There’s a technical term for a sunny, warm day which follows two rainy days. It’s called Monday. – Unknown

<insert “wah wah waaaaaahhh” here>

Despite the rainy weather, folks have been able to get to Illinois’ largest state park, Wisconsin, to race the Subaru Cup which is the Midwest’s largest and only Pro XCT race in the area. This gave many racers and fans alike to view the national big dogs come out and duke it out on the various courses provided by Mt. Morris. Short Track, Super-D, and Cross Country challenges gave a little something to everyone to participate in. On the line was the title for the Midwest Champion of the Cup Series. The Bonebell tolls for “Holly Klug” who wrangled in a top 5 finish in the Womens Cat 1 field! Peruse some pretty awesome photos of the event by Chicago dirtbag photographer extraordinaire, Amy Dykema, here.

CAMBr Needs You!
With all the rain that has besieged our poor trails – the need for volunteers is greatly appreciated for Trail Work Days. Downed trees, mudded trails, lost paths, and debris are all things the trail crews have to contend with to make the trails smooth for riding when they become dry. Consider a weekend or two or three to contribute some time to and of course make new friends in the dirtbag community. Trail Work Days can be found on our calendar here and directly from CAMBr here. While you’re at it – consider becoming a member as your dollars go a long way to help buy tools and resources to keep the maintenance going strong!

Pump It Up!
Ever try a pump track? Curious about what it is? Well – for all the old school BMXers out there, here is a great opportunity to test your skills against other riders in an actual race format within the city limits! Join CAMBr West for a full day of activities to highlight ‘The Garden‘. Spectating is FREE of charge – so come on by and check out the city’s only dirt bike park on July 31st. Registered entries will receive a T-Shirt commemorating the event – snazzy too!

CX Clinic for Women
Half Acre Cycling has Cyclocross Clinic being led by Kristin Wentworth, pro CX racer! This event is limited to 50 participants, so consider registering early to ensure your spot despite it being way out in September – we’ll gladly remind you fine dirtbags about it.

Millee-Wok-Kay
So who’s up for going to Ray’s in Milwaukee this fall? Oh expect some winter madness to bound in again, Illinois largest state park capital. {Sorry Cheddar heads, can’t resist – but thanks for Ray’s man!}

Hendrix – get us through this rainy weather…

Re-Scheduling
The folks at CAMBR West were bringing us the Kona Demo Day along with Rapid Transit Cycle’s assistance. This was re-scheduled due to the foul weather, we’ll give you a heads up of when the next date is being scheduled.

It should be a blast considering how awesome the Red Bull Stomping Ground event was. We unfortunately were unable to attend this event due weekends of family travels but we have heard that the event was pretty sweet and it could’ve standed to see a lot more folks come out and enjoy some rad professional stunting. Get a load of some of the action here (and dig the Chicago skyline in the back!):

Settin’ Down Roots
Speaking of kickass events – it’s happening again with the ‘Setting Down Root’s event coming up July 31st from 12:00PM-6:00PM at ‘The Garden’. Race dirt track style, test your skills against other riders, and raise money and awareness for Chicago’s one and only dirt bike park. More details on what is being given away, suredly something from us for you!

Palos Meltdown
Registration Opened up on June 1st for CAMBr members. Non-members registration will open at the end of the month. It’s Race #6 of the Illinois Homegrown Race Series and is absolutely lauded as the World Championships of Trail Racing for Chicago.

Do It In the Dirt as a couple!
The closest thing to dirty hanky panky since Porky’s was released in 1982 – Cyclocross action comes to you super EARLY this year thanks to xXx Racing-AthletiCo at Jackson Park. Only this time – you get to tag a team member in to take on your competitors WWF style. There will be a co-ed event. Who cares what colors you fly – its time to start recruiting up your teammate to put the smackdown on the other duo teams. Speaking of which – who wants to be a Bonebell pardner? We do-si-do as good as the rest of them ya’hear!

Chicago Cyclocross Cup
Of course – with races already being schedule for the CX lovers out there – you should know by now what weekends you are telling your loved ones when they have to hold the slab of bacon and mini-kegs of Pabst for you in the fall. Point them here and ask kindly and ask for forgiveness now before you bring wet smelly sandy ass back home.

Damn – we got a lot going on. We’ll be posting some lengthy articles coming up during a well deserved break to highlight some stuff we’ve been meaning to tell ya about and keep you motivated to keep them knobbies dirty and delighted. Remember we love you when you ride knobbies.

People are training hard and enjoying their rides – here’s a few reasons to keep you motivated.

U.S. Rides to 3 Continental Mountain Bike Titles in Guatemala
North American, Katie Holden, takes the downhill crown from the Latin American contingent. The men didn’t fare as well, despite a 3rd place finish by Joe Shusler and then followed by his teammates ranging all the way to 49th place – the Brazilian and Colombian juggernauts reigned supreme in this event.

Cross Country was definitely the US’ strong suit – as all three top women, Willow Koerber, Mary McConneloug, and Heather Irmiger took the top three spots respectively in a dominating show of force. The men’s team had Todd Wells take the top podium spot, and his teammates rounding out spots in the top 10 and top 20. Complete results are here.

Saturday, May 8th – Trail Work Day with CAMBr and Half Acre Cycling
So who brings the refreshments that dirtbags love to a trail work day? Half Acre Cycling does! And this weekend they are enticing you to come join them in showing CAMBr that cycling teams care about the trails and want to help out in every way they can. It may be slightly rainy – but that is fine – don’t let that discourage your participation as there is much to preserve for your enjoyment and all others on the trails. Meet up information here –> HAC Trail Work Day.

It’s on like Donkey Kong!
There is plenty of racing to be done. The trails are mostly open, and the training season is on for all the weekend racing available in the tri-state area. Remember that the Illinois Homegrown Series is available to race on in addition to the WEMS, WORS, and DINO series. We would like to know how your race experience went whether you’re a seasoned homegrown racer, or a brand new participant to the sport – tell us your story and we may feature it in an upcoming article because we want people to know how you did it and why you did it!

Here’s the glimpse of a fun section from this past weekend’s Iola Bump’n’ Grind Race. Tell me that doesn’t look like fun?

This presents some challenges obviously and our cooperation on the trail is key to keeping in the good graces of the county and their constituents. It sounds political, but it is. Once upon a time there was an event called ‘12 Hours of Palos’ – a 12 hour mountain biking event that took on the trails of Palos and had scores of riders hammering through the forests for hours on end, smiling gleefully and rocking it out in MTB glory. This event is no longer – and it’s not a rumour – but a known fact, that it is no longer held because Cook County found issue with the way the trails were being used (or abused in this case) by another non-cycling group. This other group unwittingly took the liberty of marking trails innapropriately (spray paint), and leaving a mess behind. This ruined the use of the ‘multi-use’ trail system for everyone and put and end to organized trail racing of any kind at Palos Forest Preserve specifically.

This was a sad event.

Mountain Bikers are but one of the many participants on the trail systems, and though we are growing in numbers, we have a greater responsibility to ensure that we devote as much courtesy and etiquette to all as we represent our contingent of trail users at all county forest preserves. Below are some guidelines to be mindful of the next time you are out at the trail. All it takes is the ‘right’ person to complain to the local government that trails are being misused and the fallout is felt by all. CAMBr has been working hard to promote trail preservation awareness, it warrants that all riders respect those efforts by representing fairly and kindly to the people with who we share that system with.

Yield to Horseback Riders
This is an absolute must. Get off your bike or at the very least come to a complete stop off to the side of the trail. Horses are benevolent animals with incredible reactive strength that can cause their rider harm when you come barreling at them and squeal on your brakes. The most safe approach is to simply anticipate your approach and calmly notify the rider you are there with a simple acknowledgement like “Hi, how are you doing today?”. This shows courtesy, respect, and goes a long way to show that you recognize that we share this trail system. The bridle path is exactly that – a path for horses – be aware of that the next time you play speed demon out of the forest.

Up is the ‘Right of Way’
It has been an unspoken but fairly well known rule that riders going up have the right of way. Think about that the next time you jet down a descent at full speed without your brakes at the ready. Seasoned riders typically go down a fast downhill section with space in-between each rider enough to warn the upcoming traffic that there is a rider behind them and allows room and time for riders to make adjustments to their trajectory. How much opportunity do you give a rider? As much opportunity as you would want to be granted to you. You have at most 3 feet of trail wide at most times, consider your bailout options carefully.

Leave No Trace
The forest is beautiful and even moreso without the garbage that only we could bring to it. Gel wrappers, water bottles, beer bottles, etc. If you bring it into the forest, you must also take it out of the forest. If you drop some garbage, have some respect and go back and pick it up. It only takes ‘one’ hiker to notice the garbage and equate ‘gel pack’ with ‘jerk’ and report it to the county officials. Trail care crews are out at trail workdays also cleaning up some trail messes – participate and play a proactive role in ensuring that we as MTBers, leave no trace.

Control Your Speed
Remember, you are in control of your speed. The average speed in a cross country race (at Palos for example) is about 10-12 MPH. Wooshing through the forest at 10MPH is a lot faster than you might think – try running into a tree at 10MPH head on to feel the effect of velocity coming to a complete stop. Some descents and trail sections can be ridden faster, but keep in mind of your surroundings, oncoming traffic, and other trail users. Speed is great when you master its control, but out of control braking on a loose, rocky, or dirt surface is sure to hurt yourself or others in the process. Stay in control of your bike.

Wear A Helmet
This goes without saying – and can’t be stressed enough. Encourage others to wear a helmet, kindly, when possible. There are plenty of hazards on the trail systems that can lead to far more worrisome injuries than just a concussion. An emergency response vehicle isn’t exactly able to get to you in a timely or convenient manner when you’re laid out at three ravines with a cracked skull. Especially if you haven’t mastered the ‘control your speed’ portion.

Be Friendly
There is a reason we’re out all in the forest whisking through trees like Jedi fighters on speed bikes flying through Endor. Probably because we want to remove ourselves from the Death Star world of the concrete jungle. With that in mind – hopefully, we’re leaving bad attitudes behind. MTBers are notorious for being a wonderfully raucous and friendly bunch. The smile and encouragement we give to each other is what keeps people coming back to the forest. And the cycle continues…repeat step one.

Follow-Me Premiere
CAMBr is hosting the premiere of “Follow Me” at the Cobra Lounge on May 23rd – advanced ticket sales are open and encouraged to guarantee your spot at the premiere. Schwag raffles, and fundraising will be going on to help CAMBr keep all of us dirtbags content with new trail initiatives. The entire ‘Bonebell’ crew will be there with some prizes to donate as well for the raffle and a collection of schwag from CAMBr bike shop sponsors.

Half Acre Getting Dirty
Every roadie has been getting stoked about the ‘challenge’ of the European spring classics where the road gets tough, the weather gets whippy, and the field of cyclists are splintered through atrition. Sounds like Mountain Biking to me! If you’ve been wanting to try a ‘road race’ but with the feel of a ‘dirtbag’ race – then consider the Half Acre sponsored Gravel Metric Century. It’s not a USA Cycling recognized race, which means, anyone can participate, and its good old fashioned, show up, ride fast, ride hard, and get to the finish on your own steam with no support. Bring your tools and spare tubes – this race is unsupported, but its only a race if you want it to be. The point is have fun and push yourself on these gravelly hilly scapes of the countryside.

Half Acre has teamed up with CAMBr to do a joint trail work day and they are inviting all of you to come join in on the fun and enjoy some refreshing brew of their namesake sponsor to boot for showing up and helping. This event is on our events page for May 8th. Check it out and get your hands dirty.

Friends Don’t Count
The CAMBr Facebook page has 667 friends (or likes in this new change on Facebook). However, the CAMBr dues paying members number in the 400s. This math doesn’t jive. If you ‘like’ CAMBr, then take the next step and consider a membership. To ensure that we have the best trail advocacy out there and the strength to move a mountain in the political scape to get better land access, better cooperation from the community, and more initiatives come to fruition faster – join and encourage others to join with a membership to CAMBr. Chicago has near 9 million inhabitants including all their surrounding suburbs – we hope to help CAMBr increase this drive to get the numbers jumping into the 1,000s.

We’ll entice you to join even – details coming.

As far as sizing – yes – there are larger sizes but not smaller sizes unfortunately. So e-mail us if you have sizing questions! The store is open for one more day so don’t delay.

Derka Derka!

Why Buy?
Buy purchasing a jersey or both jersey and shorts – you are helping us provide some sweet returns for the dirtbag community. The more we can sell, the better obviously, and though it may seem like a mad money making profit scheme, the reality of it is – well, it’s not. The jersey and shorts are well priced quality pieces of gear from Verge Sports that should provide you hours of comfort in the saddle these coming late spring, summer, and fall months of Chicago. Proceeds from this and other sales will help ‘The Bonebell’ create opportunities to give back to organizations such as CAMBr and the Chicago Cross Cup. You would truly be supporting the dirtbag community. Show us your love and support and we promise to keep The Bonebell tollin’ for all things off-road and keep the information keepin’ on flowing through the web to keep you informed about dirty shenanigans in Chicago.

Spread the word – buy a jersey, or a full kit, it’ll make you look like the coolest kid on the block. We most likely won’t reproduce this kit again – so get it while it’s available for order! We’ll be spreading the word, and we hope you spread it with us!

New Contributor

Julia Daher is our new dirtbag contributor for ‘The Bonebell’! She is local phenom on the dirt and the entire Bonebell Crew have been most happy to have gotten to know her and have her travel with us on various off-road excursions across the midwest. She is incredibly enthused about preaching the off-road cycling news to not just her teammates, but to all women who are interested in knowing, learning, and trying off-road cycling out for the first time. Us men in the crew, try as we might, can’t always deliver the best perspective that is best served undoubtedly by a gracious dirt bag-ette. We’re not sold on the ‘bagette’ part – but we’ll leave that up to Julia to conform a new word to the dirtbag lexicon that means awesome woman dirt bagger. Expect upcoming articles from her very soon!

Women on Dirt – Brought To You by Julia Daher and Half Acre.
Here is a message from Julia Daher – who also will be contributing to The Bonebell as a our first female dirtbag writer. It was high time we got a woman’s perspective around here, we’ll provide a more formal introduction to her – but for now, please read what she sent us for all of you wonderful ladies to participate in.

Mountain biking can be an intimidating sport, but once you start it is easy to get hooked. To reach out to women of all ability levels the dirt bag-ettes of Half Acre Cycling and XXX-AthletiCo have joined forces to organize a series of women’s off-road rides. Our goal is to provide an opportunity for Chicago-area ladies and transgender people to ride together in a supportive environment, practice skills and have fun on the trail. Everyone from total beginners to experts are welcome.

The first ride will be held on Saturday April 3rd, at 9:30am at Waterfall Glen. Waterfall Glen offers wide-ish multi-use trails, with some nice twists and turns, but nothing technical. It is perfect for folks who just want to get more comfortable on the dirt without a lot of roots & rocks getting in their way.

This is an entirely informal event, just a chance to get to know other Chicago-based lady trail riders, build some community and have some fun. If it is nice, bring a lunch and we’ll picnic afterwards. Let us know if you plan on coming…we’d love to ride with you!

For more information email Jennifer Mosley (mosleyjen[at]gmail[dot]com, or Julia Daher (julia.daher[at]gmail[dot]com)

USA Cycling Official Illinois State MTB Championship Race Selected!
The fine folks down at the Illinois Valley Cycling Association are proud to present to us the Illinois State MTB Championship Race!The Mathieson Mountain Madness Race is not part of the Illinois Homegrown Race Series – but its a step forward in getting even more legitimate racing in our state. There will be more news on this to come including a conversation with the folks who are staging this race. Do you want a voice in how races get created, selected, organized, and appear – THEN VOLUNTEER WITH CAMBr!

Come Celebrate ‘The Garden’
It’s Chicago’s first dirt bicycle park – ever. The fine folks that work behind the scenes at ‘The Garden’, CAMBr West, and local authorities made this happen for all us. Come celebrate on March 19th, with a few drinks at the Easy Bar in Chicago. It’ll be a great time and if we get our act together, we’ll have some prizes to giveaway for folks who sign-up for CAMBr, donate to CAMBr outright, or renew their membership. We haven’t figured out all the logistics as us dirtbags are sometimes just plain ol’ sloppy. But we’d love to see you there. Please consider coming and joining in the camraderie of dirtbags finally making a sweet park available for the dirtjumper in all of us.

Congratulations to CAMBR and to ‘The Garden Crew’ for making this a reality for Chicago. Seriously – this is great news and just the beginning for seriously good dirt happenings for the City of Chicago.

Many of the Chicago northside locals have known about the simple dirt jumps behind Lane Technical High School since the early ’80s. Every serious dirtbagger who grew up on BMX in Chicago in the ’80s has attempted some boneheaded move well beyond our skill level behind that high school. Bruised ribs, cracked frames, and scarred elbows have emerged from this quaint plot of land conveniently nestled from the view of a busy Chicago boulevard, the busy strip malls and old DMV stations of yore. It was a great place to have known about and ridden on in the past 20 years. Then – a new crew came to town, and said, guys, gals, let’s clean this up and claim it. They developed a great relationship with the nearby business’ and most importantly, the property owners. They cajoled their way into their good graces and led by example and kept the riff raff out and proved that ‘The Garden’ is a bonafide locale for good times of the healthy kind. Dirt jumpin’ is how many a 10 year old learned to be invincible on a bike – we applaud the crew that made it possible to look forward to our kids doing the same thing we did, in Chicago no less, now and hopefully for a long time to come.

Thank You.

This video is by Ted Blanco – a giant proponent to making this all happen. Thank you bud, and I’m sure we’ll catch you at the party to say thanks to the entire crew!

Introduction by Nevada Dave:
Long distance mountain bike racing probably means different things to different people. For some it’s a beginner level XC race lasting about 10 miles or so. For others it’s a 6 hour, 12 hour, or a 100 miler (typically 7+ hours). And of course there is our beloved 24 hour solo mountain bike race. Building up to and maintaining what it takes physically and mentally, to complete one of these monster races, is what we at ‘The Bonebell’ are all about. Taking very brief occasional pit stops for the longer races, probably isn’t too remote of an idea to most racers. However, the thought of essentially not stopping for an entire 24 hour period can be a bit of a stretch for mere mortal beings. But that’s what has happened to this sport. Leisurely “ride” through the woods? Forget about it! The starts and first few laps are fast. Very fast; and the rest of time the pace remains fast, with minimal pit stops during the ensuing hours of racing. Lights, chain lube, grab some food, a pep talk; what more could one possibly ask for during a 12 or 24 hour period (except maybe a hospital bed)?

The Bonebell has done it again folks. We were able to interview professional mountain bike champion Chris Eatough, the alpha dog of this type of racing. Chris has raced professionally for 10 years, and has a list of mountain bike racing accomplishments one full 14 mile lap long. Here are a few:

6 time 24 Hour Solo World Champion
5 time 24 Hour Solo National Champion
2007 National Ultra Endurance Champion (100 mile race series)

And there’s plenty more where that came from.

So you might be asking yourself; how does one do this sort of thing? Well, Chris was gracious enough to give us his insight into many details of Ultra Endurance Racing during our interview. We’re very excited to share them with y‘all. So hang onto your handlebars, your about to take a look into this world of racing through the lens of a true master. Take note grasshoppers.

Photo: Trek Bikes

Encouraging people to use bicycles for transportation…It’s something I feel strongly about for the health of the individual, the liveability of communities, and the protection of the environment. – Chris Eatough

1. In order to be successful at 24 hour and endurance racing in general, one has to pay attention to many aspects of training – what are the main items you recognize as important?
Number one is the training. Spending enough time in the saddle to develop enough aerobic fitness, tendon strength, pedaling technique, and an iron backside! Core and upper body strength are also important. If you ride many hours on rough trails, you can develop this on the bike, but otherwise some core training and gym
work is recommended. Nutrition is important, and you need to train your body to be able to constantly take in and process calories when riding. This can be “trained” like most things by practice and repetition. Something else that takes years of training is trail riding efficiency. I think this is one of my best asetts, that I am able to ride a trail quickly, but not using much effort and energy. This can only come from thousands of hours of time on technical trails.

2. Some of us on The Bonebell crew eat a total of 4 or 5 bites of banana during an endurance race with no other solid food, only liquid form. However, we have friends that eat Spaghetti O’s out of a can (and possibly the can too!) during races and do very well. Are there any foods you eat during races that you swear by?
Have you ever had a moment of desperation and ate something really wacky?
I’m somewhere in between. I like a combination of “real” foods and “race” food. Finding a sports drink that works for you is very important. I’ve tried a lot of
sports drinks, and Infinit is by far my favorite. That provides all my hydration, and most of my calories. Then I like to top off the tank with some real foods that keep me feeling human. I like pancakes with syrup (all in a dixie cup in my back pocket) I also eat yogurt with small chunks of fruit in it (I drink it from the dixie cup)
Bananas are easy on the stomach. Simple, salted potato chips are another favorite. If I need a lift, a Coke or sweet ice tea gets me going. If my stomach is okay late in the race, I’ll eat cake or cookies. And the best thing in the middle of the night: cheese pizza!

3. What is going through your head just minutes before the gun goes off for a 24 hour race?
The starts are hectic, so I’m a bit nervous about getting tripped or trampled during the run. Or someone stepping on my wheel or taking out my derailler during the
scramble to get on the bikes. So mostly I’m thinking about the first 5 minutes. It’s a strange time, because after months of training, preparation, and the final
taper, I’m there at the start with maximum fitness and freshness. But I know after the first few hours all the freshness will be gone, and after 14 hours, I will be
feeling crushed. You go from one extreme to the other in a short time.

4. How do you maintain your mental acuity during the intense effort in endurance racing? Do you meditate, yoga, pray, do rain dances or
sacrifice bicycles into volcanoes in order to meet the psychological demands during long races?
I go from one technique to the next. I might get through an hour or two by being calculating. Thinking about perfect riding technique, split times, and projecting how many total laps I will finish. Then I might have a couple of hours of letting my mind stray away from the race, to a house project, a puzzle, or something else completely removed. Then I might find someone to ride and chat with and keep my mind occupied that way for a while.

5. How important is weight training to you?
Not very. I have never done much traditional gym work. It is boring to me. Instead I do a lot of different kinds of riding, and different kinds of training rides. I do like core training and functional exercises that require balance and skill.

6. A lot of energy can be lost fighting to keep the bike upright in the woods. You seem to have flow down to a science. Is honing bike handling skills the most effective way to conserve energy during a long race, or are there other secrets that you can share?
YES! I think it’s one of the main reasons for my success. It is somewhat natural – I could ride technical trails pretty much as soon as I started mountain biking, but
it’s also been developed. The trails in my area are quite technical, and I have spent MANY hours riding them, progressively faster and faster. I would ride small
loops (1 or 2 miles) over and over, each time using my brakes less on the turns and downhills, and being smoother and faster.

7. We’ve had a few gatherings centered around your film – 24 SOLO. Everyone always leaves totally pumped up to do a 24 hour race. Have you received any indication that the film has successfully inspired many would be 24 hour racers to give it a go?
Yes, all the time. People tell me they watch it all winter long on their trainer. Some people watch it before every race they do. Many people have told me they decided to do a 24 Hour Solo race for the first time after seeing the movie. I never thought it would have that kind of effect. Gripped Films did an amazing job
of capturing the committment of the training, the excitement of the riding, the difficulty of the race, and the drama of the competition. The lasting effect of the movie, and the enjoyment and motivation people get from it is one of the things I’m proudest about.

8. Where do you foresee the fate of 24 Hour Racing in the United States and the world?
In the U.S. I think the popularity of 100 mile races and multi-day MTB races has actually made 24 Hour races slightly less popular in the last few years. I think we
are moving towards having less of them, but the ones we do have are top quality races with good turnout. The Granny Gear series is a good example of this, as they
now have 3 great events that are in high demand, where a few years ago they had many more events, but some were not popular. 24 Hour racing is huge in Australia now. Tons of races, lots of interest, and the best competitors. It’s getting that way in the U.K. and South Africa also. It seems to be English speaking countries that are catching on. Maybe it’s the influence of the 24 Solo movie?

9. Word on the trails is that you are now retired from professional racing. Has it been difficult staying away from the camaraderie as well as the competitive vibe of racing? Will we see you at a few races just for fun?
I’ve been too busy to miss it! I might miss it at some point, but not so much yet. I’m enjoying the new directions. At the moment, as long as I get to ride in some capacity, I’m happy. I will definitely be at a few races, but just for fun, and probably not in top shape. I will pick the ones that have the best courses, like Shenandoah 100.

10. What have you been doing now that you’re not spending all the countless hours training, traveling and racing?
I started Chris Eatough Coaching to help people prepare
for and excel in mountain bike endurance races. It’s a naturally progression, and a way for me to give back. I give coaching advice, write training plans, provide race nutrition guidelines, bike handling tips, one on one riding clinics, etc. There is a lot to know about when preparing for a 24 Hour, 100 mile, or multi day stage race,
and my experience and knowledge helps people get the most of themselves, and actually enjoy the race!

I also have a new job in bicycle advocacy. Encouraging people to use bicycles for transportation. It’s something I feel strongly about for the health of the individual, the liveability of communities, and the protection of the environment.

I’m also doing some product testing for Trek. I have built some great relationships with Trek over the years, and this is a way to keep that. I also have 2 young children. They keep me very busy!

11. What are your favorite product recommendations? What is the one component you couldn’t live without?
Lightweight full suspension bike with the fork and shock set so that you are taking full advantage of the suspension. I love my Trek Top Fuel. Tubeless tires with fast rolling tread and sealant ran at fairly low pressures (I use 28 to 32psi) I couldn’t live without my Oakley Radars. Eye protection is important to me, and these are the only shades that I can wear comfortably all day (and night). For 24 Hour Solo racing, the one thing I can definitely not do without: chamois cream. I use A&D, which is for babies diapers.

12. If you had to pick ‘only one’ trail system in the US – which one is your favorite? What was your most challenging course you ever raced on?
Michaux State Forest, PA. I have done a lot of riding and racing there over the years. Hundreds of miles of amazing trails. Rocky, technical, and hilly. If you can ride all day there, you can ride anywhere.
Most challenging race course is the old Snowshoe 24 Hour course in WV. I never raced solo there, but even on a 4 person team, it was very challenging. Incredibly
rooty, and always wet and slick. I loved it!

13. Have you ridden in Chicago’s trail systems, or nearby areas?
No. How are your trails? [The Bonebell has responded to Chris on how to get in touch with us to set-up a trail ride next time he's in Chicago!]

14. What are your best words of wisdom for someone considering endurance
races longer than 100 miles or 24 Hours?
Longer than 24 Hours? Are you crazy?!

So there you have it folks. Hopefully Chris has inspired ALL of you to give it a go. Make sure you give us a holler here at The Bonebell, and let us know how it went ! Peace On Dirt – Nevada Dave