Dirtscrolls

On the Cover Sarah Rawley shreds Captain Ahab in Moab, Utah, during a video shoot with Big Mountain Enduro. Photo: Devon Balet.   New Columns and Readings We welcome Davy J., a best-selling food author and cyclist, who will be penning “Eat Me,” which has to do with the intersection of grub and bicycles and ...

Editor’s note: This article by Brad Quartuccio and Michael Browne first appeared in Dirt Rag Issue #96, published in October 2002. Singlespeeders are obsessed with simplicity. No derailleurs to mess things up, no shifters to backfire and leave you stranded. But what happens when one of very few moving parts stops working? Most people think ...

The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) just released the latest edit from its “Slowmo Bro” video series, in which pro mountain biker Matt Hunter rips berms and learns a few things about trail stewardship. NICA and IMBA’s tips for showing your trail love: Participate in local trail maintenance and trail building days. The more you ...

I finally got myself a truck. I didn’t really “need” a truck, nor does its lightweight rear end make it the most practical vehicle in snowy Colorado (doth protest my loved ones), but hauling things like fatbikes and riding gear and sometimes camping stuff and often the dog in a cramped, low-riding hatchback had proved time ...

I had lots of plans to ride fat bikes this winter. But January seemed to have more days in the 50s than the 30s, and I missed the only real snow storm due to a trip to Chile to ride the new Santa Cruz Hightower. Winter is paying us back with some cold weather, and ...

SRAM has been slowly trickling down 1×11 tech to lower and lower price points over the last few years, but with the release of this newest 1x group, even those with a less-than-sizeable bike budget can get in on the 1x evolution that is taking over mountain biking. Read on for full details and our ...

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand, but is often overlooked by mountain bikers passing through on their way to other areas. Renowned Kiwi riders Rosara Joseph, Kieran Bennett and Craig Pattle set out to take on Wellington’s Mount Victoria and show you just how good the locals have it. Photos: Caleb Smith

Editor’s note: This story by Elizabeth Boyle first appeared in Dirt Rag Issue #97, published in November 2002. When I was a sophomore in college I lived with my older brother Joey and three other guys. There was also a five-foot blacksnake named Slobbers that lived beneath the porch, a family of wolf spiders that ...

We teamed up with Club Ride Apparel to give away two jersey and shorts sets, one for men and one for women. Guys will score a Cargo Away short and Protocol jersey and gals will score a Hermosa 3/4 jersey and Freedom short (MSRP value: $150 per kit). All you have to do is complete the ...

Words: Sarah Galbraith In parts of our country, when winter takes a firm, frosty grip on your core, some mountain bikers mark the turn of seasons by putting away their bikes and tuning up their skis. But explosive growth in winter fat biking has taken hold in the past few years: Sales grew 44 percent ...

In the foothills of the Appalachians, Double Oak Mountain lies at the core of the nearly 10,000-acre Oak Mountain State Park, located just 20 minutes south of Birmingham in Pelham, Alabama. The slopes and valleys of the parallel ridgelines serve up miles of blissful singletrack and technical diversity. This 21-mile ride has been lauded as ...

The Pro 1400 Race is NiteRider’s lowest priced 1,000+ lumens LED mountain bike light. It has a bunch of modes to choose from, but the three light levels you’ll find most useful when riding your favorite trails are the steady modes with outputs of 400, 850 and 1400 lumens. You’ll get about 9 hours and ...

Rawland Cycles has been filling a niche in the bike industry for a decade now as a small brand that produces versatile models that don’t fit neatly into any particular category. “There’s this awesome new zone where I think the fun is,” said Rawland’s Creative Director and VP, Jeremy Spencer. If your idea of fun is getting off ...

On the Road With Bama Words and photo: Chris Milucky aka Bama. From Dirt Rag Issue #188 The first time I quit climbing the ladder of public opinion, I moved into a house with six other people, three dogs and a cat; the cat was smart enough to soon skip town and live someplace less ...

Testers: Eric Mckeegan and Jon Pratt shared this back-to-back review in Bicycle Times Issue #38 Bianchi has been at the bike game for a long, long time. One hundred thirty years to be exact. Almost as old is Bianchi’s signature celeste green, perhaps the most recognizable color in cycling. While much of Bianchi’s history revolves around ...

Tester: Eric McKeegan | Age: 41 | Height: 5’11” | Weight: 155 lbs. | Inseam: 32” KTM isn’t the first name to come to mind when thinking of pedal bikes in the United States. We are more familiar with its motorized two-wheelers, and I’ll admit to looking lustfully at the KTM website, and wishing for an Adventure 690 to ...

If you’re a woman-identifying undergraduate student searching for a unique summer internship, Quality Bicycle Products (QBP) has an opportunity for you. With distribution centers in Minnesota, Utah, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, QBP serves a network of more than 5,000 independent retailers while also being active in cycling advocacy and bicycle design. QBP is currently looking for ...

Words: Mary Dishman Photos: Adrian Marcoux Trails are the basis of everything in mountain biking. They’re the arteries that flow life into every ride. They’re the blank canvas, the empty sheet. They’re the beginning, middle and end of every mountain bike story. Whether beaten into submission by machines, carefully sculpted with blistered hands and simple ...

Editor’s note: This story by Kenny Prather first appeared in Dirt Rag Issue #134, published in April 2008. Photos courtesy of the author. Like countless singletracks before it, our trail was doomed to “progress.” When we finally lost our trail of eight years to yet another strip mall, the local riders went in different directions—some ...

Note: The email sent about this contest mistakenly gave the deadline as January 10. You have until February 10 to enter the contest. Escape the cold in southwest Utah, March 18-20, with a trip to the sixth-annual Hurricane Mountain Bike Festival. The event includes shuttled rides, food, beer, live music, skills clinics, bike demos, warm weather, ...

With my apologizes to Bukowski. Life continues to surprize me, and frustrate me, and bring moments of unmitigated joy. I quit smoking almost 12 years ago. It was cold turkey, and it wasn’t fun. I fell off the wagon a few times, including a few months of stress smoking involving hand rolled cigarettes and a ...

The famed, 35.5-mile Womble sits just west of historic Hot Springs, Arkansas. This IMBA Epic ride gains just a touch over 4,000 feet of elevation across its 95-percent singletrack route. If you’d like to ride the entire length of the Womble, or even a shorter point-to-point section, you’ll need to self-shuttle as no commercial options ...

Disclaimer: Junket- a free trip by a member of the press to a place where something (such as a new bike) is being promoted. Let’s get that out of the way first. The new Santa Cruz Hightower was introduced to select members of the media on a trip to Chile for the first running of ...

Just so we are clear, this story is about Crested Butte Fat Bike World Championships, as in SSCXWC and SSWC and #fatbikeshit. The acronyms UCI and USAC had nothing to do with the super-fat-tire race that went down last weekend high in the Colorado mountains. Crested Butte, Colorado, claims itself as the birthplace of mountain ...

For a while there, the patient was touch-and-go. Assets were on the operating table. Little passion was moving through its blood. After its sale to BST Nano Carbon in late 2014, Ellsworth looked like it might not pull through. The 2015 lineup wasn’t released at all. “We weren’t dead,” joked company founder Tony Ellsworth. “We ...

Originally published in Bicycle Times Issue #31 OF BIRDS AND BIKES Titanium burst onto the scene in the 1950s in military aerospace applications. Favorable ratios of strength, durability and toughness to weight—along with its corrosion resistance and high temperature capabilities—made titanium the material of choice in airframes and aerospace hydraulic systems. The first bird to ...

Looking for a spring getaway? Look no further than the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival in Sedona, Arizona. Between now and next Wednesday, February 3rd at 11:59 p.m. you can enter to win two passes (a $100 value each), two camping passes (a $125 value each) and one $50 gift certificate for Over the Edge Sports ...

Editor’s note: This report by Dirt Rag’s special operations team, known only as “The Committee,” appeared in Dirt Rag Issue #78, published in April 2000. Status: For your eyes only. Target: Mono Trac (ski bike) Source: Koski Snow Sports, Mill Valley, California Creator: Don Koski Suggested Retail: $1,500 Description: Dual-suspension ski bike, with 8 inches ...

Like a lot of people, my fingers are one the first things that succumb to the ravages of cold weather biking. The combination of cold air rushing over the glove surface and sweat trapped inside can sometimes cut my frosty rides a bit short. And that’s a shame, because some of the most beautiful rides ...

Words and photos by Logan Watts Originally featured in print in Dirt Rag Issue #181 “I’m about ready for that beer,” Dustin bellows as we plummet the last downhill of the day. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard that statement echo down a ribbon of singletrack, I’d have a sizable collection ...

Fouriers Trailhead (HB-MB017-M) – $90 Tester: Eric McKeegan Fouriers has teamed up with Chris Sullivan, the man behind the Gnar bars. The Gnar bar and the Trailhead feature the Control Curve bend—an extra bend in the grip area said to match the curve of a palm. The Trailhead sweeps forward then back at 28 degrees, ...

Tester: Mike Cushionbury | Age: 45 | Height: 5’10″ | Weight: 155 lbs. | Inseam: 32” Trek discontinued its 26-inch-wheeled Top Fuel cross-country line a few years back in favor of the successful Gary Fisher 29er Superfly FS. Now, as the Superfly grows long in the tooth, the Top Fuel is reborn for 2016. And it’s as modern ...

By Stevil Kinevil This is the landscape of your standard local ride. You’ve seen it all a hundred times before, but have you really? Taking a friend to your usual stomping grounds and showing them your loop is a fantastic way of blowing the dust off of your proverbial routine. It slows things down and ...

While there are plenty of places to ride a fat bike on groomed trails in Colorado, most of them are cross-country ski trails and snowmobile trails. Grooming snow trails specifically for bikes has been slower to catch on out West than it has in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes states. One place where that ...

Editor’s note: This interview originally appeared in Gunnar Shogren’s regular “Wuzzupdiddat?” column in Dirt Rag Issue #39, published in August 1994. Photo by Tom Moran. Summit Near the Summit, or “Clowns at the Round Table” When: July 17,1994, the day following NCS #5. Where: Spokane, Washington. Who: Floyd Landis riding for GT Bicycles, Willy Goeghegan ...

Hollywood Racks is giving away a Trail Rider Hitch Bike Rack with a set of Fat Tire Wheel Holders. You could win them both just by completing the short survey, below. The Trail Rider will fit almost any style of bike using a padded universal top clamp and adjustable wheel holders. Simply drop the bike into ...

Want to upgrade your frame to Boost spacing but don’t want to buy all new kit? The Lindarets Boostinator allows the use of existing 12x142mm and 15x100mm hubs and wheels with 12x148mm and 15x110mm Boost frames and forks. Boostinator Overview: Allows for frame or fork upgrades without the need for new wheels Kits become part ...

Hawaii is a bucket-list destination for travelers, but how is the riding? The 16-mile Skyline downhill run, beginning at 9,900 feet atop a dormant volcano, is the highlight of the Poli Poli Springs ride area on Maui. Our web editor described this ride in Issue #177 after enjoying it, herself:  On a good day, you can ...

Tester: Jon Pratt | Age: 45 | Height: 5’11” | Weight: 195 lbs. | Inseam: 31” The Canfield EPO is a sexy carbon 29er hardtail born from the gravity-loving minds at Canfield Brothers. Its very name is meant to take a jab at the carbon hardtail 29er racing crowd. This is by no means a ...

Whether your ride exclusively in technical apparel or prefer jeans and the stack of old cotton shirts you saved from rock concerts, there are two investment pieces that can be worn multiple times between washes, extend the usefulness of your usual cycling gear and help get you through winter: a great jacket and a great base ...

Editor’s note: This Colleen Corcoran interview of Jacquie Phelan first appeared in Dirt Rag Issue #127, published in April 2007. Illustration by Damara Kaminecki. Founder of WOMBATS—Women’s Mountain Bike and Tea Society—Jacquie Phelan (alter ego: Alice B. Toeclips) sleeps beneath an electric blanket in a treehouse named Offhand Manor at the foot of Mount Tam. ...

The Carbonara is a new, leaf-sprung carbon fat bike fork from Iceland-based Lauf. It offers 60 mm (2.35 inches) weighing in at 1100 grams (2.4 pounds) and it could be yours just for answering a few questions below. The Carbonara will accept 26-inch fat bike tires up to 4.8 inches wide, or a standard 29plus setup with 3-inch tires. ...

For this week’s Featured Ride, we’re taking you to Peru in the southern hemisphere. Though this might seem like a great winter destination, this ride is actually available during the local winter season, May to November. This 33-mile shuttle ride descends from an elevation of 11,191 feet all the way down to the Pacific Ocean, gaining just ...

Tester: William Kirk Age: 32 | Height: 5’ 9″ | Weight: 185 lbs. | Inseam: 31” Overview Like many riders, I fell victim to the enduro bike bug. After almost 15 years of owning various downhill bikes, this was finally the year I said goodbye to owning a gravity-specific rig. Despite my admiration for long, slack, one-trick ponies, ...

Hope Tech started with Ti-glide hubs back in 1993. In this edit, meet the people behind Hope’s made-in-England products and see the extent of designing, testing and manufacturing that goes into each hub. Hope Pro 4: Behind the Hubs from hopetech on Vimeo.

Registration is now open for the seventh-annual Dirt Rag Dirt Fest, aka the most awesome mountain bike festival in America, aka the most fun you can have camping and riding your bike. This year’s event, presented by Pivot Cycles, takes place May 20-22, 2016, at Raystown Lake in central Pennsylvania. Sign up now! You’ll find 36 ...

This story comes from the print edition’s column “Behind the Wheel with Bama” written by Chris Milucky, aka Bama. Considering we’re in the throes of winter now, it felt appropriate to share. It might be cold, but you should still get out there and ride. — Ed. We’d been riding Sedona, Arizona, singletrack and drinking all ...

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in Dirt Rag Issue #161, published in February 2012. Words and photos by Maurice Tierney. Ventana, Spanish for window, is a 240,000 acre Wilderness Area near Big Sur, California. That special place was the inspiration for the naming of Ventana Mountain Bikes in 1988. Today, the Spanish naming convention ...

Ethiopia is not the place you probably think it is. It’s high, cold and has some of the most dramatic landscapes that pro-photographer and Trail Ninja series host Dan Milner has ever shot. He joined pro riders Sarah Leishman and Kamil Tatarkovic for an eight-day traverse of the country’s Simien Mountains and a bike ascent ...

The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is looking to hire a professional two-person team (usually spouses or long-term significant others) for the highly successful Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew program. This full-time exempt position requires a passion for mountain biking, excellent communication and volunteer organizational skills, basic knowledge of trailwork, and team compatibility. The crew will ...