24 Hours at Big Bear
June 9 and 10, 2007

PAIN FOR GAIN!
Make pledges to the TEAM MRTC as they ride a treacherous mountain bike course for 24 hours straight at Big Bear Lake Campland near Hazelton, WV. All pledges will help with trail amenities, maintenance, and construction. Please print and fill out a plege form in Adobe Acrobat pdf format.

TEAM MRTC
Riding rough and dirty so you wont have too!


Chase Millard, Morgantown, WV

Chase is new to West Virginia and to the racing scene. Hailing from the Sunshine State he looks forward to the challenge and chance to support the rail-trail.

Rich Martin, Westover, WV

Rich is a long time cycling enthusiast. His first race was 24 Hours of Big Bear in 2005 where he rode two laps each in under two-hours. Awesome ride...Big Bear is the bomb.

Nathan Kile, Point Marion, PA

Recently arrived from Tennessee, 32-year old Nathan has 30 years of riding experience. For this event he plans to do all his riding while hyped up on gummy bears and coffee.

Forrest Schwartz, Rock Forge, WV

From his early days of pogo sticking to school to his lifelong commitment to nomadic unicycles, Forrest's trips from point A to B have been different. He now returns to WV to try locomotion on mountain things.

Nathan Harlan, Morgantown, WV

Just returned to Morgantown after three years, Nathan is excited to be back and to contribute to MRTC and the rail-trail.

24 Hours at Big Bear Recap

Team MRTC cranked it up to a new level of energy and passion at this year's 24 hours at Big Bear Mountain Bike Race. They placed first in the Just for Fun class, competing against 20 other teams and came in 48th overall with 235 teams in this mountainous, single track race.

Fueled by Adrenalin and a Good Rail-Trail Cause, Team MRTC wracked up over 206 miles with an elevation gain of 26,080 feet, nearly the equivalent of Mount Everest. For those new to the 24 hour race scene, Big Bear is one of six 24 hour mountain bike races in the country and the second most technical race in the series. The West Virginia flavor includes some grueling mountain climbs, treacherous rock gardens, a maze of tree roots, and some lightning fast down hills. As one cyclist described Big Bear is blood, sweat, and gears in the back woods of West Virginia. Complete times and photos can be found at www.grannygear.com.

The home base camp, at a prime spot near the finish line, was equipped with food and campfire, support team, wrenching area, and a scattering of tents to catch a few cat naps in between laps. Every hour and a half a fresh cyclist was in place to relay the rider coming in. Nightfall does not stop the race, as cyclists geared up to ride at the witching hours of 11:30 pm, 1 am, 2:30 am, 4 am, and 5:30 am. Though the ease of a rail-trail ride was far from the their memory, Team MRTC stayed focused on the goal. Every hour brought pledges of rail-trail funding coming in.

Around 1 am on Sunday, the team realized that they were running neck and neck with five other teams but had a chance at winning the Just for Fun class. Suddenly the race was on for the satisfaction of a hard ride and the first place title. To rail-trail glory, they brought this champion title home with just 8 minutes separating them from second place. Our rail-trail, which has national awards, now also can add a Champion Mountain Bike Team to its credits.

Special thanks to Lakeside Physical Therapy and Life Enhancement Center for sponsoring the team so that all donations could go to the trails, 100.1 WCLG for all of the advertising and live interviews with our team, and Chip Wamsley and the crew at Wamsley Cycles shop for keeping the team on reliable wheels.

We are still taking pledges through the month of June, so that our fund-raising can measure the accomplishments of this year's Team. They rode rough and dirty so that you don't have too!