Tuesday 9/30 First of Two City Council Candidate Forums @ 7pm

Local Organizations Team Up to Host Candidate Forums

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  September 22, 2014

CONTACT:      Thomas Jenkins, Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition       
540-230-2130; tj@shenandoahbicycle.com

Pete Bsumek, Harrisonburg Rockingham Green Network

540-421-4105; pkbsumek@gmail.com

                       

HARRISONBURG, VA—Residents are invited to join candidates for Harrisonburg City Council on Tuesday, September 30 for the first of two candidate forums. The next is on Wednesday, October 15. The forums are organized by the Downtown Dining Alliance, Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition, Harrisonburg Rockingham Green Network, Better Together / Mejor Juntos, and the Northend Greenway. Both forums are free, open to the public and will start at 7:00 p.m. at JMU’s Memorial Hall, which is the former Harrisonburg High School on South High Street.

This is the second time these groups have come together to host candidate forum. Better Together / Mejor Juntos joins the four 2012 sponsors. Just as the groups saw in 2012, all eligible candidates have agreed to take part. The 2014 candidates include (in alphabetical order): Ted Byrd, DD Dawson, Alleyn Harned, Joshua Huffman, Chris Jones and Helen Shibut.

Moderating the non-partisan forums is the 4C Initiative, a partnership between the Fairfield Center and JMU’s Institute for Constructive Dialogue and Advocacy. Better Together / Mejor Juntos will interpret the forums in English and Spanish, which forum organizers, hope will encourage greater participation. The format of the forums is primarily question and answer. Citizens will have the opportunity to ask questions to the candidates during the events.

The forums will enable residents to learn about what each candidate stands for by fielding questions on issues regarding Harrisonburg’s future. Topics include but are not limited to education, local economy, and transportation.

“Nice places to live, work, and play don't just happen. The decisions we make today will shape the future of our city for years to come,” said Pete Bsumek of the Shenandoah Sierra Club and Harrisonburg Rockingham Green Network. Bsumek added, “These forums will help our community think about the future, and will help the city residents to choose leaders who have the vision and ability to make important decisions about everything from ensuring environmental sustainability of our community, to how to support and encourage affordable housing and attract good paying jobs to our area."

Thomas Jenkins of the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition stresses the events' value. “The candidate forums are great opportunities to hear how your potential Council members think and feel about a range of important topics. We urge every Harrisonburg resident to attend,” said Jenkins.

To submit a question or to RSVP to this forum, please visit www.facebook.com/events/1557316534496774.

Title:  City Council Candidate Forums

Date:  Tuesday, September 30, 2014 and Wednesday, October 14, 2014

Time:  7:00 PM

Location:  JMU Memorial Hall Auditorium, 395 South High Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22801

Cost:  Free

Sponsors: Better Together / Mejor Juntos, Downtown Dining Alliance, Harrisonburg Rockingham Green Network, Harrisonburg Northend Greenway, Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition

Birthdays are for Bike Riding on the Entire Massanutten Ridge

The Full Pull of the Massanutten Ridge... always worth waking up at 4:30 in the morning. Also a ride that I have had the pleasure to complete many times since 2007. I don't remember exactly how many times but it must be somewhere around 6 or 7. A few years ago I started trying to schedule this ride around my September 24th birthday and make it "Kyle's Birthday ride." The original ringleader of the ride is undoubtedly Mike Carpenter and he took me along for my first Full Pull of the Massanutten Ridge and since that first time I have had the pleasure to ride the full ridge many other times with Mike. Always setting a steady and solid pace, always riding more rocks up and down than anyone else on the trip, Mike Carpenter truly is a professor at the Massanutten Technical Institute (just not the one located in Harrisonburg).

Since that first ride I have been able to take others on the Full Pull and show them all the fun that there is to be had on the ridges of the Massanutten Mountains. Nate Shearer has made the trip a couple of times and wrote up a very nice recap in 2011 on what it means to ride from your door and what sort of rides are available "out the door" from where you lay your head every night. Nate put up a very nice post with some great pictures of the ride back in 2011 that can be found on his blog (Soil Sample- Out the Door September 29, 2011)

The Full Pull Ridge ride is phenomenal and a testament to the exceptional riding that surrounds Harrisonburg, Virginia. At only 65 miles, the ride has over 10,000 feet of climbing on some of the rockiest trails around. If you want to see the details and the map you can checkout the ride on Strava. Full Pull of the Massanutten Ridge from Harrisonburg to Buzzard Rocks on Strava. The ride has it all, but mostly rocks and steep climbs. There are countless beautiful views of the Shenandoah Valley, Page Valley, Fort Valley, the North and South Fork of the Shenandoah River, Winchester, and the Shenandaoh National Park. Hard to believe that the ride is only 65 miles. What a great way to celebrate my 30th Birthday! Make sure to check out the pictures and captions below-Kyle

Map and Elevation profile thanks to Garmin and Strava

Rolling from Harrisonburg at 5:30am

Yes. There is some walking to be done on the ride. Sunrise!

We found friends out there!

Bird Knob overlook. Taking it all in just before lunch

Short Horse Mountain in the background. One of the last pieces of pavement for the day

The Ibis Ripley was a PARTY up on that ridge. In 6 some ridge rides this was the first time that I rode a full suspension bike for the Full Pull

At the very end of the ridge on Buzzard rocks with plenty of daylight to go and the sun setting over the west ridge of Fort Valley in the background

The cliffs of Buzzard rocks and the very northern most section of ridge. Looking at down at the opening of Fort Valley

Overlook above Veach gap. Looking at the South Fork of the Shenandoah River and the Shenandoah National Park in the background

Bird Knob

Fat and Squishy

The verdict is in. Fat bikes are fun but they are bundles more fun when you add in suspension. We installed the RockShox Bluto Fat Bike suspension fork on a customer's Salsa Mukluk yesterday and boy is it fun. Which makes you wonder...how much more fun would one have on a fat bike that has suspension in the front as well as in the back?

Well Funny you should ask. Many of you have already seen the latest Fat Bike from Salsa, the Bucksaw wondered the same thing. While you may have already missed the first pre-season order window for the Bucksaw, we are happy to announce that we can guarantee you a Bucksaw this spring if you are willing to commit by the end of October. 

The details:

Shenandoah Bicycle Coampany can guarantee a Bucksaw 1 if it is ordered prior to Oct 31 (april/may delivery) A 30% deposit is required prior to ordering.

The Hour Record

From: http://www.trekfactoryracing.com/news/hour-record-twitter-qa

17 SEP 2014 - 18:09

HOUR RECORD TWITTER Q&A

YOU ASKED US QUESTIONS ABOUT JENS' HOUR RECORD ATTEMPT ON TWITTER, AND WE'VE COMPILED ANSWERS TO THE MOST ASKED QUESTIONS.

For the basics, and historical perspective on the Hour Record check out Velonews’ 11-point article on Jens’ Hour Record attempt.

Q:@JoeyCycle: Has he achieved the record unofficially yet?

A: Jens has not attempted it, as the true, full effort will take a lot out of him. He has done benchmarking tests of shorter times to know what his pacing will need to be.

Q: @Mike_ABK6: What average wattage will Jens target?

A:  370 watts average will likely be the result, but his goal is based on distance, not power.

Q: @Nickd39: What if he falls or suffers a mechanical?

A: He may choose to continue, after a bike change, or to stop the attempt. Whether he chooses to continue depends on how far into the ride he is.

Q: @ZacharyAllison: Is Jens' bike a true track bike, or a modified road bike?

A: While it is based on the Trek Speed Concept, there are many modifications to the bike, including a different rear end. We had to have it approved by the UCI as a unique design. 

Q: Many people asked - What does the bike weigh?

A: 8,150g (just under 18 lbs)

Q: @sufferfest: Can he see his wattage? Q:@JHLudlum: How about using an earpiece? 

A: He cannot see live power data, per UCI-standard track-racing rules, but he can record it for later analysis. We've worked closely with SRM to keep his 55-tooth crank setup freshly calibrated so we can get a lot of information from this attempt. He cannot have an earpiece, but is allowed one person on the side of the track to give him verbal coaching.

Q: @BWSimons: What’s on Jens’ 60-minute playlist?

A: We asked him, and this is what he said:

Warmup:

• REO Speedwagon "Keep on loving you"
• Brian Adams "Summer of 69"
• Journey "Wheel in the sky"
• Air supply "Making Love out of Nothing at All“
• Metallica "Turn the page"

Hour Record:

• Republica "Ready to go"
• P.O.D. "Feel so alive"
• Metallica "One"
• AC/DC "Hells Bells"
• AC/DC "Highway to hell"
• Farmerboys "Here comes the pain"
• Ugly Kid Joe "Goddam Devil"
• AC/DC "Thunderstruck"
• Black Sabbath "Paranoid"
• Metallica “Frayed ends of sanity"
• Europe "Final Countdown"

Cooldown:

• Metallica "Nothing else matters"
• Cranberries "Zombie"
• Kansas "Dust in the wind"
• Air Supply "All out of love"
• Lita Ford/ Ozzy Osbourne "Close my eyes forever"

Q: @dcblam: For those of us in the US who can't get Eurosport, is there a stream we can watch?

A: Yes, Trek will stream it live in the US on their website. If you're in a Eurosport country, you can watch it live, or get a one-month streaming subscription. For everywhere else, you can watch on the UCI Youtube channel.

Q: How far will he ride?

A: We hope at least 49.7k, but what do you think? How far will Jens go in the Hour Record attempt? Tell us on Twitter and tag it #HourRecord

Harrisonburg: The Bike Capital of Virginia

Another great piece from Adventure Seen. This time its all about bicycles and Tourism. Harrisonburg is known as a destination for beautiful road riding and phenomenal mountain biking. We are also the Bike Capital of Virginia. This year the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition along with the Harrisonburg-Rockingham MPO is holding the third Annual Harrisonburg & Rockingham Bike-Walk Summit on October 10. The theme of the summit is "The benefits of bicycling and walking tourism." Just listen to Ben King (VA native and 2014 Tour de France finisher on Team Garmin Sharp) talk about how much he loves to ride around Harrisonburg.

If you are going to try Mountain Bike Racing

Shenandoah Bicycle Company had a phenomenal time over Labor Day weekend at the Shenandoah Mountain 100 put on by Shenandoah Mountain Touring and based out of Stokesville VA. While Tim, Thomas, Sam, and David (along with a number of awesome SBC customers) held down the fort at aid station #3 (Bottom of Dowells Draft), Collin, Matt and Kyle raced the event. 

Matt Hassman, after moving to the Valley a little over a year ago decided (with some peer pressure from the rest of the shop employees) to enter into his first mountain bike event ever. Not only was the Shenandoah Mountain 100 Matt's first off-road cycling event experience, it was also the first time he had ridden any of the trails on the course. Matt has spent most of the past year exploring all the roads of the valley but after the SM100 he is super jazzed to checkout the amazing trails the region has to offer. He was also murmuring something about a new 650b full suspension bicycle in his future...

Aren't we lucky to have such amazing mountain biking and road biking all in the same place? A big congratulations is also in order for the multitude of SBC customers who finished the SM100 this year. Especially those who finished the event for their first time ever. 

Matt Hassman at the finish line all smiles.

Baby Snake Rides 100 Miles

Sneaky slither into the starting lineup with all the fasties in the eight hour slot. "Hey, it's Sue Haywood!" That's right suckas. Get to my spot and turn around. "Oh, you're not Sue..." Thanks to Slaywood's street cred and the 6:30 am shadows, I was in a perfect position to start my second Shenandoah Mountain 100. Starting early in the lineup is crucial in the 100, otherwise you are more prone to the funnel effect of 600 riders trying to squeeze into the woods. Baby snake bit hard to stay towards the front, and I was able to ride all of Narrowback and Lynn trails. Last year, I saved too much venom and was stuck behind hundreds of riders, walking on singletrack for a while.
Fueled by good energy and excited about my good timing, I was able to lead a party train down Wolfe and time trial to Aid Station 2 with a super fun group of guys. Thanks to my new hardtail, the road sections were much more enjoyable and seemed a lot faster than last year. Handfuls of Swedish Fish and dixies of Coke had me cranking up Hanky to Dowells, and then flowing through Aid 3. Bridge-Braleys was a blast, and I was consistent with my time goals to stay under 11 hours. The Death Climb broke me, and the next climb from Aid 5 to Chestnut trail chewed me up and spat me out. I  was an exhausted piece of pulp barely hanging on to the bike on the way to Aid 6, but seeing my parents and boyfriend at the bottom made it easy to motivate for the next few miles to the finish. I managed to finish in 10:57. Three minutes to spare! Last year, my time was 14:22. A three and a half hour improvement makes me pretty pleased with my efforts to ride more over the past year. Suffering from slight post-race depression now, but am gearing that towards excitement for next year.

The Six Pack Ride

Driving out to the mountains on a Friday afternoon in the fall can only mean one thing; Six Pack Season.

Yesterday was the second six pack ride of the year.  The weather was perfect, except for a little heat.  The trail of choice for this Friday ride was the Chimney Hollow Trail. The trail was in prime condition, dry up top in the rock sections and little loose on the lower half. The views? The photo tells the story.

One of the best parts of the Friday ride is introducing trails to riders who are new to the area. It is great to see some of the JMU students glow with amazement as they experienced a trail for the first time.  It is magical to see a first timer's reaction to riding a trail that is so narrow (we call it half track), so long (1500' vertical), and so FAST. When they arrive at the bottom their eyes are wider than ever before, their forearms are screaming for a break, their heart is exploding...They are now addicted like so many of us!

The Firday rides are about helping each other, which happened this Friday like so many Fridays before. Having Tim on ride means that you hopeless mechanical problem has a great chance of being fixed. A rider comes to life when they find out riding is still an option! It is also great when folks help each other off them mountain, sometimes a slow ride down with a new friend is better then break neck speeds of racing.  Thansks MIKE!

The Friday Six Pack Rides are also about remebering the past. The Softride reminds us of bikes that were state of the art at one time and how riding ANY bike in the woods can bring you an amazing amount of joy. The ride is also about building a great future, thus there is Saturday Trail work the next day.

Come join a Friday ride and a Saturday trail work day,  it will bring you a smile.

Thomas