The June 14the Mountain Bike Beginner Clinic on Saturday, held by Rob Krotee and Karl Sheuerman, with a surprising total of 12 riders showing up for a great ride.  The majority of the riders were experienced, yet were away from riding long enough that they were "beginning" to get back into the flow again.

The weather was perfect and the trails were prime. They headed out from the Pavilion at Pachella field down “the Coyle trail” and practiced techniques for going over large logs, and then proceeded down towards the Valley Green Inn. The large group kept at a fun medium pace, making sure to be aware of hikers, horses and other riders, kept in a single line so not to crowd the trail.  Some key topics discussed were momentum, over rocks on hills, body positioning while going over obstacles, and shifting on inclines. 

Thanks to Karl for assisting on repairs of brake cables and rear derailleur adjustments. There was also a bent chain that had to have some links removed to fix. There were some stops at Demo, and some tested their skills at log riding and “log drops”.  

They did an out and back after reaching Wise Mills, it wasn’t the longest of rides, but the pace was strong for a beginner ride, with obstacles to test our skills, and a lot was learned. There was plenty of Fun for all.

Over 50 volunteers/PMBA/FOW members teamed up with over 20 SPONSORS and hosted over 250 mountain bikers and made the 2nd Annual Rally in the Wissahickon Valley a HUGE success!

Please check back soon for all the juicy details. You can check out lots of pictures in the forums. Also, a local professional photographer attended the event and has his pics posted on his site for purchase HERE. PMBA gets a nice portion of the proceeds so buy them up if you like them!

Thanks to all who attended: Our SPONSORS, the VOLUNTEERS and the PARTICIPANTS!!

We are really making an IMPACT on trail improvements in the Wissahickon for all users!

The mountain biking community, and all park users, were saddened to hear of the untimely passing of Matt Chaplin, who died suddenly on Thursday April 24 while riding the trails. Neil Silverman and others on the ride attempted to assist him, but the apparent heart attack that took his life did so immediately. Matt is survived by his wife and three young children, and PMBA offers its deepest sympathies to them. PMBA members and others collected donations that were made the Chaplin Childrens' Scholarship Fund.

This incident has underscored the need for preparedness on bike rides, and PMBA will be addressing these issues in the coming weeks. Knowledge of first aid, awareness of your location in the park and the nearest emergency access, and having a plan for dealing with accidents and injuries will be important topics of discussion. Similarly, the event underscores some of the inadequacies in the ability of emergency responders to enter and navigate through the park, which FOW has addressed in its Sustainable Trails Initiative. Although this tragedy was apparently not preventable, these initiatives should improve the quality and speed of both public and private responses to similar incidents in the park.