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Dirt Bike Championship




Description:

The objective of the game is to win the races while not crashing. Get ahead of your opponent before the course ends to get to the next one. Be careful of cliffs and rough terrain that would test your motocross skills. Good Luck!

Instructions:

· Drive - Arrow Keys
· Pause Game - P Key

The two best bike racing

1986 vs. 2009: Let's talk about information access for an American in love with Euro bike racing. Back then VeloNews had the aesthetic & the journalistic qualities of The Thrify Nickel. Fresh in your mailbox every 2 weeks was ancient history. Looking for timely Spring Classic or Grand Tour top-10 results? You had to call a 1-900 number or buy the national edition of New York Times. And Winning, while glossier & more attractive, was overly pre-disposed to domestic teams. Coors Light, Crest, Lowenbrau, Schwinn-Icy Hot -- those words don't signify mass market brands. Rather, as they trip across the tongue, they evoke sensory-triggered memories of my youth as arousing as the scent Calvin Klein Obsession. If you didn't live through the media embargo of the 80's, especially now in the era of pros blogging about the importance of their pre-race dump or tweeting Flip videos of a post-race team meal -- if you didn't live through it, it's near-impossible to appreciate it.

To live as a cyclist in 1986 was to see how fully black the darkness was, which is why the two articles shown below were so monumental. To get mainstream treatment of something so loved, yet so obscure -- it was pornographic in the full flower of the word. I was 16 and my inexperience was matched only by my eagerness to learn and by the difficulty to procure said porn. The ecstasy it triggered was something hard-wired and hormonal, as only a 16-year old feels it.

The circa-1986 Rolling Stone story about Greg Lemond is written by Trip Gabriel. His writing career eventually turned into an editing career, culminating in his position as Style Editor of the New York Times a few years back. His tenure at the Times was the final widely-read celebration of celebrity glamour predicated on taste & respect, before the concepts got gutted by TMZ and Gawker. Gabriel's skills shine in this article.

The circa-1988 National Geographic piece about the Tour de France was penned by Gilbert Duclos-Lasalle, twice winner of Paris-Roubaix, and father of current pro Hervé Duclos-Lasalle. The text is brief, but instructive for an aspring young bike racer: On race day, no matter the pace, never let the strain show. And the photos lived up to the lofty standards of National Geographic. The face of Dag Otto-Lauritzen is picture-perfect suffering. And check out the charred legs of Lucho Herrera and his Café de Colombia teammates. After seeing that photo back in '88, I stopped at my local grocery store to buy tanning oil (not to be mistaken with sunscreen) in an attempt to similarly sear my legs black on that day's 4-hour, 100-degree ride.

It was a heroic time for reasons that 2009 can't be the same. Enjoy these articles. Save them, forward them, print them, treasure them for the intoxicating period pieces they are.

30 June 2008 was a momentous day in cycling history. That was the day the ‘Silly Commuting Racing’ thread on the BikeRadar forum was started. And nearly 1,300 pages later, it’s still going strong. Why? Because Silly Commuting Racing (SCR) makes every day a race day, every commute a challenge, and every other rider a potential competitor.


Catching up with some SCR regulars at the Morpeth Arms in Pimlico on one of their irregular Friday evening meets, it’s clear that there’s camaraderie as well as competitiveness. And, as they point out, we’ve probably all played the game ourselves. “This puts a name to that silly voice in the back of your head,” says Mark, aka ‘Clever Pun’. “You’re on a high, someone tries to overtake you and it’s ‘no, no, no!’”

During its early days the SCR’s rules were formalised, with a strict scoring system taking into account the type of cyclist you’re overtaking – or ‘scalping’ as forum parlance has it. The cycling food chain has scooters at the top of the 14 bikes listed; ‘roadies with shaved legs – like girls’ are second, with ‘proper rapid singlespeed (real men, messengers, tarty shiny fixies)’ third; electric bikes are at the bottom.

It may sound like a complicated system, but forum user ‘Fury21’ simplified it very early on: “If you get confused on the road, think of it this way – if you drop anyone who looks faster than you: +1. If you get dropped by anyone that looks slower than you: -1. Couldn’t be simpler!”

But they’re a responsible lot, and there’s no jumping red lights for the SCR rouleurs. “It’s all about doing it safely,” says ‘Clever Pun’. “There’s no point causing danger. On my 15-mile commute if I jumped every red light I might get to work five minutes earlier. And it gives us a bad name.” All the rules of the road have to be obeyed at all times, even if – as one forum user recounts – a policeman on a bike tries to beckon you through a red light.

Many of those who came to SCR found it by accident. Self-described commuter racing newbie ‘Sketchley’ got involved on his return from the World Cup in France; finding himself out of shape, he went to BikeRadar looking for bike-buying advice. Olivia, aka ‘Lost_in_Thought’, asked a question about fixed-gear bikes – she was met with a chorus of “girls don’t ride fixed-gear bikes, are you sure you’re a girl?” – but after that she caught the SCR bug. She’s aware that it’s still a predominantly male pastime. “I do try to recruit other women to commuter racing, but it is quite a blokey thing... and boys don’t like being overtaken by girls!”


We expected tales of car-related carnage, but the SCR regulars were sanguine in their assessment of other road users. Apart from ‘IT Boffin’, who’d had three run-ins with taxis in the previous week, there was a pleasingly low incident count, with the most serious injury the result of a fall on the train home after a post-Friday pub session. Do watch out when it rains, though, says ‘IT Boffin’: “When it’s dark and raining everybody switches off their brains.”

SCR membership can lean towards the obsessive. Last year’s commuter racer of the year, ‘Clever Pun’ Mark, clocked up over 8,000 miles – and there are tales of riders stretching their usual 10-mile commute to 70 miles. Mark even got a little trophy for his efforts, which he achieved on a Brompton, a road bike, a fixie and even a Boris bike!

But the main thing is the racing, and especially collecting scalps of riders higher up the cycling food chain. ‘Wrath Rob’ is typical: “I have my flat-barred mountain bike [number 8 on the cycling food chain] – I like being able to scalp on that thing. I’m never caught by anything!” But we’ll leave the last word to Mark: “If someone goes past you and it looks like they’re not trying, you go ‘Aaarrggghhhh!’ If you can beat someone on a hill it’s a lot more fun. Inside you’re saying ‘Please let this hill end’.”

For more about the world of Silly Commuter Racing, go to www.itsnotarace.org. This site has links to the BikeRadar thread, SCR Facebook page and Twitter. Itsnotarace also has a Food Chain Calculator, so you can work out your own cycling food number, or CFN.

Spring is on the horizon and those of you who ride bicycles know what that means; racing season will soon be upon us. Every year there are those brave souls that decide to try their hand at local grass roots mountain bike racing for the first time. While fun and exciting, this can also be quite daunting. Questions abound about the course, passing, nutrition and classes. Potential racers are scared away every year simply because they fear the unknown. If only there was a way to get their questions answered and fears negated! Well, now there is. The steps and pointers contained in this article will help you take your first step towards dominating, or at least finishing, your first mountain bike race. I picked these up through my own struggles with racing and talking to others. This article intended for those people who are experienced riding a mountain bike, not those looking to start mountain biking.

The first, and most obvious, spot to check for races is your local bike shop. Many bike shops promote races as a means of generating foot traffic and name recognition. Even if these shops don't sponsor any races, chances are they have customers that are racers. Race promoters will come by and drop off fliers to get the word out for their races as well. If you come up dry at the shops, it's time to hit the internet. The internet is a wealth of information, as you can see since you made it here. Start with the local and national message boards. They usually have a section specific to racing. Perhaps the best source is USA Cycling. This is a national organization that runs sanctioned races all over the US and allows you to search by state and discipline. USA Cycling also has sub-organizations that are specific to each state that run the state level series. All of this info will be available on their website. For USA Cycling sanctioned races you will have to buy a yearly or one-day license. The one-day license will be available for around $5 at each race.

Step #2 Choosing a Race

Try to choose a race at a trail that you are familiar with. Mountain bike racing is hard enough without trying to learn the course on the fly. If there are no races at trails that you are familiar with, choose one that is close so you can pre-ride the course.

Step #3 Choosing a Race Class

Choosing a race class is tricky as most new racers have no idea what class they should be in. Classes are broken down according to speed, then age. Category 1 is the fastest, followed by Category 2 and then Category 3. Each "Cat" does a different number of laps as well, Cat 1 is 3 laps, Cat 2 is 2 laps, and Cat 3 is 1 lap. Cat 3 is the beginner class and is the right place for most people to start. Beginners tend to underestimate how fast racing is and there is a big jump from Cat 3 to Cat 2. Riding in the beginner's class also allows you to get a feel for the start and get used to passing and being passed. I recommend that most people try Cat 3 first. If you destroy the competition, then you can always request an upgrade if you have a license or just sign up for Cat 2 if you don't.

Step #4 The Pre-ride

Whether or not you have ridden the trail before, you will want to pre-ride the course so you can get used to race speeds. Ideally, this will take place the weekend before the race, but if the course is farther away this is not always practical. You may have to do it several weeks in advance. Most race courses are between 8-11 miles in length, allowing for multiple laps in one day. Ride the first lap at a somewhat leisurely pace, noting all the potential problem areas. You will need to remember all the loose corners, technical climbs or descents, and tricky sections if you want to do well in the race. Take time to session these areas to find the fastest line. Your second lap is where you want to drop the hammer. You want to ride this lap fast, not all out, but fast. This will allow you to test traction in the corners while also allowing you to get used to riding at elevated speeds.

Step #5 Race Preparations

Once of the smartest things you can do it take your bike to the shop to get checked out and adjusted. Not only do you want to make sure your bike is safe, you want to limit any possible mechanical failures that could hamper your success. Have them look over the entire bike. If you run a bike with an air suspension, recheck the sag. From a physical standpoint, you can ride that week, but don't go too hard. Most races are on Sunday; this will allow you to get out for a short, low intensity ride the day before to get the legs loose.

Step #6 Race Day

Before you leave the house, verify that you have everything; then check again. All race promoters will require that you have a helmet and working brakes on your bike. These are not optional, but you really should not be riding without them anyway. You will also want to have a way to hydrate yourself. Either a water bottle or hydration pack will work great, especially for the shorter races. Energy gels are a good idea, but not necessary for the short races. Check that everything on your bike is tight and the tire pressure is set to your preference. Check the cleats on your shoes if you ride clip less pedals. Try to get there two hours before your race starts. This will give you time to sign in, fill out the waiver, check everything, and get in a good warm up. You will want to be warmed up when you get to the start line, there will be no time during the race.

Step #7 The Race

Now that you are properly warmed up, sucked down a few gels, and your bike is ready, get to the starting line. You want to be at the front of the line if possible. Once the gun fires you will want to go fairly hard to start. This is because you want to be one of the first into the woods. You don't want to get behind people that you will end up passing, because while you are waiting for a spot to pass, the leaders are pulling away. Make people pass you, not the other way around. The first mile or so of the race will be really fast, but they will settle into a pace fairly quickly. Hang on as best you can. At about three miles in, the racers will start to separate a bit. You will want to settle into a nice pace, faster than you would normally think you could run. Adrenalin will take care of the rest.

Step #8 Post Race

Now that you've finished your first race, go to the vehicle and grab a recovery drink and rehydrate. Walk around and talk to your fellow racers, check the results, grab your medal if you finished on the podium. Don't dwell on any mistakes, just revel in your own awesomeness for a bit. Congratulations, you are now a mountain bike racer.

Below are some additional pointers that are good to know.

*Grass roots racing is friendly and allowing someone to pass is encouraged. If someone is asking to pass, let them know you heard them, find a spot to pull aside slightly and give them the go ahead. There is no reason for you to stop, it is the passer's responsibility to find a spot to pass, but use your common sense and be courteous.

*If you want to pass, let the person know in a friendly tone. Most people will do exactly what was stated above. When you go to pass, call which side you are going to pass on, pass them and say thank you. The only exception to the passing rules is towards the end of the race. Don't expect anyone to let you by in the last few miles. You will have to make you own way, but you should still call which side you are going to pass on.

*Don't worry if you don't have a race bike. No one is going to laugh at you. The rider is more important than then bike anyway. The same guy that beat you on a 21 pound hardtail could probably beat you on a 30 pound trail bike as well. Ride what you have and make no apologies.

*Some people wear Lycra and others wear baggies. It's all a matter of preference. No one will make fun of you for what you are wearing.

*Don't be concerned with finding a race team. You don't need to be on a team to race. If you want to join a team, ask the team guys how they got involved with their team. They might know of some openings; but if you're fast enough they will come to you, so give it some time.