Typically we post our group rides just amongst ourselves, but when Todd started organizing a group ride at Royalview we decided why not see how much of the MTB community we can get to come out in this crazy cold weather.  So with the help of social media and the Ohio Fat Tires we had a great turnout of like minded fools to get out and enjoy the day on our bikes!  Thanks for everyone for coming out let's do it again real soon!

Happy 2014!  Now that the holiday's are over it seems like the only thing we have to look forward to is spring and the weather getting nicer so it is a lot easier to ride our bikes outside.  

Time to start racking up all those base miles in hopes that all the boredom in the basement will make the upcoming race season a little bit better.  My goal is always to ride on the trainer as much as I can in December that way when January comes I'm tired of the basement and it makes the long endurance rides in 20 degree weather seem like a treat.  At least last year we did so much experimenting with different winter gear I finally have and know what to wear and so far the first two trips outside have been a success!

Over the summer KSD was introduced to The Dirtline group which is a group of people from Tuscarawas County who received permission to reclaim the camps old hiking trails and then would be allowed access to these trails with their mountain bikes!  To most of us in the knobside group this trail system is practically in our back yard so we were very eager to offer our assistance.  With our experience helping with Vulture's Knob trail maintenance and attending the recent IMBA trail school we were eager to put our experience to use by helping transform the current non-sustainable trail system into a flowy sustainable multi-use purpose trail (that will be awesome for mountain bikes!  So now that it is 

winter and we have the extra time it has been great helping organize trail days and work on re-routing some of the really long not fun at all climbs, (current "recommended" is six miles long with about 1,700 feet of climbing!!) the goal is to re-route the big climbs while teaching the group about how to properly bench and build trails.  In the spring with the climbing a little easier hopefully this will bring more attention to the system and then then a layout for master plan can be developed and hopefully we'll start cutting into next fall.  With 500+ acres available there is great potential out there not only for mtbr's, but hikers, campers, etc.  and we are glad that we get to have a hand in helping put the next great trail system in Ohio on the map!  If you want more information or want to learn more how you can help with the trail look up The Dirtline Group on Facebook (or click the link and join the group).  

Meanwhile there is still a lot of training and pedaling going on and spring will be here before we know it, until then enjoy the basement wall or the frigid temperatures and remember how much we will appreciate the warm weather when it finally (hopefully soon) returns.