this to anyone interested in riding around town. Many of those riding were just in it for the ride and the hot dog and beer afterward. If you like cruising around the streets of Bismarck, dodging traffic and generally trying not to get your ass run over you would love it. I have to give credit Tyler and Ian for putting on such a twisted event, and of course Barry’s Bikes for hosting it.

So whether you want to challenge this year’s winners or just ride with your buddies and have some fun, make sure to watch for next year’s date. You won’t regret it.

Race to Sunset 2008 results

Dale — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:40:07 +0000

2008 is in the books for another 12 hour Race to Sunset, and what a race it turned out to be! The final rider tally with dropouts and some additions turned out at a record 101 riders. The weather for most part of the day was good to go with only the afternoon getting windy with a storm skirting the park just to the north. Everyone more or less survived with only minor crashes except for Tony(I hope that is correct) from Minot, here is hoping you heal fast man! A big thank you goes out to all of the sponsors and volunteers who make this such a great event. I would list each and every one of you but I know I would mess that up badly so let’s just say “you know who you are and Thank You”! It was great to see Epic Sport’s there turning some wrenches and helping people out. Kudos also goes out to Barry’s Bikes guys and gals for lending a helping hand to people and kicking out some free swag. It was great to once again see some people from out of state that showed up just to give the locals a fit. Kelly Magelky always fun to see you ride, you are an animal man, thanks for making this a stop every year, good luck with the 24 hour race!

The pictures have been added to the photo gallery all 373 of them for your viewing pleasure. I take no responsibility for either embarrassing or incriminating photos; complaints will be accepted and ignored as always! A big thank you to Jodi for all of the hard work she did during the racing. Many of you probably saw her lurking in the trees.

Until 2009, keep the rubber side down.