Dirtscrolls

I used the Summer Showdown, the last Mid Atlantic Super Series race of the season, as my goal for recovering from my knee injury. The course at Bear Creek Ski Mountain in Macungie, Pa. is typically one of the most technical of the series, and tends to suit my strengths as a rider well. They ...

The 2008 Dirt Rag Literature Contest is done and the winner is in print in issue #138, with more great stories to come. We netted a pile of great stories, so many in fact that it made judging pretty difficult – but we’ll have more great stuff for you to read, in this issue, the ...

Dirt Rag‘s Defeet Armskins make a short sleeve jersey into a long sleeve. Armskins are made in the USA from a blend of Merino wool, nylon and Lycra using Defeet’s patented seamless technology, with Stayfast cuff and secure top so they stay put. The snug fit keeps them from slipping and the long length ensures ...

The staff of Dirt Rag Magazine is proud to announce the start of a new venture, called Bicycle Times. This new magazine will focus on the pavement side of the bicycle experience—from commuting, to touring, to riding with family, to pedaling around for the heck of it. The Big Cheese himself, Maurice Tierney, explains: “Bicycle ...

I just came upon a good article about Smorgabord Cycles, and long-gone east coast frame builder. It gives a good background and some insight to what the company was, and where it came from. Check it out here!

Ok, so it’s not really “live” per se. But we do have eight interviews right from the halls of the Sands Convention Center from Interbike last week. We spoke to industry insiders about the effect of current economic conditions on the bike industry, interesting products from interesting people and humanitarian aid with the help of ...

Mahalo, Kona It was my luck this year to begin and end Interbike Outdoor Demo with test rides on two very sweet women specific bikes. Early Monday morning, I swung by the Kona tent and picked up the first ride of the day, the Kona Lisa 120 Deluxe.  Kona has been busy finessing to perfection this ...

Interbike photos? Yeah, we got those. In fact, over 500 picece of Interbike eye candy adorn  Dirt Rag‘s photo gallery. So what are you waiting for?

For those of us that regularly pedal for transportation, there’s nothing worse than being trapped someplace without a bike. Traditionally, the worst part of going to Interbike is being stuck at a bike show without a bike. Fortunately, some kind individuals from an assortment of companies allowed us to borrow their Dirt Demo bikes for ...

For the sake of time, I am posting this entry for long time Dirt Rag friend Evan Perrone. Evan accompanied Dirt Rag to Las Vegas for Interbike to help out at the booth, provide comic relief, and to try to get us arrested. In exchange we fed him peanuts, found him a commuter bike, and ...

After spending most of a week bike and kayak packing around the Adirondack’s it was time for some more serious riding (Part 6). Starting from Middle Lake Saranac, it was a beautiful drive across Route 9W through the High Peaks area and over to Essex, where I picked up the ferry across Lake Champlain.  Crossing ...

All Hail the King! Bright lights, thousands of people, fake conditioned air and flashy paint. The week long show of Interbike is enough to drive any sane man crazy and I’ve been walking the thin, florescent line since the plane landed on Sunday. Fortunately the Dirt Rag crew stays in a house off the strip ...

This was an intense day: seeking out the good stuff, gathering information and photos, a little TV talk-show action, a little fashion-show action, party at the Kona house, riding down the Strip once again. We don’t have a lot of energy at this point (and frankly, I’m the only one still awake – hey, wazzupwiddat?!?), ...

The heat of the desert might have fried my Irish skin, but my big straw hat kept my brain cool enough to hopefully come away form Outdoor demo with some semi-coherent thoughts about what I rode. I started Outdoor Demo with three full-suspension bikes, the Scott Genius, Niner JET 9 and the new Rocky Mountain ...

It’s out of the sun’s intense rays and into the dark (and sometimes dank) caverns of the Sands Convention Center for the next phase of the Interbike adventure. We walked the halls and took a lot of photos of interesting stuff, we met old friends we haven’t seen since – well, last year’s show, and ...

Dirt Demo Great Escape The Dirt Demo of Interbike at Bootleg Canyon is somewhat of a misleading name. The demo doesn’t consist of just mountain bikes, with flowing trails through the sand, and pinch flats under a scorching sun. There is a plethora of road, tandem, recumbent, and funky other bikes and shenanigans going on. ...

It wasn’t all that long ago that you would have had a very difficult time convincing me to ride anything with six or more inches of travel uphill for any distance. Fortunately, this new wave of six plus inch trail bikes is a whole different breed. Pivot FirebirdGarnering its fair share of trade show buzz ...

At Interbikes past, we used to travel from our digs at a weird, kind of crusty Travelodge on the Vegas Strip to the Sands convention center for the indoor portions of the show on a random assortment of borrowed bikes. Last year we wised up and borrowed some demo bikes from Raleigh and Diamondback, and ...

And we are back from brutally hot Las Vegas, Nevada. (Not Las Vegas, New Mexico… and no, we’re not located in Pittsburg, California, thanks for asking.) It’s been another brutally hot day – sorry to keep commenting on this, but we’re constantly amazed that anyone would willingly live here. Anyway, they’ve at least got some ...

We are live at the first day of the Interbike trade show. It’s a hot one here in Vegas, which leads to more hell comparisons than usual, but we’re persevering for you, our dear audience. (Of course after persevering on the hot and dusty desert trails of Bootleg Canyon, scene of the Demo portion of ...

As my finger triggers the mouse-click that will send this post hurtling through cyberspace, I’m minutes away from locking my front door behind me and embarking on the annual Interbike ritual. I’m not alone. The entire Dirt Rag staff, not to mention everybody and their cousin in the bike industry, are making like buzzards heading ...

The following information is provided in addition to the original article, IMBA Update: Working With the National Park Service – Interview with Jenn Dice, that appeared in Dirt Rag issue #138. List of 44 National Parks with dirt trails and dirt roads open to mountain biking:http://www.imba.com/resources/agencies/nps_dirt_roads.htmlhttp://www.imba.com/resources/agencies/nps_dirt_trails.html Check out IMBA’s site for more information about Take ...

Links to additional information on the Trek and Gary Fisher 2009 model-year press camps covered in Dirt Rag #138 Readings: First Look: Gary Fisher Roscoe First Look: 2009 Trek Fuel EX First Look: 2009 Trek Top Fuel Brain Fart: Cat Herding and Pet Photoggery

Dirt Rag has come a long way since the 16 pages that made up Issue #1 were hand-folded by a group of friends on a ping-pong table in the basement of the home/office. The publication date on that first issue was April 1st, 1989—which makes 2009 Dirt Rag‘s 20th anniversary. As part of the build-up ...

Well, its time for me to pump out a Brain Fart, and unfortunately there are only few things on which I’m currently able to focus. So, I’m going to bore you with those. Right now I’m getting ready for Interbike, and rejoicing in the fact that I’m slowly coming back up to speed from having ...

USA Cycling  recently posted the following announcement on www.usacycling.org: Colorado Springs, Colo. (September 12, 2008)—USA Cycling announced today the development and implementation of a new mountain bike category system set to take effect for the 2009 season. The modification to the existing structure comes after significant analysis and dialogue by the national governing body and ...

For a limited time, you can save up to 16% off the regular price of our cozy Swobo wool jerseys. Made by Swobo from soft Merino wool, these durable jerseys are as stylish as they are functional. Quantities are limited, so shop now and get the them while they last.

Would you like to travel the continent, building  cool singletrack, teaching, building relationships with land managers, and spreading the IMBA love? Here’s the skinny on the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew job opportunity, as reported on imba.com: The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) is searching for a full-time, professional two-person team position in the highly successful ...

My commute to work today made me think about a recent Old Coot article we published a few issues ago. The idea of the article was that you don’t need to ride new and different trails all the time. Sometimes it’s fun and challenging to ride trails closer to home that you’ve ridden several times ...

Director Maurice Tierney VII has released his first major (19min) motion picture on Dirt Rag’s YouTube channel, and the Dirt Rag TV portion of Dirtragmag.com. “Tour of Dirt Rag Magazine” stars Maurice Tierney VI in a role that is sure to secure his stardom, talking the viewer on a tour of the palatial abode where ...

Bikes Belong has announced four grants that will help construct community paths in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Oklahoma—and build some beautiful Colorado singletrack. Centre Region Bicycle Coalition–Musser Gap Greenway (State College, PA)A $10,000 grant will support the Centre Region Bicycle Coalition’s (CRBC) Musser Gap Greenway project in State College, PA. The greenway will connect the Penn ...

According to a statement posted on September 9th on his livestrong.org website, Lance Armstrong has decided to come out of retirement: I am happy to announce that after talking with my children, my family and my closest friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling in order to raise awareness of the global cancer ...

Kona held their 2009 bike launch at Whistler resort on August 14th, 2008. They have been supplying Whistler with it’s rental fleet since the beginning, making it the perfect place to host the launch. Whistler’s legendary trails, state of the art trail building, and ground breaking events can supply every level of rider a good ...

Thanks to photographer Glenn Acker for sharing a ton of cool pictures from the 2008 edition of the Subaru 24-Hour Champion Challenge (a.k.a. the 24-hour race at 7 Springs, PA). Glenn was positioned at the top of “the big climb” and his photos capture the effort (and joy) on the riders’ faces. For your viewing ...

One of my favorite things about mountain bike festivals is the opportunity to ride a variety of different bikes that I would normally only see in magazines. Enter Crankworx Colorado, 2008, Winter Park resort and the Commencal Furious. The nice gentlemen at the BTI booth had the entire Commencal lineup on hand for the shredding, ...

Since the last installment in this series I suffered a bit of a setback with a knee injury, Race Report 5. After Nationals I finally got in to see my orthopedic, the fabulous Doctor Palumbo. After explaining what’s been going on with it, he took a look at it and immediately noticed that one of ...

When I was emailed a few days ago to be reminded that it was my turn for a blog entry, the first thing that came to my mind was “Man not this week. I’ve got no words left”. This deadline has been draining on not only me, but I think on the entire Dirt Rag ...

As many of you know, Harrisonburg, VA is home to a serious mountain bike scene, both in terms of riders and trails.  The eastern half of this country has some amazing riding, and the Harrisonburg area stands with the best. Over the Labor Day weekend, Eric and I loaded the Dirt Rag gas-hog and headed ...

A few weeks ago, we told you that the Colorado Mountain Bike Association (COMBA) had set up the first ever public meeting between the Jefferson County Open Space (JCOS) land managers and the mountain bike community. COMBA board member Gary Hatton tells us that the meeting with JCOS went well. Below is a meeting report ...

After one lap of the course, on which I consumed two beers and a shot, I decided to bail on the next two laps in favor of continuing the party. I decided to film some of the festivities, and have put it all together here in this video. Enjoy!