Our Pittsburgh Chapter remains focused on developing the sport of mountain biking for everyone by strengthening and developing the diversity within the sport. This year, we continue providing programs for women to learn new bike-handling skills, take on new roles in leadership and create alliances with our regional partners. Learn more about our new Board members here.
Women’s Weekend: Gravity Camps at Snowshoe
Whether you’re just getting into Gravity riding or you’re a seasoned veteran, Snowshoe‘s wide range of Downhill & Freeride Camps will help you make huge leaps in your riding skill and confidence. Velomuse endorses these camps and the bike park, they support women’s mountain biking and women ride free all the time! We attended last year and wrote a report on it, here.
July 21-22, 2012
Kona’s Women’s Weekend Camp I
Ability Level: All ability levels welcome
Head Coach: Angi Weston
Base Price: $149 plus tax
Optional Add-on’s: Bike Rentals starting at $40 per day, Lodging starting at $16.50 per day, Meal Plans starting at $18 per day (taxes not included)
Summary: A 2 day Camp designed for women riders by women coaches. This camp is designed to introduce women of all riding backgrounds to the sport of gravity riding in the Bike Park during a fun filled weekend with the girls. Skills clinics, trail riding, group learning, morning yoga, and evening chair massage are all included in this Camp Package.
August 11-12, 2012
Women’s Weekend Camp II
Ability Level: All ability levels welcome
Head Coach: TBD
Base Price: $149 plus tax
Optional Add-on’s: Bike Rentals starting at $40 per day, Lodging starting at $16.50 per day, Meal Plans starting at $18 per day (taxes not included)
Summary: A 2 day Camp designed for women riders by women coaches. This camp is designed to introduce women of all riding backgrounds to the sport of gravity riding in the Bike Park during a fun filled weekend with the girls. Skills clinics, trail riding, group learning, morning yoga, and evening chair massage are all included in this Camp Package.
Coach Bio: Angi Weston hails from Bellingham, Washington, is an IMIC Level 3 Coach and works for Kona USA in Ferndale, WA. Angi has extensive downhill and freeride coaching background both in group and one-on-one settings and is a competitive racer across a number of riding disciplines.
Snowshoe is recruiting and training additional mountain bike coaches this summer, as well. Registration is $599 (+$100) for the June 13 – 15, 2012 weekend learning essential bike handling skills from Shaums March. Last year’s Coach Certification flyer can be found here.
Velomuse Vixens Ride Again!
On February 26th 2012 a group of six Velomuse Vixens (Greta Daniels, Alicia Mathers, Jeanne Morin-Leisk, Kamden Hoffman, Melissa Hopkins, and Jessica Nelson) dressed up as Ballet Bikers, complete with tutus and Velomuse T-shirts, and competed with more than 80 other teams in the largest stationary bike race in Western Pennsylvania. The Race to Any Place was a six-hour relay race, consisting of twenty-four grueling 15 minute heats and lots of fun, that benefited the Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The Velomuse Vixens were able to raise over $500 in donations, which we are grateful to all of our friends and family for sponsoring our fabulous team. We may not have won the race in mileage but we did win the best dressed team, the best dancers, and the team with the most spirit! We had such a great time and encourage everyone to come out next year and join us in supporting this great event, no athletic prowess is necessary just a desire to have fun and meet a lot of awesome people, especially if you’re dressed in a tutu! If you don’t believe me check out what a couple of the Velomuse Vixens had to say about this year’s event.
“I really thought wearing a tutu was a crazy idea, but after a couple spins with my awesome lady team and the admiring looks we received I was honored to be on team Velomuse. Can’t waiy until next year, who knows what kind of costume we’ll come with but if I have teammates like I did this year I can’t wait!!” ~Kamden Hoffman
“The Race to Anyplace is one of my favorite events every year. Not only is the entire room coming together to benefit a great cause, but this year’s turnout of women’s riders/racers was truly an inspiring site. The community is certainly growing by leaps and bounds and I know it is because of the welcoming and supportive environment that we all work very hard to cultivate and maintain. As for the Vixens – I could not have asked for a better ballerina squad spinning their hearts out!” ~ Greta Daniels
Velomuse MTB ride for Nightvision Installation
Eryn and I went to Frick a week before (topography trail map in hand) and scouted out a couple good spots for me to shoot pictures from. Then, on Dec 12th we all meet at Frick Park to lite up the trails. The weather was decent (i.e. no rain); though, it was pretty cold so we only got in two runs down the hill. We had about ten eager riders who split up into two groups for each shot. However, by splitting up the group we didn’t get enough light on the top trails. So, this is a works-in-progress update, because we would like to try this again and get more riders and keep all the riders in one group. Also, we are going to look at other spots to shoot from. We’ll get the photo we want eventually we just may have to have a lot of fun getting there 
. Thanks to all the riders who showed up to help get this project going.
Snapshot 5: Land Manager Round Table & Trail Successes in the Mid-Atlantic @IMBA Summit
Here are some additional notes on the sessions from attendee Justin Scheifflee:
Session 2 – Land Manager Round Table
Major take home points:
- It takes years to approve trails in National Forests and Parks, if at all, due to all of the
necessary studies and procedures
- Before going to land managers/park staff, be prepared with full plan of proposed trail
design and work involved
- Input from all user groups is important for project success
Session 3 – Trail Successes in the Mid-Atlantic
Raystown Lake
- Project was a bit of “leap of faith” given there are no other MTB trails around the area
- Accessing funds from grants turned out to be a sizeable issue and caused delays
- 13 contractors had to be hired to complete rough trail build in final 3 months
Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC)
- Awarded $100,000 grant for trails; proposed 12 projects, completed 8 of them
- All projects are multi-use trails
- Grant used for mostly smaller projects like re-routes of long fall line sections (see video clip, below) but no totally new trail construction
- SVBC had to front up to $50,000 of club money before getting reimbursed from grant
DNS/DFL vs. DNF/DQ
What’re all those letters about? Well, the literal translation is “Did Not Start/Dead F*cking Last versus Did Not Finish/Disqualified”, and those acronyms are commonly used in bicycle race results, when no numeric placement can be identified. Having gotten my feet wet over the last few years as a professional cycling coach, I’ve had the opportunity to discuss the philosophy and psychology of racing (and goal development) with various intellectuals. It is not that I think a cyclist’s lifestyle is more quantifiable than the status quo; however, in being forced to consider the impact of one’s decisions in all actions, I believe cycling provides solutions where there would be an increasing void.
My personal interpretation relates these acronyms with an element of intention; that is, EFFORT. Basically, the largest obstacle in a race, is getting TO the event, itself. Finishing an event is the next greatest obstacle, which provides a great deal of satisfaction. The goals can also keep stacking, in smaller increments. Honor and good sportsmanship speak lengths about where your personal goals rest, and how much effort you are really willing to put forth. In essence, finishing dead last feels about the same as winning, when I look back on it. My memories are still in the smaller goals I’ve achieved, and there’s at least one thing I found to work on as a result of the race.
I have never considered numeric race results as an indication of success, as field size and conditions can vary widely. Satisfaction can be achieved with more specific goals: a particularly gnarly rockface descent, pacing a climb, nailing a twisty piece of singletrack without braking, etc. Therefore, it is important to pick events which suit your goals and skills, accordingly. And when the lack of opportunity arrives, just pick any race and focus on part of it. Numeric results may not provide the depth of satisfaction that one can achieve in a race situation, only giving a temporary interpretation. The decision to participate in the Art of Racing is a significant one. Success can be found in setting oneself against mother nature – a synergy of bike, mind and body – another good reason not to let recreational rides be replaced by competition entirely.
PORC/PTAG MTB Fest on Sunday, August 15
Website Makeover
With the introduction of the Velomuse Junior Development Program in Pittsburgh, we decided it was time for a more exciting and professional look. Hopefully, it meets the aesthetic criteria of the High School students…
This newness was made possible by the determined and super magical skills of David Gingrich and Kelsi Randall, of Eiscycle Handworks. Mad props. And Thank you.
Study about women’s blogs
Why not continue the pattern of sharing information? Education seems like the best way to get information out, and discover a community’s needs. Report linked as PDF.
Daily Photograph Project
Bookmark this if you like looking at pictures, some undoubtedly having to do with bikes: http://velomuse.wordpress.com/daily-photograph-project/ or click the menu above.