Dirtscrolls

Chris Akrigg’s latest video, As It Lies, is just what the name implies. He doesn’t build features to ride; rather, he uses what is in the natural environment to show off his trials skills. As he says, this is a “super raw winter thrash, keeping it real up on the moors.” Also, check out his ...

She will oversee the online platforms for both Dirt Rag and Bicycle Times magazines and their growing portfolio of events.  Kotala has a degree in Geography, but as a senior in college, she decided to pursue her passion for writing. Around the same time, she rekindled her love for cycling, adding yet another activity to ...

“As our first carbon fiber frame, the EPO continues our tradition of making bikes that we want to ride,” said Lance Canfield, co-owner and designer. “And that includes hardtail 29ers that are as much fun pointed downhill and in the air as the are efficient on the way up. And with the EPO’s carbon frame, ...

Words and photos by Jeff Archer. One of the best things about collecting mountain bikes is the relative newness of the sport. Since mountain biking is only about three decades old, and many of the founding fathers started in their twenties, most of the pioneers are still available to answer questions. Keeping in mind it ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Jason Luzar of Fairway, KS! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Over the Edge Sports has partnered with us to give one lucky winner two passes and hotel accommodations to the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival. Kick off your Spring Season riding world class singletrack in Sedona ...

The mission of the LadiesAllRide program is to grow the presence of women in mountain bike communities across the nation (and world) through fun, educational skills camps. Bringing ladies together to enhance their mountain bike skills also helps them use riding as a tool to enhance their lives. As Director of Inspiration for LadiesAllRide, Lindsey ...

Words by Jeffrey Stern. Photos courtesy of Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. Nearly smack dab middle in the country and flanked by states more known for their barbeque and blues music, Arkansas is actually the only state in the nation with a statewide trail maintenance crew. Home to former president Bill Clinton as well ...

Beer and bikes go together like similes and metaphors. Deschutes Brewing out of Bend, Oregon, is embracing the love affair with its new Chainbreaker White IPA, a light, citrus-tinged brew perfect for postride refreshment. It pours light and clear, with a minimal head. There is a distinct lemon zest followed by a mild hoppy aftertaste, ...

Quality Bicycle Parts (QBP) has partnered with some heavy hitters of the bicycle industry (such as SRAM, Park Tool, Michelin, United Bicycle Institute (UBI), Jagwire, Saris, Kryptonite, White Lightning, Stan’s No Tubes, DT Swiss, Swiftwick, and Dero) to help promote the role of women in the bicycle industry and to drive the growth of women’s ...

Here’s Part Two of Dan Fausey’s mini-van adventure to Arkansas for the IMBA World Summit. Read Part One here. Every two years, a different city plays host to the Summit.  This year, the city of Bentonville took the Summit as opportunity to showcase the town and trails.  They had vied for the Summit in 2014, ...

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in Dirt Rag issue #162, published in April 2012. Words and photos by Jeff Archer. As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, “Only an inventor knows how to borrow, and every man is or should be an inventor.” Arguments about who invented what date back to the very beginning of ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Phil Aufdencamp of Monroeville, PA! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Hollywood Racks has partnered with us to give one winner a 2017 TRS-Two Bike Hitch Rack! Enter to win below.     New for 2017 Hollywood Racks is releasing the TRS, a tire retention system hitch ...

The year 2016 was all about going “YUGE”, and no other bike I rode last year inspired me to go big like the monster Jones Plus. For the uninitiated, Jeff Jones has been designing his own brand of “non-suspended, off-road bicycles” for years, first by hand and now in full production overseas. The secret sauce ...

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in Dirt Rag issue #162, published in April 2012. Words and photo by Elizabeth & Lee Klevens. A delicious beer for your consideration: Burton Baton, from Dogfish Head Brewery. Burton Baton is labeled as an Imperial IPA, and at 10 percent ABV and 70+ IBUs it most definitely qualifies ...

  Q: What is the best way to maintain or restore the water repellency of my Gore-Tex jacket after a season or two of use? A: All Gore-Tex shell fabrics are treated with an ultra-thin treatment called DWR, a durable water repellent polymer that is applied to the outermost fabric layer. DWR causes water to ...

It was an amazing adventure to a historic land littered with scenic trails, long climbs and high-speed descents. A holy land that hosts one of the best three-day mountain bike stage races I’ve ever done. Yet it almost didn’t happen. In early 2014, I received an invite to attend the Epic Israel. While some questioned ...

Those year-end best-of and retrospective top-10 lists have become as much a part of the week between Christmas and the New Year as returning unwanted girts and trying to look productive while sitting at work. We figure you deserve some Dirt Rag in your year-end reading lists, so behold 2016’s ten most popular stories on ...

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in Dirt Rag issue #150, published in July 2010. Words and photos by Jeff Archer. If you were to put mountain bike companies on a map in the mid-1980s, it would look like they had washed up on the California coast like debris from the wreck of a framebuilders’ ...

Our friends from up north, Rocky Mountain, recently let us know they’ve added a new fat bike weapon to the company’s arsenal. The Suzi Q, as it’s called, is a fat bike with…as the name hints…a narrower Q-factor and other notable features in an effort to deliver a more comfortable and efficient fat bike than ...

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in Dirt Rag issue #160, published in November 2011. Words and photo by Lee & Elizabeth Klevens. We generally have a good supply of beers in our house, many of which are very hoppy. Occasionally, we will entertain guests who do not care much for hoppy beers. Having some ...

Since we’re in the holiday spirit, we chose a trail that is as close as we can get to the North Pole, and still be in the United States. Alaska, it is! This is our last Featured Ride with MTBProject, and we would like to extend them a HUGE thanks for being partners with us ...

In October 2016 Rotating Mass Media announced the hiring of Evan Gross as Events Coordinator. Gross, along with the rest of the RMM staff, has been busy expanding the events lineup for 2017. Dirt Fest Pennsylvania Presented by Pivot Cycles will take place at Raystown Lake on May 18-21, 2017, welcoming festival goers on Thursday—a ...

Tester: Karl Rosengarth Age: 59 | Height: 5’10” | Weight: 150 lbs. | Inseam: 32” Price: $4,799 Sizes: S, M, L, XL (tested) More info: bikes.com Rocky Mountain calls the new-for-2016 Pipeline an “aggressive trail” bike. This pugnacious, plus-sized rookie uses the exact same carbon fiber main frame as Rocky’s 29 inch Instinct trail bike. ...

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in Dirt Rag issue #147, published in February 2010. Words and photos by Jeff Archer. In the early 1970s, Gary Fisher was a member of the Grateful Dead Party Krew and spent time with the band. Later in that same decade, Fisher became better know for MountainBikes, a company ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Jason Yowell of Frostburg, MD! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended.   Our annual reader survey offers you the chance to win a 2017 Scott Spark 930. Welcome to the Dirt Rag year-end survey sweepstakes! This information will help us better serve you with great content. Your answers ...

Originally launched in 2013, the VIDA MTB Series has evolved into, “a full-fledged movement of women who are shifting the paradigm of what it means to be a female rider.” Taking place in and around the Rockies, the VIDA MTB Series provides clinics that focus on just about every aspect of mountain biking, from skills ...

Cyclocross racing, with its drop bars, skinny tires and lycra-clad racers, might seem like a distant cousin to mountain biking, but the two disciplines have more in common than you might think. For example, have a look at some of this video of the UCI Cyclocross World Cup stop in Namur, Belgium this past weekend. ...

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in Dirt Rag issue #159, published in October 2011. Words and photos by Tyler Hoecker. In Utah, beer makers have a bit of an uphill climb to bring their product to market. One hundred and fifteen years of conservative sentiment in the state has resulted in a strict set ...

The 14.7-mile Hart Prairie Loop lacks any technical challenges, but 40% of the route is singletrack, and it also features long and consistent uphill grades (at high elevation) make for a good workout. The reward is an ending that includes miles of fast flowing downhill on some of Arizona’s finest singletrack. This ride can be ...

photos by the author and 45NRTH It is December. In some parts of the U.S. that means a relief from the heat. In other parts, such as Crosby, Minnesota, it can be dangerously cold. That doesn’t stop a lot of us from riding, and 45NRTH is working to make everyone more comfortable when out in ...

All of the handmade, drool-worthy bicycles are back for another year when the North American Handmade Bicycle Show drops the curtain at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City March 10th through the 12th. In its 13th year, NAHBS is the show to attend if you want to look at (and maybe even ...

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in Dirt Rag issue #146, published in November 2009. Words and photos by Jeff Archer. The name Peter Weigle is probably unfamiliar to most mountain bikers unless they ride a steel frame. In the mid 1990s, he concocted J.P. Weigle Frame Saver, which is used to coat the inside ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Christopher Roper of Texas City, TX! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Longer nights means more lights! Cyclone Bicycle has teamed up with us to giveaway one a Exposure Light Diablo MK8.   The Diablo MK8 packs 1400 lumens controlled with TAP technology—just the touch of a ...

Editor’s note: This story by Elizabeth & Lee Klevens first appeared in Dirt Rag issue #158, published in August 2011. Like many beer snobs out there, our favorite style of beer tends to be an American style India Pale Ale. Hopheads like us tend to crave more and more hops. In order to satisfy these ...

Salsa describes the Woodsmoke as a “singletrack/bikepacking/off road exploration” bike. That’s a wide-ranging job description, but the carbon fiber Woodsmoke is an exercise in versatility. The same frame is offered in 29er, 27plus or 29plus builds. Salsa sent us the Woodsmoke 29+ X01 model, which rolls on 29plus rubber. This resourceful rig is well-equipped for ...

Words by Chris “Bama” Milucky Photos by Devon Balet It’s not that I hate roadies, but some are pompous, and the most famous has a reputation—now bordering rap sheet—for lies, manipulation and legal threats. So when my editor, Mike Cushionbury (Cush), called at exactly 4:20 p.m. and told me Floyd Landis was starting a marijuana-product ...

Photos and information from MTBProject.com. At Elm Creek, you’ll ride through a variety of terrain from mature wooded tracks to open prairie areas. Flowing trails with small bumps and rises designed to keep water off the trail make sections of this trail feel like a pump track. Many opportunities are available to bump up the ...

In Part One of The (mini) Van Life, Dan Fausey travels…in a mini-van…to Arkansas for the IMBA World Summit. Read Part Two next week! Germans do a few things right.  One of them is language.  See, Germans keep it simple – when they lack a word for something, they make a new one by putting ...

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in Dirt Rag issue #145, published in October 2009. Words and photos by Jeff Archer. Back in the early days of mountain biking, many aspects of bike design were hotly debated. One of the most contentious issues was the head angle. This dimension was one of the most important ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Brennan Zymroz of W. Conshohocken, PA! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Win everything you need to maintain your bike like the pros. Set up your home workshop with Absorb-It Mats to keep your floor and work bench clean, Gloves to keep your hands clean and give you ...

The BC Bike Race is the ultimate proving ground for riders, bikes and gear. Charging through seven days of stages across British Columbia, racers push themselves and their equipment through tough times and tough terrain. Over the years, we’ve seen many broken bodies, bikes and spirits. As an exciting stage to test its recently-released electronic ...

Courtesy of Kona. Words by Erkki Punttila. Photos by Teemu Lautamies. The calling I really love exploring new places with my bike, but I also constantly hear the call of the sea – why not combine the best of both worlds? First enjoy a nice evening cruise and then hit the trails with your lights ...

Editor’s note: This story by Elizabeth & Lee Klevens first appeared in Dirt Rag Issue #156, published in May 2011. Like many fellow mountain bikers, we enjoy a good post-ride beer. While old favorites and standbys are fine, discovering a new gem to share is always good. Throughout the years, we have discovered some great ...

Photos and information from MTBProject.com. O’Bannon Woods State Park, located in southern Indiana, is approximately 45 minutes west of downtown Louisville, Kentucky, or seven miles west of Corydon, Indiana, on State Road 62. The 3,000 acre park is surrounded by the 26,000 acre Harrison-Crawford State Forest and borders the Ohio and Blue Rivers. Unique features ...

The Dirty Kanza 200 is known as one of the first endurance gravel races in the world. It’s also known as one of the most challenging. Sending competitors out on the rugged, remote and soul-crushing dirt and gravel roads through the Flint Hills region of Kansas, the Dirty Kanza sells out all of its racer ...

The first edition of Dirt Rag’s Dirt Fest took place in 1991 at Camp Soles, a YMCA youth camp located in the Laurel Highlands, just east of Pittsburgh. For me, that era represents a magical time, marked by glorious tribal gatherings known as mountain bike festivals. In fact, I’d learned about Dirt Fest from some ...

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in Dirt Rag Issue #159, published in October 2011. Words by Jeff Archer. Photos by Wes Stearns. One of the best things about being involved with the Museum of Mountain Bike Art & Technology (MOMBAT) is getting to talk to folks who were instrumental in popularizing mountain biking. Some ...

Contest ended. Congrats to Annette Brinton of Silver Springs, FL! We’re sorry The promotion you are trying to access has ended. Stay warm this season and enter to win two pieces of C2 Apparel with a valued total up to $200. Made 100% in the U.S.A, including the materials, design, and all the hands that make ...

Like any good event, TSEpic is evolving, and for the better. Last year the event moved from seven days to five, making it much more manageable for those with limited vacation days. In 2017 the race will run over the Memorial Day weekend. TSEpic says: “You should be the first to know we’re shaking things up ...

Editor’s note: This “Beer Me” column first appeared in Dirt Rag Issue #148, published in April 2010. Words by Alastair Bland. Photo by Justin Steiner. Beer has a long history of accidents. Historians have speculated that a sack of spilled barley, left out in the rain, produced the first pint somewhere in the Fertile Crescent ...