Puzzle of Mud
BUTLER TWP — Alameda Park on Sunday became the mecca for race-starved mountain bikers in and around Western Pennsylvania.
Clad in colorful racing shirts and pants, men and women, boys and girls, young and not-so-young — for at least a day — were able to break free from the coronavirus pandemic.
It was the opening race of the long-standing Month of Mud off-road bike series. And organizers were not about to let COVID-19 break its streak — now at 31 consecutive years.
“It's the longest mountain bike racing series in Western Pennsylvania, and possibly in all of Pennsylvania,” said Ann Burr of Zelienople, who is serving in her third year as race director. “We wanted to keep it going, so it's a continuous record.”
Still, like every other aspect of life, the dreaded virus has taken its toll on the Month of Mud.
Instead of its normal five races, this year the series has been pared to just two — the Sunday opener at Alameda Park and the finale Nov. 1 at Brady's Run Park in Beaver Falls, Beaver County.
The modified series didn't seem to bother the 195 registered racers Sunday; they were just happy to again experience the thrill of competition and the pure joy of participation.
For many, the chance to mingle with fellow competitors was every bit as satisfying.
“The camaraderie you build in friendships through mountain biking is unbelievable,” said Joseph Fraas of North Huntingdon, Westmoreland County, a competitive racer since 2009.
Chrissy Buerkle, formerly of Evans City and now of Pittsburgh, cut her teeth on mountain bike racing about 20 years ago when she participated in the one-time “Alameda Assault,” a short race at its park namesake that was promoted by a local bike dealer.
“That was before they rebuilt all the trails,” she said.
For Buerkle, mountain biking is a challenge, physically and mentally.
“It's like solving a puzzle,” she said. “The obstacles are fun and it's kind of dancing through the woods. I like the rocks the most, probably, which everybody else hates.”
The Alameda Singletrack, the group responsible for the trail system at the park, designed the course, which is a favorite of bikers across the region.“It's a very flowing cross country course with neat little features,” Burr said. Among those features are rolling contours, banked corners and berms.“There are a lot bends and a lot of tight turns on the switchbacks coming back up the hill,” said Brian Debo of New Brighton, Beaver County, who is participating in his 10th Month of Mud series this year.“The course here is super fast and smooth. There's climbing but not a lot of climbing. The trails are mostly smooth, hard compacted dirt with some (tree) roots.”The seven-mile race loop Sunday was comprised of a chain of smaller connected trails with curious names like “Welcome Mat” and “Mick Jaggers” and “Rainbows and Unicorns” and “Alien Armpit” and “Jungle Boogie.”The most challenging of those individual trails? “Flying Squirrel,” Burr suggested.“It's really steep down hill,” she said. “It's got lots of jumps, if you can jump.”“I like to keep my wheels plain on the ground as best as I can,” said Scott Holland of North Pittsburgh, who was at Alameda Park for his first ever Month of Mud race.But he was familiar with the local course, having served as course marshal for previous races at Alameda.“This is a lot of fun,” he said. “Whoever designed the trails did an excellent job. It's something different. It's not death climbs and death down hills. It's a little up and a little down. It's not rocks and roots, it's more pump style.”A pump track is typically made up of a looped succession of dirt rollers and berms, with some jumps.
Sunday was the third year that Alameda Park hosted one of the races in the Month of Mud series.In a normal year, of which 2020 has been anything but, the series is held on five consecutive Sundays, and feature different styles of racing.Those styles are cross country, like at Alameda Park, as well as cyclocross, short-track and a downhill time trial. Moraine State Park in Butler County and Ohiopyle in Fayette County are traditional venues for the series.Another venue is North Park in Allegheny County. This year is the second year for Brady's Run Park.Participants can compete in as many races as they choose, or complete in all of them and qualify for the series championship.There are 19 different series categories, some of which are expert men, expert women, masters men and women for those 55 and over, beginner men and women, high school boys and girls, junior boys and girls for those 14 and under.There's even a category for unicyclists.While trophies, awards and cash prizes are handed out to the top several finishers in the different categories, this year only cash prizes will be awarded to the top five finishers in each group, Burr said.That decision was made, in part, because organizers did not seek to round up the typical sponsors for the series.“Because of COVID,” Burr said, “I didn't ask people because business has been rough for a lot people, so I didn't want to burden them.”Racers praised organizers for keeping the series going this year in wake of COVID. The event, Fraas said, means so much to the mountain biking community.“Month of Mud means so much,” he said, “because it's all local. It's your local guys. It's the guys you ride with. It's the guys you build trails with. It's the guys you do the trail maintenance with. It's the guys you go camping with.“The Month of Mud is family.”
