Ladies First Ride w/ Special Guest Blue Mountain Fat Tire Festival

Vertical Earth wrap up VEGG#3 The First Annual Blue Mountain Fat Tire Festival is officially a wrap. Four o'clock Friday the gates opened with cars and a trailers rolling in. The Pennsylvannia tropics were in full effect this weekend with temps in the upper 90's and the humidity was relative to wearing your under armour in the middle of winter. Riders broke out the hardtails and headed up to the Kenda Jump Park for a night session on the new "Super Dual Slalom" track, Ewok Village, and pumptrack. The vibes were jamming as the night ended on a surprise scavenger with prizes from X-Fusion, Fox, KENDA, and EVS. As riders and campers settled into their sites for the evening, the tropics were consistent with the previous days of the week by dousing the mountain with a t-storm.

Saturday morning started with a cup a joe and our "ladies first" session hosted by Vertical Earth riders Jerime Smiley and Kyle Kimble. 5 ladies headed up the lifts for first tracks on the mountain. We missed Kathy Pruit this weekend, however, with a little help from Jamis, HBG, Fox, we raised $600 to send out to her to help with her recovery from last weekends crash at Nationals in Colorado. Water Guns, misters and Face Painting, Kenda City, Fox, made the best of the heat as racers practiced for the upcoming DS and DH races of the weekend. Racers showed their true colors this weekend as they helped fix a drain issue after the previous nights late t-storm. As the the temperature climbed early in the day the DS track and trails started to get " tacky " and the mountain came to life for what some would consider prime conditions. The DH course was ran on Jambalaya and OCS with a new line at the bottom full of grass turns where racers could really let go and hit the throttle. Racers seemed to love the course as new lines were chosen for the Sundays race.

Dual Slalom started with over 20 racers in Cat 2/3 " slaying it " in the dreaded heat. Racers competed on both the red and blue courses moving thru differentials brackets to the finals. This was a tough one early when we a had a minor mis-communication. After we realized where we were we had the race restarted immediately as the first left giant berm was slayed with a giant drift, racers cheered and the race was on. Gerritt Beytaugh won the Pro / Cat 1 as Jason Beckley gave him a run for his money finishing in second.

After the DS race the evening started with Chef Steve on grill, Chris Clark showing off his skills, and Live Music. As day came to an end, we ran our first ever " Foot Down " and " Wheelie " contests. Foot down was where it's at, with over 20 competitors stalling and blocking trying to balance to see who's the last one on their bike. As day became night the vibes were chill in the parking lot as campers enjoyed the light show in the sky with lightning surrounding the area.

The next morning racers realized the rain held off the night before and were amped to get on the race course. The course was beyond fast as many racers commented on it being a real DH course. As practice came to an end the PA Tropics seemend to bring the grease back out the ground. The course went from tacky to greasy in some areas. With a delay at the start we were able to get the race started as the Pro's came down in sub 3 minute times. 1100 ' vertical in sub 3 minutes is way fast !! In the middle of the race a storm creeped in from the north west and reeked havoc on the mountain. With lightning in the area the race was put in hold. As the rain came down, and it came down, conditions changed again. The racers in the know knew though that the wet was better than the grease. other than visiblity issues the course was still in great condition. At the end of the day we wrapped it up with foot down as 20 more riders entered the ring. Shortly after we wrapped up with awards and our fundraiser and called it a weekend.

Special thanks to Jim Wannamaker from Kenda, Keith Murphy from Fox, Supernaut Tatoo, Jamis bikes, King's Cyclery, Racers and Riders, and many more for making a successful event. We look forward to our next DS / DH race weekend September 4,5. Results will be posted tomorrow along with pictures. http://verticalearthpa.com