Past and Future

Past:  We went to Singlespeed World Champs in Durango.  It was beyond rad.  Those boys set a new benchmark for grassroots cycling events.  The course was super tough and super fun… an all-too- rare combination in today’s racing scene, though that’s changing fast.  Including here in Arizona, thanks to people like Arizona Endurance Series and Nathan Friedman and Jim Wilcox and Epic Rides. 

Future:  Raven Singletrack Soul Ride (overhyped group ride) coming up in November because we feel guilty for not doing any really this year.  This one will be on a Saturday so our churchy friends can come along.  A few of us are heading to Dawn Til Dusk 12-Hour race in Penix- that’s marginally newsworthy, right?  And then, we’re warming up to the idea of an underground something-or-other to take place around February 1st, preferably in the snow if it cooperates.  Think:  many miles, bourbon to stay warm, ice sculptures and SPD-compatible moon boots.   Locals-and-VIPs only. 

Mostly I just felt guilty about not posting anything to this blog for so long.  So there you go.

PBR has been canceled

Well, we have some bad, some good and some ugly news.

The Bad: We are cancelling the Prescott Blue Ribbon for this year.

Our green light from the Prescott National Forest turned into a yellow light and then culminated in a meeting yesterday. The short of it is that the PNF has been dealing with very limited resources for several months now and the PBR was going to put undue stress on those resources. We really value the relationship we’ve developed with our friends at the PNF over the past couple years and so we chose to scrap the event for 2009.

The Good: The PNF expressed that they were impressed with the amount of service our collective of mountain bikers has invested in the local trails over the past couple of years (that is the primary reason for Raven Singletrack’s existence) and they appreciated that we had done our homework for the PBR this year, went through the appropriate channels, etc.

So, the collective’s hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed and that goes a long way toward us being able to secure a permit for running the PBR in 2010.

The Gooder: We were scrambling to get the PBR together for this year… now that we have a year to plot and scheme, the first 2010 PBR should be super duper rad.

The Goodest:

- The names of everyone who registered this year will go into a little black book and all of you will get to race in the 2010 PBR for FREE.
- Everyone who RSVP’d (but sent no coin) will get $10 off their entry fee.

If you sent some money already, it will be refunded immediately.

The Ugly: Uh… Christophe and I are both ugly?

We apologize for any inconvenience. Sometimes you’re the knobby; sometimes you’re the trail.

Any questions, just ask.

Greg and Christophe

DGO Magnifico Breakdancing Crew

Breaking news… entertainment at the PBR will be provided by a world-reknowned breakdancing crew out of Durango, CO.  You may recognize names like Chad “Beat Street” Cheeney and Steve “MC Cardboard” Fassbinder from films and magazines. 

World Class

Peeber Course Map

 

AES does it again… and again…

The Coconino Loop Race

Another one destined to be a home-spun home-run for N. Arizona, courtesy of the boys at Arizona Endurance Series:

http://rockyroad5050.wordpress.com/5-coconino-250-and-350/

Badass or what? 2 days, 300 miles.

Poster

Schwag

We have a bedroom closet collecting some cool prizes for the PBR.  When we peek through the door we see names like Smith, Dakine, Cascade Designs, Camelbak, ProBar, on and on…  Thanks to those folks for throwing down. 

Scott Morris, bikepacking guru and creator of TopoFusion, came aboard with a few free copies of his software.  If you’ve seen the mapping done for the Epic Rides , Bikepacking.net and the Arizona Endurance Series then you know the very cool things that are possible with a GPS unit and TF.

The PBR Cometh

We’re finally fleshing out details for the first Prescott Blue Ribbon singlespeed race.  It’s actually starting to resemble a mountain bike race.  Weird. 

Here’s what we have so far:

- October 3, 2009 (Saturday)

- 10:00 AM start time

- Start/Finish @ Schoolhouse Gulch Trailhead (White Spar Campground, S Hwy 89A)

- $35 donation to benefit local trails, includes sexy t-shirt

- Limited to 74 participants, so RSVP early to get in 

- Singlespeed Only (sorry Lance- you won’t be able to do the Peeber)

We agonized (no, seriously) over how to include our derailleur-laden friends in the PBR… but in the end we got tired of talking and decided it would be easier for people to beg, borrow or steal a SS bike than it would be for us to figure out how to keep the geared bikes from slowing down all the singlespeeders on race day.  (Kidding!) 

But we do have good news to accompany the bad, so listen up. 

Ed Furbush, resident rastacycleon at Southwest Sounds & Cyclery, has vowed to do whatever possible to get people on a singlespeed bike for the race.  He’s building a few loaner rear wheels, stocking a few SS conversion kits, and will work with people to make the conversion as low-cost as humanly possible.   So if your bottom lip starts to quiver at the mere thought of missing the 2009 PBR, just email us (ravensingletrack@gmail.com) or call Ed at SWSC and we’ll hook you up!

- Men’s A /Women’s A… 22 miles.

- Men’s B/Women’s B… 15 miles.

- CASH primes up for grabs at the top of The Wall, for those who aren’t afraid to puke trailside. 

- Schwaggy prizes TBA

- Post-race rally hosted by The Raven Café. 

Limited to 74 riders!  RSVP by email to ravensingletrack@gmail.com with your (a) name, (b) race category, (c) t-shirt size and (d) hometown. 

To pre-register (so we have money in advance to pay for event insurance, t-shirts and a honeywagon), zap your $35 via PayPal to ravensingletrack@gmail.com. 

More info, directions and course maps available at www.ravensingletrack.com/PBR.  (Give us a week on that one.)

Many Sleeps Have Passed…

It’s been a long time since we’ve updated this blog. We are sorry and will try to do better in the coming months.

News for Summer ‘09:

- We had a nice turnout for our June trail work day with Rob Hehlen. Buncha’ strong backs showed up and re-routed an ornery section of Creekside/Tr 267.

- We tried to do more work on Creekside last month but when we all got out there and hiked the 1/2 mile back into the forest, we found some schmuckus maximus had pulled all of our USFS flags, ruining the entire day.

-We are hard at work hammering out the final details for the 1st Annual Prescott Blue Ribbon Race. Still TBD are how to collect your money; how to get people registered so we know who all’s coming; whether or not to include a geared/open category; which attractive ladies will be handing out the $50 cash primes at the top of The Wall. We are consulting with our local singletrack illuminati and will post details on the website pronto.

-Some jerk intentionally rammed me with his car when I was riding my bike to work in June.  That was fun.  The Prescott Police did nothing.  Prescott Alternative Transportation (Lisa Barnes and Paul Katan) were very supportive and helpful.  Please vote for Paul Katan for City Council this Fall.  He’s a good man and an avid cyclist.

We got our klunk on.

The first bi-annual Tower to Town Klunker Cruise went off without a hitch.  Better than any of us expected it to be. 

We’re already planning the next one.