After Dirt Rag Magazine filed for bankruptcy, I was a bit worried that its events at Raystown Lake (PA) & Big Bear Lake (WV) would disappear as well. Luckily, the local riders in West Virginia did not hesitate to resurrect the event near Bruceton Mills. I would assume this is largely due to the existence of an event which predated the Dirt Fest, known as the Funduro.
This time around, the event was called the Big Bear Bike Bash, but it had very much the same look and feel of the Dirt Fest.
I wanted to get in as many rides as possible this year, so Rebecca and I stayed at a hotel near the area on Thursday night, allowing us to work remotely on Friday. Around noon that day, I clocked out and headed to the camplands, set up camp, and joined in on a ride with some camp neighbors.
On Saturday, Rebecca was able to join me. I probably should have devised a better "warm up lap" for her, but I wanted to badly to return to the Little Canaan Trail that I sort of threw her right into the deep end. She handled it well, and soon we were on the more manageable Roadside Trail. At the end of that section, I asked her if she'd like to wait for the shuttle or continue across the road to one of the iconic sections - the Crack Trail. Without a second of hesitation she decided we could both handle a few more miles, so onward we went, pedaling Beaver Creek to Voodoo Rocks, which eventually turns into Crack.
We rode with a couple other riders for this second half. I led us into the woods, followed by the two guys, then Rebecca. A few minutes into the trail I stopped to let them catch up - only to see that Rebecca had passed them both and was the next rider behind me! The guys were very complimentary of her riding skills, which boosted her confidence and gave her even more gumption to try the challenging up-and-over obstacles throughout the ride.
Eventually we reached the rocks which the trail was named after. The first is a narrow path between two large rocks and the second is a tunnel through a rock with a wooden ramp which drops back onto the trail. We stopped at each to snap a few photos before continuing on to the completion of the trail.
Once out of the woods, we pedaled to the country store to reward ourselves with ice cream before boarding the shuttle to return to camp.
On Sunday, Rebecca headed home while I took part in the Feats of Skill & Strength Championship of the Universe Group Ride. I expected it to just be sort of a goof ride, but it actually was a competition!
We started the event with a race near the registration tent - 25 pushups followed by a sprint around the port-o-potties and skills tent. With that "warmup" behind us, we headed into the woods.
The subsequent challenges were "no dab" competitions through technical sections, accompanied by head-to-head races UP rock gardens. Our group of competitors had a great time scoping out the lines, watching each attempt, and laughing about the ridiculousness of it all. Our fearless leader, Chuck Morris, chose to scattter our bikes for a LeMans start for one of the races. We turned around at the count of three and sprinted aimlessly into the brush to retrieve our bikes before pedaling like mad to ascend the rocky route.
At the end of this series of competitions we returned to the registration tent to tally points. I'd been neck-and-neck with another rider named Josie during the event, but in the end I snuck out the win! More than that, though, I got to meet some awesome riders and will be tasked with leading next year's competition :-)
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