Rattling Creek Gains IMBA Epic Status

In a development that I might say has been a long time coming, Rattling Creek and the work done by Keith, Jill, Rick and their band of merry elves has been given the recognition it so deserves by being named an official IMBA Epic.


It is a great and well deserved recognition of this far-too-secret stash of trails and what we hope is the first step of a plan to help the local communities benefit from increased visitation of riders to the area.

Of course we're also psyched since Rattling Creek is home to our August Rattling 50 and Rattling 25 MTB events and in 2012 will play host to the MASS Series Finals!

Read more at IMBA's site:

 

http://www.imba.com/epics/rattling-creek

Vegas Connection

We had a wonderful trip to InterBike, the yearly North American cycling industry expo, and are ecstatic about the positive response our mainstay event, the Trans-Sylvania Epic, and our efforts to use it to make a positive impact on PA trails is generating within the industry.

Of course, we're still very much a small seed with big plans to toss out all sorts of roots - you gotta start somewhere!  But, to walk into booths and introduce ourselves only to have someone there say, "Oh!  Trans-Sylvania Epic!  I was hoping you guys would be here. We really want to talk to help with everything you're doing!"  Or, to go into a meeting with a past sponsor who starts the conversation by saying, "Look, we don't want to have to do this again next year, can we just sign on for two years?" is a great feeling for any event let alone an organization that is as young as this one. 

Every one of these sponsors that comes aboard Trans-Sylvania makes a positive contribution to the work we're doing the Outdoor Experience Org.  Without their support of the event we would not be able to give back what we do to PA trails.  With their continued and expanding support we'll be able to do more and more every year. 

Not only are these guys supporting a great event, but in doing so are making a contribution to making your PA trails better.  Please help us in thanking them by sending an email, visiting their websites, considering this when making your next purchase or something as simple as hitting them up on facebook.

We are really excited for what 2012 is going to bring both for the event and for the expanding impact the OEO can and will make with this sort of support.

Project Numero Tres

As you may know, we've a couple projects on our plates.  We'll be in Lykens this fall working on some of what we've blogged about on here before with an IMBA visit.  Plus we'll start the heavy clean up from the devastating summer at the farm as the underbrush clears enough to access the parts hit by the tornado and hurricane. 

Certainly that's filling the plate, but we're also planning for the future and are cooking up something we hope will eventually turn into a gathering of the mountain bike masses each fall. 

Frank Maguire (IMBA Mid-Atl Rep) and I have been chatting about this for a while and we're starting to congeal - congeal is a good word as this is taking a while - this idea of a fall PA/Mid-Atl mtb camping weekend where we invite everyone to join us at a new location each fall.  We'll gather at a new place each year, ride a lot, work on trails with the locals, chat about where we're going, what we gotta do to get there and how to make it work and mostly revel in this sweet sweet sport.  We're working on the first edition and are planning a mid-late October weekend (probably the weekend after Iron Cross!) for 2012.  If your club happens to be interested in working with us on this let me know because we'll certainly be looking for clubs to help us pull these together.

Proceeds we raise from this event will go back in PA trail development and enhancement. 

As you may know we've been making donations to trail groups in Central PA, and we can't wait to be in a position to enact our bigger goal for the TSEpic and our other events to benefit clubs throughout the state.

Galbraith Land Acquistion

Using funds from 2011 TSEpic, we've made a contribution to the Galbraith Land Acquisition. We encourage you to do the same! Clearwater Conservancy is only $16K away from the purchase price of $700K. Read more and donate here.

The acquisition is a great addition to Rothrock and will yield some new trails!

Work on new trails in Rothrock

Back on July 10, Ray and Nancy joined the Nittany Mountain Bike Association to work on a new trail just off of Tussey Ridge. It was fun to get dirty!

Rattling Creek 50/25 Milers

In just a few weeks we're headed out to Lykens for the annual Rattlin' MTB Marathon.  We have some big plans for this thing in coming years, but the basis for what we're doing is the incredible Rattling Creek trail network that stretches down the ridge from Lykens to Elizabethtown, PA.  Of course, if you've been following along, you know that we are working on expanding this trail network in the coming years in order to provide a direct trail link to the town of Lykens.  Once completed, the trail connection not only will create a super sweet way to start and finish a mountain bike race right in town, but also encourage greater visitation of Lykens by riders out for a weekend of fun.  It has been shown that connections like this can also bring greater community use which is a great way to do a little something that may help health and wellness.  Basically, the easier you make it for folks to get on the trails the more likely they are to use 'em.  Sounds good to us.

First things first though.  August 22, Rattling 50 and 25  There is even a category for folks that just want to do the 50 miles as an "Experience" ride.  Come out and join us!

Bald Eagle State Forest - Sand Mtn Trails

Just prior to our big fundraiser event, some State College peoples helped us do some improvements and reroutes on the trail system along Sand Mountain Rd in the vicinity of Seven Mountains Scout Camp.

The goals were:

1) to improve drainage of the trails

2) to relocate one section of the trail to avoid a designated roadside campsite

3) to close and blockade renegade trails

With a lot of help from IMBA's Frank Maguire, NMBA's Peter Buckland, and others, we got a lot done here. Using the trails during TSEpic worked our great, and we hope that these beautiful trails will be around for years to come so that others can enjoy.

Happy times.