Jay de Jesus/EWR Bikes Skills Clinic at the BASH

Oh is this going to be fun. Famed Jay de Jesus will be offering "Beginner/Intermediate Technical Skills Clinic by Jay de Jesus of EWR Bikes". They'll be two clinics at Camp Muckelratz -- one on Friday evening and one on Saturday morning before everyone heads out for a day of riding which is actually perfect 'cause you can use the new-found skills on the trail. We'll have exact times on the final schedule when you check in, but more than likely you won't miss when it's going on 'cause there will be a crowd around the cones and logs (which you also won't miss 'cause they will be near the entrance driveway somewhere). Here's what the clinic will involve:

1) bike set-up and body position
2) balance and stance
3) cornering
4) logs - general and uphill
5) bunnyhopping
6) whatever else we have time for

There will be a "course" set up at the camp for this clinic and it should be a ton of fun - and you just might learn a thing or two too!

2009 RCST BASH Final Days of Registration

We're at the deadline for registrations for the 2009 10th anniversary BASH. If you haven't registered by now, you may miss the boat. We're calling in the chicken order tomorrow (Gonder's Grubhouse wanted two weeks notice) and the t-shirt orders are going in on Monday. At this point, PLEASE E-MAIL US IF YOU HAVEN'T SENT YOUR REGISTRATION. We need to know chicken flavors for tomorrow's (Friday, August 28) order placing. Our e-mail is rebjsw@epix.net And the t-shirt sizes are s,m,l,xl, and xxl.

Rattling Creek Single Trackers DCNR Volunteer Group of the Year 2006

I think its ironic the RCST club was selected as volunteer group of the year in 2006 (I just found this press release on the DCNR website -- sorry for taking 3 years to share with you!!), and the DCNR folks in Weiser, Haldeman Tract aren't exactly cooperative these days when it comes to the club's views of sustainable trails. Interesting. Check out the press release! I'll be sure to share all this information with DCNR in November when I attend the PA Mountain Bike Summit to share our recent story of horses on the single track.

2009 RCST Mountain Bike BASH Schedule!

Finally.... here's the 2009 schedule -- subject to change slightly (not the times except for Jay's clinics). We'll have the final, final schedule for you at check-in.

Thursday
4:00 pm – Gates and check-in/registration opens for the weekend
REGISTRATION AT BUNKHOUSE (end of driveway)
All evening – on-your-own riding

Friday
REGISTRATION IN BUNKHOUSE
7-8:30 am Coffee and Bagels in Bunkhouse
??? Jay DeJesus Mountain Bike Skills Clinic (time to be determined)
6:00 pm Chili Cookoff! (pavilion)
6:00 pm Micro-brew swap! (pavilion)
All day and evening; on-your-own riding

Saturday
7-8:30 am Coffee and Bagels in Bunkhouse
9:30 am Organized group rides depart (meet at bunkhouse/pavilion area) Note: Social/casual group(s) drive to starting location – have bike loaded and ready to roll at 9:30.
??? Jay DeJesus Mountain Bike Skills Clinic (time to be determined)
4:00 pm Troegs tasting begins (at pavilion)
5:30 pm Dinner at pavillion
7:00 pm Prize Drawings (at pavilion)
8:00 ish “Accouco” Acoustic duo – will set up near bonfire in camp area.

Sunday
7-8:30 am Coffee and Bagels in Bunkhouse
10:00 am Rock’s Ridge Competition – meet at Matter Trail end of Rock’s Ridge (off White Oak Road)
3:00 am Gates Close to campers. Please be out by 3:00. Respect the property owner!

All weekend
Swap Meet/Sale. Located at the registration area in the Bunk house. Bring your items you’d like to sell, tag (price), and put on the swap table. You never know what others might be interested in!

Scarlet O'Hara's Southern BBQ Menu

We'd like to have Scarlet at the BASH, but we're having issues with getting power to her. Sooo.... be sure to visit her on Route 209, outside of Elizabethville. She's "parked" in the parking lot a Rita's, adjacent to the bowling alley, about 1/4 mile from Walmart (on opposite side of street from Walmart).

Rattling Creek Trail Woes

Yesterday was the Rattling 50 Marathon and about 40-50 riders were on the trails. Luckily, it appeared the rain held off for them (I wasn't around to check things out unfortunately). I plan to contact Frank McGuire of IMBA and try to figure out how to deal with DCNR after seeing the trails today after the bike race. It's NOT the bikers that are the problem. I'm sorry to say the DCNR singletrack the horses were on are now super soft, and after a week of wet conditions and bike race on the singletrack, it's obvious the DCNR singletrack trails will not hold up. They were fairly soft and mucky with clear bike lines (muddy). The Rattling creek trail system hardly ever had a muddy spot for many years. Now, after a horse event, the single track the horses traveled on are showing signs of wear and tear. It was most evident after the bike race. Two years ago after the Rattling Marathon, club members purposely checked the trails the next day to make sure they were "ok", and they were. The only sign of 100 bikes on the trails were on Doc Smith on a fast turn or two. Hardly no evidence of 100 bikes racing. Yesterday? 50 bikes and it was obvious on the DCNR singletrack. Something was also very obvious on the Lykens Watershed trails -- trails the same 40-50 bike traveled on -- showed NO signs of a race. There was hardly a bike track and nothing but hard-packed, smooth trail. The watershed policy is no horses on watershed singletrack and it DOES make a huge difference on the singletrack. I'm hopeful there's a resolution -- but the vibes we are getting from DCNR is the trails are for everyone. Frank, help!

Hopping Along Again on Hopback!

You regular riders know how Hopback trail gets grown in pretty bad and needs regular trimming. Well thanks to Ricky Brown and having too much vacation time on his hands, he spent 5 hours trimming Hop back 2 weeks ago. It's rideable again.

8-14-09 BASH Update - Get Your Registrations in!

We're down to the final two weeks of getting everyone registered so you can get a t-shirt and chicken dinner. I mentioned in the previous post, the t-shirt guy and the chicken guys need the orders by the end of August. So click on the below link (previous post) and get registered! And for you vegetarians -- we just confirmed VEGAN lasagna this year; no eggs, no dairy, no meat. You'll get the lasagna in place of the chicken and still get all the fixings that come with the chicken (tater, cole slaw, roll). Keith confirmed two acoustic guys for the Saturday evening entertainment. You asked and you received. Folks were not happy with the bands and the suggestion was made for something a little more camper-friendly (at the campsites), so these guys will be down by the campsites on Saturday evening rather than sitting under the pavillion all night. Lastly, Keith was contacted by a gal who has a food truck and wondered if we'd be interested in her setting up for the weekend. We're still working out the details on that and will let folks know via e-mail if confirmed. She sells things like pulled pork, BBQ, eggs, etc -- the normal "food truck" types of things. Might be nice for people who don't really want to camp-cook. Fun stuff! It's all coming together -- just like other years. Gonna be a good time again.

10th Anniversary BASH T-shirts -- Need Your Registration by Aug 31

The t-shirt maker will need our order for the special BASH 10th Anniversary t-shirts by September 1. Sooo….. we need to have your registration in our mailbox by the 31st. So if you want a shirt get registered ASAP !! We may, (or may not) order some extra shirts in whatever sizes, so if you register after Aug 31st there are two possibilities. (1)you may get a shirt, that may (or may not) fit. Or....(2) you may not get a shirt at all.

So please get your registration and preferred t-shirt size to us by Aug 31. Registration info can be found at the RCST website BASH page. Thanks! Jill