yup, i'll tell you where to send the money! :D

i would think you could make the pic bigger without donating? maybe not...

continually tried, but was getting size limit errors despite it being within the required limits. This was the largest one that would fit. When I asked, I got the, "you should pay for a membership" answer. Now that I actually have a couple riding pics maybe I'll get around to doing it one of these days.

Alright, here it is. The ride will be scheduled for April 21st and 22nd. We'll probably set up base camp in western St. Charles County, either at my friend's family compound or at Klondike State park. We'll be close to the wineries and will most likely end up there Friday and Saturday night. If wine's not your thing, there is plenty of hand-crafted beer to go around.

Trails will be determined by who shows up. Most of the trails in the area are short, with the longest being 7 miles, but luckily, there're only a few miles apart, so we can do several in one day. We may opt to head to the western St. Louis county area on Sunday if we can hit everything in St. Charles County on Saturday. We'll just play it by ear.

If you're interested in attending, just PM me and let me know you're interested. When I get the accommodations locked down, I'll post the details. Here's a link to some trail descriptions. http://www.gorctrails.com/trails/index.asp

In case you folks missed my post in the other thread. There is a 2 day mtb stage race being held on some of the St. Charles county trails on that weekend. I might suggest planning on hitting some of the other trails, or better yet, come on down and race with the locals!

Where can I find details on this? My schedule is super tight, unfortunately. I'll be out of town the next three weekends, after that is Easter weekend, and then I'll be in NC the 14-15, so barring waiting until May, this is the best I can do. I'd like to see if we can work around this race and maybe do one day of riding in St. Charles Co and then head down to the Chubb and Castlewood. If you have a link, that would be great.

the stlbiking.com website is down right now. as soon as it comes back up, I will get you a link to the race flyer. From memory, on Saturday there is a time trial in the morning, then a short track race in the afternoon. On Sunday there is a XC race. the courses are based around the trails in the klondike/LV area (donkey kong, etc.)

Dont take this as gospel, but those are the details I am pretty sure of. I'll get back with you when the site is back up. Like I said, make it a good thing and come out and race!

Thanks. I'm ok with LV being out of commission, but was hoping Klondike would be open. Normally, I'd be all about racing. I'm out of shape right now, but I don't really mind that. The problem is when we organize a group ride, you don't know who's going to show up and what their riding style is. Someone may show up and want to huck off of drops (Mx_599) and another may be a weight weenie. It's just a way for us all to get together and ride around as a group in a non-competitive environment.

Man, this organizing events is tough. I'd be surprised if I have a girlfriend after this Spring. It's sure fun, though.

i'll try to go whenever. i do not plan on racing though.

as promised: http://www.stlbiking.com/mtb/klondike.html

hope you guys can work around the festivities. May I suggest the SIUE trails on the Illinois side as there are over 10 miles of TIGHT singletrack now. best of luck with the ride.

i should be able to bring a more suitable xc bike and not the heavy vagrant ht.

Thanks. I was really hoping for St. Charles Co since we may have a 20-person bunkhouse available to stay in. I almost went to SIUE this past Saturday, but my friend wanted to do the Chubb instead. It's hard finding a somewhat central location so we don't spend half the day driving around between trails. Back to the drawing board, I guess.

You bringing along the gal in your avatar?

aggro_jo, looks like if we wanted to press the issue, we could do the Strip Mine and Donkey Kong loops on Saturday morning and then head to Matason and/or Lost Valley. I'm planning Western St. Charles County on Sunday, so we're good there. I'd hate to show these guys St. Charles Co and not do a bit of Klondike.

Im sure you could and the good thing is you can guarantee the trails will be ready to shred. I just wanted to bring the race weekend to your attention before you guys all showed up to a circus on race weekend.

good luck with your ride!

I appreciate it. Thanks.

if i did, would you keep your hands off?


what about the ozarks? i had wanted to ride there before i left. i don't think the drive is that far?

Probably not.

Ozarks: It's about 4 hours for me. The last time I checked, I didn't think there were enough decent trails for two full days of riding. If you want to do a little research and let me know, I'm open to ideas. I'm really interested in St. Charles Co because of the close proximity of my friend's family farm to both the trails and the apres biking spots. Given that I'm traveling all over the southeast for three weekends in the month, it's best to stay closer to home as well and on trails I know to minimize the logistics.

What would you all think about Easter weekend? April 7-8.

cool, easter sucks anyway.

http://www.newsaskew.com/images/bigassna2.jpg

The midwest forum ride is still on. So far, a whopping zero RSVP.

incorrect

check the evite

Cool. Just did that. I stand corrected.

BUMP
Makes no sense that this is still stickied.

Aww man, now you've ruined it. I wanted to see it last at least a year.

I was wondering how long it would go as well. Darn thing's been up nearly 8 months now.