Macomb Area Cycling Moutain Bike Club

Click here to Pre-Register online!!!

Check out the race series tab for more details. See ya on the trails.

This was posted up on PAMBAs website. Please read, but most of all get out and ride.

By Jon Forester,

This time of year it can be fun or frustrating to mountain bike in Central Illinois. Jack Frost is settling in for the season and late season rains never have the chance to dry up before he does. Often times, the trails are frozen solid, but it’s too cold to ride. Other times, the weather is beautiful, but then the trails are too muddy or soft to ride. Following is a great description of what freeze/thaw cycles are and how to avoid bad trail conditions.

When soil freezes all the moisture turns to ice crystals between the particles of the soil, and in clay or loam soil they are tightly packed together. As the moisture freezes the crystals expand and tear the clay apart which shatters it, then as it thaws the soil becomes more porous and allows more moisture in. This is repeated with every successive thaw. We can get as many as 100 freeze thaw cycles in a season. Please be very careful when trying to ride the trails in the winter. The best time to ride is when the trail is frozen solid. On days when the temperature goes below freezing at night, the worst thing you can do is wait for the sun to come out and warm up the trail before riding. The trails can be very soft even if it hasn’t rained recently. Even if the temperature stays below freezing, South facing trails can defrost in sunlight and turn to mush. If you are leaving ruts of ½” or greater in the trail where you have ridden please leave the trail. The ruts will allow even more water to remain on the trail and make it even worse. If people see you riding they will want to ride too, so very soon the trail reaches a point of meltdown. If you would like to find out the trail conditions on your particular trail before driving there please visit the PAMBA forum. The trails listed on our website are maintained by the Peoria Area Mountain Biking Association and all the design, maintenance and building work is done voluntarily by local mountain bikers. If you would like to help maintain the trails you ride, look for trail care notices on the forum, then come out a lend a hand.

The 2011 Spring Lake Singletrack Classic is officially over. It was a hot day at the park, but the competition was just as heated. We had a record number of racers and everyone that I spoke with had great things to say about the trails. To all that helped with cleaning the trails I thank you greatly. I only hope that next year will be just as amazing or maybe even better. – ANDY

Check our forum under Racing for the Results…

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2nd Annual Singletrack Classic

The Spring Lake Singletrack Classic is on July 10th and is the 5th race out of 11 races in the Illinois Championship Series. To pre-register click here ONLINE REGISTRATION. You will need to start an account with USA Cycling but don’t have to have an annual license. For more race series info go to, www.pambamtb.org

We would like to give a big thanks to PAMBA for allowing us to join in with all the fun. We are now a part of the I74 Homegrown Race Series for 2011. Our race is scheduled for July 10th at Spring Lake Park. Check back soon for more info. Thanks…

Hey everyone, all are welcome to come to our first meeting of the 2011 year. We are going to meet at Rocky’s Bar and Grill in Macomb at 6pm on Monday the 17th. Hope you can make it. We have a lot to talk about to prepare for another great year.