Roundup: MTB Nat’l Championships, Trail Mediators, and Bike Shop Ettiquette

A diverse set of mountain bike tidbits for you this morning: US National Mountain Bike Championships @ Sol Vista (Granby, CO) this weekend. This is the first year Nationals are being held in the state of Colorado and while the XC course may not cover the best trails Colorado has to offer, it will definitely …

A diverse set of mountain bike tidbits for you this morning:

sol-vista-bike-park

US National Mountain Bike Championships @ Sol Vista (Granby, CO) this weekend. This is the first year Nationals are being held in the state of Colorado and while the XC course may not cover the best trails Colorado has to offer, it will definitely be challenging, especially to those used to riding closer to sea level. Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski is the favorite in the cross-country race after winning the marathon cross-country national race at the Firecracker 50 in Breckenridge earlier this summer. He also has a decent shot at winning short track as well which would make him the first rider to win all 3 titles in a single year.

If you’re heading to the races this weekend give us a shout – we’d love to post your pics and hear about the race!

no-bikes

Trail mediators: Can’t we all just get along? That line was famously spoken by Rodney King during the Los Angeles riots of 1992 and today a mini-riot is brewing among various Los Angeles trail user groups. Back in May the City of Los Angeles hired the Osprey Group from Colorado to mediate a proposal allowing mountain bikes in city parks but it sounds like things didn’t go so well. In fact the final session ended “with hikers and equestrians refusing to give an inch to mountain bikers in city parks.” One local CORBA mountain bike club member had to apologize for losing his temper during the meeting and the mediators packed up and returned to Colorado with little to show for their efforts.

While mountain bikers and other trail groups are finding common ground elsewhere, the opposition is well organized in Los Angeles with the Sierra Club and the National Equestrian groups getting involved in the fight. Let’s just hope this stays civilized…

bike-shop

Bike Shop Ettiquette. Ok, so this one is just for fun and if you’re offended by foul language you may want to skip the link. A Seattle bike shop worker has posted some “tips” for interacting with your local bike shop this summer and these are a few of my favorite lines:

  1. So you want a bike that you can ride to work, goes really fast, is good for that triathlon you’re doing this summer (snicker), is good on trails and mud, and costs less than $300. Yeah. Listen, I want a car that can go 200 miles an hour, tow a boat, has room for five adults, is easy to parallel park but can carry plywood, gets 60mpg, and only costs $3,000. (B)ikes can be fast, light, cheap and comfortable. Pick two, and we’re all good.
  2. No, I don’t know how much a good bike costs. For some, spending $500 dollars is a kingly sum. For others, $500 won’t buy you one good wheel. You really need to have an idea of what you want, because every one of you raccoons “doesn’t want to spend too much”.
  3. I don’t know what size of bike you need. The only thing that I can tell over the phone is that you sound fat. I don’t care how tall you are. I don’t care how long your inseam is. Don’t complain to me that you don’t want to come ALL THE WAY down to the bike shop to get fitted for a bike.

Ha! Sounds like somebody is getting a little stressed dealing with customers this summer. Still, it might be a good idea to treat your LBS workers with a little extra patience – they’d rather be out riding too!