Garth Lockhart of Andover, MA is known by the local kids as the “wheelie man” and on September 12 he’s going to try to break the world record for the longest wheelie. The current record is 8 miles (!) set by a 14-year-old doing laps inside a gymnasium. Lockhart’s attempt will add a degree of difficulty as his route will take him 9+ miles from his home in Andover, MA down Route 28 to Buchika’s Bike Shop in Salem, NH. He’s already ridden 14-15 mile wheelies so who knows, maybe he’ll just keep riding once he gets to Salem!

At age 21 Lockhart had a dream that he could do a long distance wheelie but was angry when he woke up and realized he couldn’t. He started practicing and today he rides about 375 miles a week, doing a wheelie about 90% of the way. Seriously. Check out the video to see Garth in action and to hear his story. Can anyone tell what kind of mountain bike he’s riding?

via BostonHerald.com.

photo via blessingofthebikes.com.

Here’s something you may not have seen before: a church service dedicated to bike riders. The 12th Annual Blessing of the Bikes will take place at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in NYC on April 10, 2010 at 9:30am.

During the service a priest sprinkles bikes with Holy Water and there’s a moment of silence for cyclists who have passed away during the previous year. The whole event is very low key and is suited for people of all faiths (or even none at all). Here’s what the organizer has to say:

The interesting thing to me about The Blessing of the Bikes is that some people take it very seriously, some think it’s all a big joke, and some are deeply offended. No mater which of those opinions works best for you… good on you!

Mountain biking (and cycling in general) can be dangerous and many riders no doubt take comfort in blessing their bikes for the upcoming season. A quick search brings up mentions of similar services in New Hampshire and Michigan so check with your local bike shop to see if there’s a service near you!

A sampler of MTB news from this week:

Bike rescue team rescues missing hikers: Yet another example of bikers helping hikers, this time in Manchester, NH. A group of 4 hikers became lost on Case Mountain this week during a thunderstorm and after alerting authorities of their situation via cell phone the bicycle rescue team found them within hours. Mountain bikes being used to help people? Who would’ve thought

Photo courtesy Pique newsmagazine | Whistler

Women are MTB’s fastest growing demographic: That’s good news, but what other demographics are we comparing? If we’re talking gender demographics it had to be men or women… At any rate, more and more women are discovering mountain biking every year and Whistler’s newsmagazine Pique has an in depth article about some of the women who put the men to shame at the MTB park. Good one to pass along to your wife or significant other…

Photo embed codes and contest updates: We’ve added an easy way for you to embed your singletracks MTB photos on forums or other websites using the “share” link found in the dashboard on photo pages. Just click, copy, and paste. For MTB photos, it’s time to kick the photobucket

The video contest is off to a strong start and it’s super close among the top contributors. There is still plenty of time left to get your video links in and don’t forget you also get points for rating or commenting on trail videos!