First Weekend of October

Hey everyone, just a quick reminder of a few things for the weekend -

• Last day for 2011 PayDirt hours is tomorrow - and we've got the hours you need! Join us at Jungle Habitat from 9-1 - we'll put you to work, and make sure the PayDirt hours get to the PayDirt coordinator in time!
• Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day is also at Jungle Habitat tomorrow from 1-3 p.m. We're a hardy bunch, so we'll ride in a light rain or shower. Jeff Lenosky, world renowned trials and free rider, will be there to ride with us, so bust out your rain gear and join us! 
• Sunday is the final Campmor H2H race of the 2011 mountain biking season - and it's also the NJ State Championship! Come on out to Waywayanda State Park and join in the fun - or just come cheer the TTC plaid on! 
• UPDATED - we almost forgot our CX racers! Cyclocross racing season starts this weekend with the Hillbilly Hustle in Elmer NJ - good luck to our TTC guys and girls who are starting the CX season on Sunday! 

Stay tuned for more exciting news about rides and activities - we've got a bunch of fun stuff up our sleeves! 

JORBA + Team Town Cycle = good news!

Something awesome happened last month, but between earthquakes, hurricanes, tropical storms, back to school, races, plagues of locusts (ok, no locusts!) - well, we've been busy, is what we are trying to say. But we're very excited to announce that Team Town Cycle has officially become a chapter of Jersey Off Road Bicycle Association (JORBA)!  

For those of you who are unfamiliar with JORBA, they are a non-profit organization that works with land managers, state and local officials, and  many other organizations to make sure that the interests of mountain bikers are fairly represented. They volunteer thousands of hours each year building and maintaining sustainable multi-use trails in many state, county and local parks all over New Jersey. JORBA works closely with the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA), helping educate both riders and other trail users about low impact trail use, and encouraging cooperation among different trail user groups. If you've ever ridden in Jungle Habitat, Waywayanda, Ringwood, Wildcat, Kittatinny, Allamuchy or any number of other parks in NJ, you've got a JORBA chapter and large group of volunteers to thank! 


Team Town Cycle is most honored to be included in the great group of trail advocates. Much thanks to TTC's own Jeff Mergler (who also just happens to be JORBA Exec. Director) for nominating us. We're thrilled to be an official member of the JORBA family!


When you have a moment, please check out the JORBA site. There is a ton of great information about the parks they work in - every thing from maps to trail conditions and ride schedules. While you are there, please consider supporting their good work by becoming a member - the work they do is important to everyone who enjoys riding their bike in the woods, no matter where! 

September 24 NYC ride meeting time changed

Hey everyone - 

In order to let the rain finish up, and (hopefully!) have a little drying occur, we're going to push off our meeting time until 9 a.m. tomorrow. So, that's 9 a.m. at KC's Bagels on Rt. 23 in Pompton Plains. 

If our plans change, we will email as well as update our Twitter page, Facebook page and blog! 

Keep your fingers crossed! 

Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day, Oct. 1 - and a special guest!

It's time for Team Town Cycle's 3rd annual Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day! Saturday, October 1, from 1-3 p.m., at Jungle Habitat, in West Milford. We're excited to be partnering with IMBA again as they work to promote mountain biking among kids and families. Like past years, we'll have snacks and swag for all - it'll be a great time! All ages and abilities are welcome, as always.

This year, we'll have a special guest joining us - none other than Jeff Lenosky! You may know Jeff as a world class free ride and trials rider, but he is also an awesome mountain biker, and recently conquered the 2011 Rumble in the Jungle race course in impressive style! Jeff will lead one of many groups we hope to have riding through the Jungle, and maybe we can get him to share a few riding secrets with us too!

Need more info? Check out our flyer! And much thanks to IMBA for sponsoring the day, and to both Jeff and Native Eyewear, for their support!

RSVP for this weekend yet?

Just a little nudge for those of you who haven't already RSVP'd for our rides this weekend - what are you waiting for??? We've got 2 good ones in store:

• Saturday, September 24 - NYC ride, including a trip to Governor's Island. Meet us at KC's Bagels at 8 a.m. Rain will cancel. 
• Sunday, September 25 - Ladies Only ride to New Paltz. Meet at Town Cycle at 9 a.m., and let us know if you need a ride/can provide a ride home. 

If you've already RSVP'd, great! You're covered. If not, and you're going - drop us a line at info@teamtowncycle.com .

Thanks everyone - hope to see you out there!

Spooky Tuesday ride canceled for Sept. 20!

Spooky Tuesday night ride at Jungle Habitat canceled for Tuesday, September 20 - we'll try again next week!

Is it summer or fall?

OK, so it's actually starting to feel like fall a bit - is that good or bad? We'll let you decide that one ... in the meantime, here are some ride additions for everyone for the next 2 weeks. 

• Sunday, September 18 - it's the final King of the Mountain Ride for 2011 - and this one will not be for the faint of heart (or legs!). We'll leave the shop at 9 a.m. (don't be late!), ride up Warwick tpk then around UGL. We'll take Cascade Rd. to 17, then around the back of Bellvale and up Kane. After that, it's back down 17 to Rt. 94 and over to Barrett Mtn Road. Next, it's through Waywayanda, down Warwick Tpke to Clinton road, and over to Union Valley. We'll climb up on Gould (2 short punchy ones) to Macopin and back to the shop. There will be double points for Kane and Barrett Mtn., and a sprint point on Clinton. Awesome route, and the weather should be perfect! 
• Sunday, September 18 is also race #7 in the Campmor H2H series - Blue Mountain Reservation, Peekskill, NY. Good luck to all the TTC racers headed there - and don't forget to leave some extra travel time as there are still road closures over in the Seven Lakes area!
• Sunday, September 18 is also the re-scheduled date for the NJ Gran Fondo. Again, perfect weather for the day - good luck to everyone is riding!
• Jeff Mergler and JORBA and TTC are once again teaming up for their Spooky Tuesday rides at Jungle Habitat. Meet us at 5:30 p.m., and we'll roll out at 6 p.m. sharp! This is an intermediate, no drop social ride - bring your lights, as we'll start in the daylight, but finish in the dark. We'll ride for about 2 hours - a great way to unwind after work! 
• Saturday, September 24 - it's one of our famous NYC rides! We'll meet at KC's Bagels at 8 a.m. The route is still to be completely determined, but will include taking the free ferry to Governors Island. Governors Island is one of those hidden NYC gems, and this will be the last weekend it is open for the season, so come on out and see what it's all about! If we could get a rough head count by Thursday, September 22, it would help with the planning - info@teamtowncycle.com if you are in!
• Sunday, September 25 - reminder - it's our Ladies New Paltz ride! Sorry guys, this ride is not for you. Ladies, if you haven't already RSVP'd, please drop us a line at info@teamtowncycle.com by Thursday, September 22 and let us know if you will be needing a ride back, or if you can provide a ride back. 

As always, let us know if you have any questions - see you on the road!

Rumble in the Jungle 2011 Results

Thanks to everyone who came out to our annual Rumble in the Jungle - the weather cooperated, we had a great turnout, the course was in fantastic shape, and we are so thrilled that everyone came out! 


We're putting together the posted results with the times - please be patient, and check back on this post for updated postings! 

• Cat. 3 Results with times
• Cat. 2 Results with times
• Cat 1 Results with times

Remembering Dana Hannon

As many of you know, we are selling our Rumble in the Jungle race t-shirts this year in honor of and in memory of Dana Hannon, FDNY. Dana was the brother/brother-in-law of Team Town Cycle members Kyle and Kevin Bickford, and he was one of 343 firefighters who died saving lives on 9/11/01. Today, there is a wonderful article on northjersey dot com about Dana that everyone should read. 

Thanks to Kyle and Kevin for letting us help to remember Dana on this 10 year anniversary. We are thrilled to be giving the proceeds of the shirt sales to the Dana Hannon Scholarship fund, and even more thrilled to be able to help his name and memory live on. 

The end - for now!

Well, folks, it's time to draw down the curtain of another season of Wednesday and Friday night road rides on Clinton Road. Between the condition of the road, and the rapidly waning daylight, we're going to put this tradition in the books for 2011. Much thanks to everyone who has come out this year and joined us - it was great while it lasted, right?

Of course, this doesn't mean we won't be riding - no way! Stay tuned - we've got a bunch of big fall rides we'll announce next week. 

In the meantime, please keep all of your collective fingers crossed that Mother Nature smiles upon us on Sunday at Jungle Habitat for the 2011 Campmor H2H series Rumble in the Jungle race - we want everyone - our racers and our volunteers - to have a great day on Sunday, and a lack of rain would be helpful for that! 

Ladies Road Ride CANCELED for Wednesday, September 7

Unfortunately, Nancy's plans for an awesome Wednesday night Ladies night ride are once again getting rained upon - ugh! So once again we are cancelling our ride for tonight. We hope you are all staying dry and finding some other way to get out there and stretch your legs! 

I Dig Tuesday CANCELED for tonight, September 6

Well, the blasted rain has killed our last scheduled I Dig Tuesday for 2011 - sorry folks! JORBA and Team Town Cycle would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has come out this season and helped out. Irene notwithstanding, the trails at the Hab have never looked better, and we've made great progress on some new ones! 

For those of you who still need PayDirt hours, we have two Saturday work days scheduled at Jungle Habitat - Sat., Sept. 10, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., and Sat., Oct. 1, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Thanks again for all your hard work and sweat and willingness to be bitten by mosquitoes! 

Sunday, September 4th road ride

Rather than dodge unknown and closed roads, we're going to stick close to home this Sunday. Meet us at the bike shop at 9:30 a.m., and we'll mostly wing it! We've got a good handle on what roads are open in the area, so we'll figure out a route near/around/through GWL, etc. Figure on a moderate pace, 30-40 miles, no longer - we'll stop and re-group periodically. Bring 2 water bottles and some cash - we may stop for a snack somewhere along the way! 

Thanks for your patience while we figured all this out - even a week later, Hurricane Irene is still messing up our lives! 

Rumble in the Jungle Maps and GPS files

OK, you asked for it !
View Larger Map

Here's a link to the GPS file , and here's one for the Google Earth KML file. Much thanks to Tom Hennigan for his help with these files!

A few course facts:

• The lap is 5 miles long
• There is 2,180 feet of ascending/descending per lap
• Time per lap - a couple Cat. 1 racers do the lap in 46 mins at not quite a race pace. We estimate Cat. 3 beginners will do a lap in about an hour, Cat 2 racers between 40-50 minutes per lap, Cat. 1 racers between 35-45 minutes per lap.

Only one week left - get out there and check it out!

A little work, a little fun

Labor Day weekend - who doesn't love a good three day weekend?! We're doing a little work and some riding as well - 

• Trail clearing at Jungle Habitat, 8:30 a.m. Saturday, undoing the damage Irene has wrought! Breakfast is on us. Bring your clippers and loping shears and your bike - we'll ride afterwards, around noon or shortly thereafter. PayDirt hours for your time! 
• Still working on a road ride/route for Sunday. So many roads washed out, we'll probably stick close to home. Will update you with the info as soon as we have it.

Here's hoping you don't have too much of your own Irene debris to clean up - have a great weekend, everyone!