Overview

We’re super excited this is going down and we thank all of those who have pioneered this and gotten it approved by all related governing bodies. This is a major feature that is getting national attention for Howard County MD in regards to progressive MTB culture. As many riders are getting older, they are having children. This is the training ground we will use to expose those beginners to all types of terrain found in the Mid Atlantic riding.

I spoke with Melanie Nystrom this past Friday. Melanie is an XC racer, mom and the woman in charge of pioneering this project and seeing it through all the red tape. Fundraising has gone exceptionally well and Melanie is very proud of the hard work she has put in to get this project to where it is. Rightfully so. On every rider’s behalf, we’d like to send a special THANKS to Melanie.

During our conversations we discussed the goal of the park. This is very much a skills park. While IMBA is seeing to it that there is “something for everyone” here, this park is really more of a place people will go to learn what type of terrain Patapsco State Park has and how to tackle it. From what we saw on our initial visit a few days ago (see pics and vid), the flow lines (blue on the map below) look fun and some-what challenging for those who do not dirt jump every day. We understand that the more difficult line (red as seen below) will be more technical to navigate. Melanie told us that IMBA is shooting for riders to ride this line circa 4 mph. It will be rocky with some logs to ride and possibly some other features. Lots of trust is being put on IMBA to do what they do and make these lines wonderful. As part of this project, MORE is supplying IMBA trail builders with all the heavy equipment they need and overnight accommodations until the project is complete.

A Short Vid Of The Build

Pics of the Build In Progress

These are the the green and blue lines as outlined in the illustration below these pics.

Park Design

01. Pump Track
- low-risk circular track for a wide range of skill levels.  Especially appealing to new riders and children.

02. Uphill Return Trail
- singletrack trail at a low grade to allow riders to climb to the top.

03. Rock Armored Climbing Trail
- steep, technically challenging climb.

04. Shortcut

05. Easy Flow Trail
- small rollers and berms that will allow riders to experience bike-optimized trails

06. More Difficult Flow Trail
- a combination of bike optimized table tops, berms, and short rock drops for more-experienced cyclists.

07.  Most Difficult Descending Trail
- technical descending trail with emphasis on rock technical trail features.  Will also include log technical trail features and multiple options.

About The Skills Park

http://www.RockburnSkillsPark.org

Mid-Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts (M.O.R.E), Howard County Recreation and Parks, and International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) have created a private-public partnership to build a mountain bike skills area in Rockburn Branch Park; a 450 acre location in Elkridge, Maryland across the street from Patapsco Valley State Park.  It will consist of multiple trails of varying complexity and will be called The Rockburn Skills Park. IMBA is flying in world-class trail builders and designers and MORE is raising the funding and providing volunteer support.  The final product will be donated to the park system and will be free for the public to use.  The park will include a pavilion, a pump track and three downhill lines: one for beginners, one for intermediate riders, and one for more advanced riders. This will be a family-first facility where Howard County kids and adults can hone their bicycle riding skills.

It’s been almost two years since Trek bought Ray’s Mountain Bike Park in Cleveland, OH. Old news. But we’re finding that a lot of riders haven’t heard of this. We threw this post together with crappy iPhone pics to show the changes we’ve noticed since the buy-out. Most of these changes are for the better, and we have Trek to thank for that.

01. Ray’s Opens in Milwaukee, WI

Bless Ray for opening the original park. But everyone knows the bike industry (and the retail industry in general) is a ball buster business to make a profit in. Highly doubt Ray would have been able to raise the capital as a sole proprietor to open the second location and keep it in the black. With Trek behind him, Ray is now a part of something big. Fisher, Bontrager, Armstrong, LeMond, Klein and now Petro. Not a bad cast of characters to associate yourself with.

02. Wayfinding

Sounds trite, but this signage was never a part of Ray’s before Trek.  It’s nice to have and it helps noobs figure their way around the joint. Great if you bring your girl or your kids.

03. Clean Pissers & Sinks

If you’ve been going to Ray’s for a while, you remember what the former “bathrooms” looked like. This is a massive improvement. And they are kept clean.

04. Sponsors Are Trek Partners

Yeah, it’s a bit more polished and commercialized, but whatever. The signage looks good on the walls and it helps keep the place open. Sure, there were lots of sponsors before. But there were various bike companies and the like. Now, all you see are Trek partners. A subtle change, but noticeable.

05. Press, Press, Press

This is the wall in the lounge of the Rhythm Room. It used to look like shit. Now it looks a wonderful wall of self-promo via third party endorsement. Smart.

06. Heat, Warm Heat

In the lounge, in the bathroom, you get to stay warmer than you used to. All thanks to these gas powered babies.

07. Trek Bike Demo

Whatever the current year is, you can try the bike of your choice (sans DH rigs) thanks to this, uh, shed? Mulally and Mosely’s frames from 2011 are in the knee-high cases to the right and left.

08. Trek Rental Fleet

Renting? Why not ride a Trek? Shit photo but you get it. Lotsa Treks.

09. Bros Over Pros

The pro bikes hanging on the wall used to belong to Cam MccAul, Jeff Lenosky, and lots of other riders. But they don’t ride Treks so, you know, they are gone now. Replaced by bikes for pros who ride for Trek.

Our boys Monger and Wask from over at TractionMag.com headed out with Sam from ChuffMD.com to take a rare chance in January and ride the big bikes on our local trails here in MD (Patapsco State Park). This is the nice little edit the guys came up with. Coincidentally, they were out the same weekend we were grabbing these shots.

Summer in January with Chuff from smiggins12 on Vimeo.

We’ve had an exceptionally mild winter (so far) here in the Mid-Atlantic. And our crew has been taking full advantage. From hitting private riding spots in Pennsylvania, to tucked away freeride trails here in Maryland, it’s been about keeping the progression moving forward as much as possible during the colder part of the riding season. Here are some of the better shots that came from some of these sessions.

Me on the Commencal...Tucked Away Freeride Trail, MD

8" of Travel in Full Use

Gary Lessner Dropping In

Me, Small Gap on Drugs Trail in Patapsco State Park

Gary on Drugs, Patapsco State Park

Me, Private Land Near Maryland Line

Photo Courtesy of VitalMTB.com

There are a ton of bullshit MTB talkers these days.

These blowhards are busy filling our ears with nonsense about a bike’s ability to “roll over stuff.” They’re also talking shit about how much a bike needs to weight, what few gears it needs, and what the ideal tire size is. I wonder if these talkers realize that there are guys like Mark Weir who can pedal a 30+ pound enduro bike right up their asses – both uphill and down. And Mark ain’t alone. There are plenty of non-pros that maintain the same ability and mindset.

Meet Justin Frey – an in-house guy over at Fox Racing. Justin inspired me to write this post. Why? Cause we think alike. And it isn’t often I read an article where someone is answering questions the very same way I would.

VitalMTB: Break down your personal trail bike and downhill bike setups.

Justin Frey: My DH bike is a balanced, smooth operator, dialed (I can’t stand if something isn’t working the way it should), and QUIET. Anybody that knows me knows how particular I am about this, it’s a straight up fact that a quiet bike is faster and WAY more fun to ride! My trail bike is balanced, quiet and set up to rally the downhills even if it means suffering a bit more on the climbs. One ring up front, full chain guide (thanks Gamut), dropper post, 50 or 55mm stem and at least 711mm wide bars.

Music to my ears. Especially those last two sentences. My bikes and my maintenance approach follow this set up to a tee.

VitalMTB: How many bikes do you actually have set up at home and around the office for testing?

Justin Frey: ….. a 160mm trail-slaying machine. If I could only have one bike it would definitely be this one…..Ride it all day and smash down hills with a grip of confidence…..[no] 29er fully rigid single speeds.

Ditto.

VitalMTB: Can you believe that full-rigid carbon mountain bikes exist in 2012?

Justin Frey: I wish I didn’t because it’s kind of like a bad nightmare that won’t go away. At that point, isn’t that just a road bike with knobby tires and straight bars? I really think that XC race venues need to make their tracks more technical and challenging so that racers actually feel that riding a bike with 100mm or 120mm of travel is an advantage. After all it is MOUNTAIN BIKING not fire road biking.

Nuff said. Thanks VitalMTB for the interview.

What do you think? Is this chick shredding or is the vid lame?

Cannot believe this fool has the audacity to walk.

Photo Credits: Sven Martin

Damn Lopes. You dropped that shit mad early. Crazy news but it’s the way things go. Really admire these three riders and look forward to where they land, what color paint they rock, and what the podiums looks like with their new garb. Gotta say, with that Atherton / Animal name tatted on the side of my bike, I’ll be a bit sad to see em on a new brand and new colors but fuck it. The world’s gotta keep changing to evolve and get better, right?

Read the complete article here….

BLAOW. The Green Machine Arrives.

Building this one up for my girl. That’s right. She’s been riding downhill. Amazing, really, considering she never really rode before. Her first mountain was Highland. What a way to start. Then Diablo. Took me 8 years of riding to gear up for these places and she just starts there. I have friends who are XC machines that own AM builds and haven’t even been to these places. You know who you are. Yeah, I’m talking to you.

Anyway, my girlie’s been riding a Santa Cruz Superlight on these DH trails. Yeah that bike. Not safe. So she gets this Nomad. Build pics to follow, bitches. Thanks to Garen @SantaCruzBikes on the prodeal.