Thanks to everyone who participated in the VholdR contest last month. Maddslacker ran away with the lead early on and never looked back. Soon he’ll be the proud owner of a slick VholdR Contour HD helmet camera and we expect to see some sweet videos from him soon!

By the end of the contest, members linked 437 new trail videos to singletracks trail listings and added footage for more than 100 trails. The video tab on our trail pages is quickly becoming the most popular destination and with sweet HD video it’s no surprise

Thanks to VholdR for hooking it up on this contest! Stay tuned for more contests in September…

Over the past few weeks we’ve been working hard to improve the trail mapping tools here on singletracks and I wanted to talk about some of the progress we’ve made so far. If you submitted GPS trail data recently you know we’ve been super slow approving stuff but hopefully by the end of the week we’ll be all caught up.

One of the things we found this summer is that a lot of people are getting into riding with a GPS but they aren’t really sure how to format and share the resulting data. Admittedly we haven’t done a great job organizing our GPS tutorials here on singletracks but it’s definitely on the to-do list. In the meantime, I’ll sum up our philosophy on mapping trail systems: 1 trail system, 1 map. If it takes multiple trips to map an entire trail system, use software like TopoFusion or GPSApp.net (more on that site later) to combine all the tracks into a single GPX file for the entire park.

Last week we made sweeping changes to the back end of our map serving system and while you may not notice any visible changes right away, this allows us to do some cool stuff in the future (like color coded trails, individually named trails within trail systems, and custom waypoint icons). We’re even looking at ways to allow subscribers to “mash up” trail maps to create their own routes by combining multiple trail systems - something our old system wouldn’t allow.

This week we also added the ability for subscribers to rate and comment on shared routes in the GPS Activity Tracker and linked those shared routes on the “official trail map” tab. So in addition to the “1 map, 1 trail system,” you can also see and download specific routes others take within a trail system.

Finally, I want to briefly mention a beta project we’re working on called GPSApp.net. The site allows you to upload data directly from your Garmin GPS device or GPX data file and provides tools for formatting, grouping, and cleaning up your GPS trail data. The site is free to use and we’ve even set up a forum thread here on singletracks to collect feedback. Many of the features found on GPSApp.net may eventually migrate to singletracks so if you want a preview of what’s to come, check out GPSApp.net!

So we’re heading to Interbike next month where we plan on recognizing the best mountain bike products of 2009 while previewing the new 2010 stuff. Based on your reviews we’ve put together a draft list of the best mountain bikes and accessories from ‘09 which you can check out right now. The list will be finalized on September 1, 2009.

That leaves just a couple weeks for everyone to get in last minute reviews of their favorite MTB gear. The top products in each category are selected based on a weighted average of the following criteria:

- Average rating in 2009
- Number of reviews in 2009
- Number of member wishlist entries
- Number of members who own the item

If you haven’t updated your lists or reviewed your MTB gear, do it now so your vote is counted! Then be sure to check back in September to see which products make the final cut.

A little while back I wrote a review on Mavic’s Crossline wheel set which was and still is a great set of wheels. But I recently got a chance to ride with the Crossline’s big brother, the Mavic Crossmax SX, and the experience left me impressed. Now don’t think the big brother is larger or heavier than its sibling; in fact the Crossmax SX set weighs 300 grams less!

The 2009 Crossmax SX wheel set has a completely redesigned rear hub that drops 165 grams of weight and makes use of the same ITS-4 (instant transfer system 4) pawl cassette engagement found in the Crossline set. This means that 2 pawls are in engagement at all times and each pawl is separately sprung. The hubs’ look has also been updated and sport a white finish which fits nicely with the awesome white graphics on the rims.

Mavic has always been known for great looking, high performance wheels and this year they’re keeping the pedal to the metal. The 2009 Crossmax SX wheels sport a new gray anodized finish and fresh white graphics - but don’t think these rims are all style without any substance. After the rim is shot peened it is put through a chemical anodization process which adds a very tough micro hardness exterior layer to increase the life and durability of the wheel. While forming and shaping the rim, Mavic welds and machines everything flat in a process called SUP for extra precision. Mavic is also able to save weight through their inter spoke milling process using a CNC machine to remove excess material between each spoke.

The Crossmax SX wheels roll with 24 straight pull Zicral spokes (aluminum) compared to 28 steel spokes on the Crosslines. The front axle is available in a 20mm configuration only while the rear can either be a 12×135 through axle  or 9×135 QR. The Mavic Crossmax SX wheels seem to fit best on bikes with 140 - 160mm travel and tires that are 2.3 - 2.5″ wide.

Mavic Crossmax SX wheels are UST meaning they can used with tubeless tires. Looking at the inside of the rim there are no protruding spoke holes and therefore nowhere for air to leak. The rim also has a drop center that provides a small channel for air to inflate a UST tire and force the tire over safety ridges to hold the air-tight beads in place. Mavic even created a special manufacturing process called FORE to fit the special Mavic M7 spoke nipple which makes the wheel much stiffer and more fatigue resistant.

It took me very little time to get the Mavic Crossmax SX wheels up and running. Seeing that these are tubeless I grabbed a set of  tires that I happened to have around and got to work. Installing a UST tire is pretty much the same as a tubed tire, just use soapy water and wet the sidewalls of the tire before inflating (it really helps popping the tire is place with less pressure).

On the trails I really felt the difference the wheels made right away, especially when comparing the Crossmax SX running UST tires vs. Crossline wheels with tubes. Right off the bat I lost a total of  630grams (or  1.38 pounds) of rotational mass after making the switch. The coolest part: there is zero strength lost and the Crossmax SX wheels feel super stiff. That stiffness gives the rider greater freedom to change lines more quickly and with less effort while tracking oh so well in tight berms. I had an awesome time on the trails smashing my way down slopes with a much greater degree of control and freedom than I had before.

These wheels are also incredibly efficient in acceleration. Remember these are not DH wheels and they’re not meant for very big hits or fast descents through rock gardens. But after a good thrashing I must say these wheels held up great, though I did have to use the M7 truing key (supplied with the wheels) to take out a small wow on the rim after encountering a rather large log. Speaking of tools, Mavic supplies you with everything you need to service these wheels including an M7 truing key, 12 and 9mm frame supports, rear QR, and a bearing adjustment tool. They even toss in the UST valves if that’s the way you want to go.

At $899.00 USD ($1340.00 CDN) these are not cheap wheels but if look carefully you may find them for a lower price. Ultimately these wheels are worth a few extra bucks because they hold up to abuse and won’t hassle you with any worries or problems on the trail.

Cheers.

A quick thanks to the folks at OGC for the Mavic wheels and of course Opus for a stable and reliable bike to do my testing with.

In case anyone was worried that I was lying on the side of a trail somewhere due to the lack of blog posts this week - good news! On Tuesday mudhunny delivered a 7lb, 2oz baby girl named Kendall. We’re back home now and are already trying to figure out how to attach Kendall to a bike!

Anyway, you may notice it takes longer to reply to your emails or approve your submissions over the next couple weeks but we’ll be back strong soon. element22 has some great reviews coming down the pipe and we’ll try to get a few of them posted starting this weekend. In the meantime, get out and ride while you can!

Post your mountain bike cable nightmares on the forums this week for a chance to win a set of bomb-proof Gore RideOn Derailleur Cables. If you’re not familiar with Gore cables, these cables are nothing like the ones that came with your bike - they’re quick, precise, low friction, and highly evolved. Read element22’s blog post about his RideOn experience and you’ll be sold!

So… what exactly qualifies as a cable nightmare? Here are just a few things we’ve seen go wrong with cables over the years:

- Snapped cables due to snags
- Cracked and loose cable housings
- Incorrectly installed cables
- Excessive cable stretch
- Frayed cables and cable ends
- Seized cables due to cable housing friction
- Inconsistent shifting and braking
- Rusted cables (seriously!)

Tell us about your cable nightmare on the forums and if we pick your story to share on the blog next week you’ll score a set of Gore cables ($65 MSRP). Nothing scary about that!

Heil Valley Ranch map courtesy Boulder County. (you are not actually “here” )

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: singletracks.com exists to help you find the best mountain bike trails. We’re serious about making trail information more accessible and we’re always adding new features like the interactive trailhead map to help you find the best dirt. We’ve put a lot of thought into organizing trail information over the last 11 years and with all the new members on singletracks this summer we thought it would be a good time to talk about our trail organization philosophy.

Perhaps the most important question to start with is: What makes a trail a trail? We actually wrote about this 2 years ago in detail but I’ll try to boil down our ideas to a few simple points:

1. Just because a trail has a name doesn’t mean it needs its own listing or map on singletracks. Places like Palmer Park have at least a half dozen named trails contained within the park but it gets just one listing. Same goes for open spaces, trail networks, preserves, etc. This makes it so riders don’t have to look at 6 different pages just to see what a MTB destination is all about. The image above shows a map of Heil Valley Ranch which contains 4 named trails but a single listing.
2. Length is important. The Colorado Trail is hundreds of miles long and it’s impossible to ride the whole thing in a day. In this case it makes sense to break the trail listings into single trip segments that start and end at established trailhead areas with convenient parking even though it is technically a single trail.
3. Trails need to be open to mountain biking on a regular basis to be listed on singletracks. Clearly this means illegal trails should never be listed but it also means trails on private property that are only open for occasional races shouldn’t be either. Some trails are open opposite hunting season while others are only open one month a year - these are ok to be listed, just be sure to make closure information clear in the description.

Unlike some other MTB sites you may have used, we’re constantly checking for duplicate trail listings and updating trail info based on member feedback. We’ve even set it up so all the reviews, photos, wishlist entries, etc. are transferred when we have to consolidate duplicate trail listings to keep all the info in one place. Sweet.

Want to add a trail but aren’t sure if it needs a new listing? First, search the site to see if it’s already listed using the trailhead map or the search box at the top of the page. Also feel free to email us if you have questions - we’re here to help and we love finding out about new trails!

Just wanted to let everyone know the HuckNRoll.com coupon promotion is officially over but there are literally 3 coupons left to give out today - though no guarantees and you’ll have to hurry! We ran out of coupons about a week early so clearly people were stoked for such a great deal with their singletracks membership purchase…

If you were one of the lucky subscribers to receive a HuckNRoll.com coupon code remember you only have until August 1, 2009 to get $10 off your order at HuckNRoll.com. There’s no minimum purchase and they have some really nice stuff online including complete bikes from Santa Cruz, Titus, and Rocky Mountain. Thanks to HuckNRoll for hooking it up for this promo - show them so love this week!

We’ve been pretty swamped here with new members and content this month but we’ve also found time to make a few updates:

1. Members can now edit trail information. If you added a trail to singletracks you can now update trail details yourself anytime - including mileage, configuration, directions, description, and more! Of course all registered members can continue to add trail reviews, closure information, photos, videos, and GPS data using the trail dashboard on the right side of the trail pages.

2. Trail tags version 1.0 is now live (again). Some members recently pointed out that our trail tagging system was broken and this week we finally got around to getting things straightened out. It’s simple to add descriptive tags to any trail using - you guessed it! - the trail dashboard. We’ve even posted a short blurb about how trail tags work and include some suggestions to get you started.

We plan on integrating trail tags even more in the future but for now you can view the most popular tags, find individual trail tags at the bottom of each trail page, and view your personal tags to help you organize your favorite places to ride. Here are a few cool tags to check out to see how this works: NC Triangle, fast, and technical.

3. Forum issues resolved? A few of you have reported having trouble posting to the forums with random cursor movements but now we’re hearing that things seem to be back to normal. This fall we’ll be making some big changes to the forums so look for continued improvements…

More singletracks news to come, including a post explaining how we organize and map trail information, new contest details, and much more. Summer rocks!

This week we added the 700th mountain bike trail map to singletracks and it’s amazing to see how many people are riding with GPS units these days compared to just a couple years ago. Officially singletracks members have mapped 706 trails covering 8,409 trail miles and 1.5 million feet of climbing (!). Assuming someone could ride each trail at an average speed of 9mph it would take a person nearly 40 days of continuous riding to cover all the trails. Of course you’d need to factor in some travel time since the mapped trails span 4 continents!

We’re constantly working to improve the map data and just yesterday we rolled out new and improved elevation profiles on all the maps (see the image above). Even bigger improvements are in the works including high res maps and easier GPS data uploads/downloads.

Don’t forget we’re giving away $10 HuckNRoll.com coupons with every subscription purchase this month while supplies last. Now is a great time to upgrade your membership to take advantage of this amazing resource!

Most MTB trail maps by state

Colorado: 136 maps
California: 86 maps
Georgia: 53 maps
North Carolina: 53 maps
Wyoming: 37 maps

If you’re on the fence about upgrading your singletracks account or purchasing a subscription for the first time, today is your lucky day! The guys at HuckNRoll.com have hooked it up and they’re giving new singletracks subscribers $10 off coupons to their huge online MTB shop. This offer is extremely limited and once the coupons are gone, they’re gone…

Some restrictions apply, so here’s the fine print. You’ll receive your unique coupon code via email within 24 hours of your singletracks membership purchase (free basic accounts are not eligible) and you can also view your code on your “My Account” page at that time. Coupon codes can only be used once and there is no minimum purchase at HuckNRoll.com. Your coupon code will expire August 1, 2009. Purchases of complete bikes, frames and wheels, Fox Racing, Oakley, Nixon, The North Face, and Sidi Footwear are not eligible for the $10 off coupon. Singletracks membership purchases made prior to June 25, 2009 are also not eligible. Terms, conditions, and restrictions may be updated at any time.

Of course if you have any questions, feel free to email us - info@singletracks.com - and we’ll do our best to take care of you.

About HuckNRoll

Started by the peeps who brought us Backcountry.com, HuckNRoll.com stocks more than 6,000 MTB products from 130 brands. The site opened its virtual doors just last month but it’s already taking the industry by storm. Just read this excerpt from the launch press release:

HuckNroll.com is an online mountain bike shop. You heard right. Online. And we wouldn’t be putting it lightly to say that the bike industry didn’t want us. The consensus when we first approached suppliers about launching a high-end online mountain bike shop was, “It will never work, the bike industry is different.” Our response? “Damn right, it’s different. It’s the last industry in existence to accept the Internet as a viable sales channel.”

Read the rest of the press release here - you’ll be ROFL.

About Singletracks Memberships

With a singletracks Trail membership you’ll get access to nearly 700 MTB trail maps (695 to be exact) complete with GPS data, topo maps, and elevation profiles. More maps are being added every day and your annual membership gives you access to EVERY MAP as it’s added.

The singletracks Pro membership adds an online training app and full access to the GPS data manager. With the training app you can keep track of all your workouts, on the trail or off while the GPS data manager lets you map and plot all your rides.

One more secret: you can get a big discount off our annual rate by purchasing a 2-year membership. With the HuckNRoll coupon it’s almost like getting the second year for free - just don’t tell anyone

Ok, so we missed the first day of summer by a couple days but better late than never, right? Today we posted a Google Map showing singletracks trails around the world using the location info you’ve been submitting over the last several weeks. This is just Phase I of the project but we’re pretty stoked to say the least! A few notes to help you navigate:

1. Start by clicking a trailhead cluster to zoom in. Once you’re zoomed in enough you’ll start to see individual trailhead pins.
2. Many trailhead locations shown are approximate. As we mentioned before we need your help pinpointing MTB trailheads and the white markers on the map show trailheads that have not been precisely located. Many mountain bike trails aren’t even shown on the map because the city/state info is incorrect (for example, a trail city submitted as “Atlanta/Decatur” instead of just “Decatur”). If you come across a trail listing with a weird city, please submit an error correction using the link on the right side of the trail page.
3. Trails sharing the same trailhead and/or the same approximated city/state are combined into a single pin on the map. We did this so you can click on all the trails (no overlapping pins) and as a bonus it’s already helped us identify duplicate trail listings.
4. You can hover over pins to view trail names; click pins to view a link, thumbnail, length, and difficulty info.
5. The map is updated once a day so if you just added a new trail it may take a bit for it to show up on the map.

So there you have it, a Google Map showing singletracks trail locations - now you can all stop emailing me There’s more to come as we integrate the map even further, stay tuned this summer and fall…