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Never Before Seen Footage!

Madman Matt Rips His Prized  Santa Cruz Blur In Half!

The Alpine Shop's 2011 CastleWood Dirt Crits on July 14th

Amateur highlights from The Alpine Shop's 2011 CastleWood Dirt Crits on July 14th. Class B and C racing with a few spills. You might see yourself. Enjoy!

First Group Ride on the Airborne Delta CX

MY FIRST GROUP ROAD RIDE in a long time...

 On a whim I dropped in on a thirty some-odd mile urban group ride through the Central West End in St. Louis. Out of twenty two riders, most were riding mid to high end, light weight, road specific mounts of the usual fare. Specs, Dales, Treks and Giants all on 18 to 25 mm skins. I've been dropped early on during a few road rides in the past and by the look of some of these guys in their race kits, I didn't expect this ride to be any different. I guess I may have looked a little out of place being the only rider on a CX bike with a camelback and NOT in Lycra. Oh well, I've taken a downhill bike on plenty of cross country rides and I'd rather be over equipped than under equipped.

Luckily the lead riders took it easy in the beginning and everybody was able to warm up to a good pace without having to over exert themselves. A few miles in, the pace kicked up a notch and I was in the big ring and pleasantly surprised how easily I was able to keep pace with the lead riders.

There is no shortage of "surface features" on the streets of St. Louis and the lead pack was calling out potholes, cracks, and gravel patches with regular frequency. Navigating through traffic on rough roads with a group of 20 plus riders has never been my cup of tea and this is where the Delta opens up a lot of route options. Where pure road bikes always stick to the smoothest pavement and have to avoid variances, the Delta lets you blast through dirty spots, hop over potholes and run up onto the sidewalk to pass slow riders and avoid tight traffic situations.

I was getting quite a few looks from the ride leaders as I blazed my own paths, in and out of traffic, up and down curbs and even through grass and gravel sections. A couple of guys commented on how they are considering a cyclocross bike as their next bike purchase. Hmmm? You don't say.

Pure road bikes might be at an advantage on perfectly smooth pavement but in the real world where rain grates and dirty shoulders are the norm, the Delta smacks them all down without even trying.

AND THEN THE RAIN CAME...

I was really starting to enjoy my equipment advantage over these road bikes at this point. With eight miles to go on this ride, the clouds opened up an absolute torential downpour ensued. Within seconds we were all completely soaked to the bone and everyone was scrambling to get back to their cars. Ok, I was having fun before with my out of bounds riding style, now it was time to drop these weenies and explore the upper limits of the Deltas street cred.

The Delta's BB30 bottom bracket provides a massive tube junction at the cranks and when saw the bike back and forth while ripping at the pedals there is absolutely no noticeable flex in this frame. Stiff as hell! With it's relaxed head angle, mechanical disc brakes and 32mm wide Ritchey Speedmax cross tires (aftermarket) taking the Delta CycloXrosser to an urban ride, is like taking a gun to a knife fight. While the other riders had to approach corners and braking sections with caution, I would clip out one foot as an outrigger, feather the disc brakes, carve my turn and then get back on the gas and up to speed in no time flat. A quick glance over my shoulder showed the rest of the group flailing around in the wetness, hoping to come out unscathed. Ha, I laughed! Pretty friggin awesome feeling! After this ride, the Delta has inspired so much confidence, I can't wait till my next road ride! Rock on Airborne!

Tony Caruso 

Airborne Flight Crew Test Rider

The St. Louis Adventure Group Red White but not Blue Pub Crawl

Friday night, the start of Independence Day Weekend.
A large group of fun seekers gather for The St. Louis Adventure Group Red White but not Blue Pub Crawl. Crawling out from The Tower Grove Carousel.

Jodi and Rebecca looking fabulous.

The first leg of the ride was an excruciating 3/4 of a mile slog to the 1st stop, Colorado Bob's Ship of Fools.

Colorado Bob invites everyone up on his front porch for a classic group shot! Thanks Colorado Bob!

 Ah, shrimp shish kabobs and cold beverages, this crowd is getting a little antsy. Let's roll out!

The infamous Yellow Hotdog and her patriotic handler led the march to our next stop at Mollys in Soulard!

By now the heat and humidity had everyone soaked and ready to blitz the drink servers. Heat exhaustion quickly turned to brain freeze with Molly's awesome frozen rum and punch drinks!

 

I made a new friend at the bar!

 Our distinguished event hosts, Christine and John. Always a great time!

Photo Credit Cindy A.

Old Glory was flying high over the streets of south St. Louis. Neighbors yelled and cheered on our patriotic pedal powered parade. 

 I of course led the famous South Park cheer, America F*ck Yeah!

 Our last stop was at The Filling Station. Here there is vibrant, rich and diverse Kareoke scene that makes even the drunkest bar fly want to grab the mic and kick out their best version of Night Rangers Sister Christian.

 SLAG's own Adam blew the crowd away with an unexpected and nearly American Idol worthy rendition of Rock n Roll by Led Zeppelin.

Way to get the ladies excited Adam!

Unfortunately all great crawls eventually end with a brief case of memory loss and a heck of a hangover.

TILL NEXT YEAR !
Click here for more event photos!

Morning Ride to Machens on The Katy Trail

Over forty riders showed up at The Bike Stop Cafe to experience the newest section of The Katy Trail to Machens Missouri.

This 24 mile out and back parallels the Missouri River and takes you through wooded farmlands with an easy flat grade suitable for beginners to expert riders. The Missouri river basin is a popular stop for several migratory birds and home to many wetland creatures such as King Fishers and Blue Herons. 
Thanks to The St. Louis Adventure Group. 
Check them out for a full of calender of group rides for all skill levels.
More Photos From Todays Ride.

S.L.A.G. site

 

The G.A.M.E.

The Gateway Area MountainBike Extravaganza was a great success. That's event code for "nobody died!"

Despite a short storm that blew through Friday Night, the festival kicked off early Saturday morning as planned. Activities included registration and schwag bags, the IMBA Trail Build Clinic coffee and chilled fruit from The Second Street Bike Stop Cafe, and a large (slightly wet) group ride at nearby Matson Hill. 

 More festival goers arrived after 11 am and soon a SLAG contingent of adventure seekers headed off towards the skills features that Klondike Park is known for. There was a lot of cameras on hand and many riders were willing to leap off of the bigger drops at Donkey Kong and The Ewok Village to get that sweet airborne still shot or video clip.

A few miscalculations lead to some painful looking get-offs and a few bruises but the entire group had a blast riding and fooling around in the rugged terrain.

                                                         Photo Credit: Joe Baxter

Saturday evenings activities included an open cookout with SLAG Burgers and plenty of cold refreshments. After a brief technical delay, we had the movie premiere of Freedom Riders followed by raw clips of the days riding adventures. It was a beautiful night for an outdoor movie and being able to view the videos taken just a few hours beforehand made for a lot of good laughs. The Midnight Ride was by far the most fun, so much so, that I cant talk about it in detail. If you missed it, try to stay up past 10pm next year.

Sunday's activities included rides for all skills levels at nearby Broemmelsiek Park, Lost Valley and again at Matson Hill. After all that riding I suspect there were a few call ins on Monday morning Although this years GAME was a small affair, next year we are planning on going just a little bit bigger and a whole lot better.

See mountainbikefest.com for next years event.

Thanks to:

St. Charles County Parks, Rangers and staff.

The Alpine Shop

R.E.I.

GORC

I.M.B.A. Subaru Trail Crew
The St. Louis Adventure Group

The Second Street Bike Stop Cafe

Team Revolution

Dogfish
Freedom Riders

The National Weather Service