Our fourth annual Dirt Fest, presented by Scott Sports, at Raystown Lake, Pennsylvania, was once again the best ever. A huge thank you to all who attended—friends, fans and exhibitors—you’re the ones who made it so great.

There were nearly 2,500 registered attendees riding the amazing trails around the lake, camping, house boating and partying well into the wee hours of the next day.

Special thanks go out to our official sponsors Scott Sports, Oskar Blues Brewery, Santa Cruz Bicycles, Infinit nutrition, Niner, Michelin, Take Aim Cycling, Specialized and Light & Motion. Additionally, without the event logistics provided by Rothrock Outfitters, along with support from the Friends of Raystown Lake, we never could have made it happen.

Miss out on the good time, or just want to re-live the magic? Check out this video we put together from Dirt Fest 2013. What was your favorite part of the fun?

We love reading about how visitors enjoyed themselves at Dirt Fest. Sounds like we converted another to the joys of mountain biking!

Becoming a Dirt Rag at the Dirt Fest

by Erika Durham

Fat tires for stomping through the roots and through the mud.

People have been telling me for years now to try trail riding. I’ve heard over and over again how much I would love it…how much fun it would be…how they could just SEE me becoming obsessed.

Not that it’s always been too easy to just jump on a mountain bike and find a trail around Cleveland, but I also never really made the effort to try. It wasn’t for any particular reason, I simply just hadn’t gotten around to it yet.

The Dirt Rag Dirt Fest changed ALL of that. It’s a three day thrill ride on some of the most well manicured trails many riders say they’ve been on. Three days of riding bikes so far out of my price range it made my eyeballs spin. Three days of nonstop biking, beer drinking, eating, camping, and a ridiculous amount of fun.

While Dirt Rag is of course your favorite mountain bike magazine, our friends over at Mountain Bike are pretty cool too, and they stopped by Dirt Fest and had nothing but good things to say:

The trails here have been optimized for flow and fun: Imagine yourself on a seemingly endless giant-sized pumptrack with rippling climbs that feed long roller-coaster descents. But what you might not notice are the little moments that make navigating the trails easier . Case in point—arrival at each well-marked intersection requires nothing more than locating yourself on the map, deciding what to ride next, and then pedaling off onto the next trail. It’s as simple as that.

Photographer and videographer Bryan Kirkwood sent us these great videos he helped work on from Dirt Fest. Makes us wish we were still there!

Dirt Rag is pleased to announce that Pivot Cycles is returning as the Presenting sponsor for the seventh-annual Dirt Rag Dirt Fest, taking place May 20-22, 2016, at Raystown Lake in central Pennsylvania.

“We are bringing a big fleet of bikes with all the newest models in every size for riders to try, including our Mach 6 Aluminum and the Mach 429 Trail. And our favorite East Coast rider, Aaron Chase, will be there to ride and chill with everyone, too,” said Chris Cocalis, Pivot’s president.

Set a calendar reminder for January 4, 2016, when registration will open to the public. With more than 3,500 people from across the country attending last year, Dirt Fest has become the annual mountain bike ride/party/festival/gathering that you don’t want to miss.

A huge thanks to Pivot and all of the sponsors that have so far signed up to support the fun:

• Pivot Cycles: Presenting sponsor
• DT Swiss: Silver
• Fuji Bikes: Bronze
• Five Ten: Skills Park
• SRAM: Women’s Ride & Clinic
• SWORD: Hydration Station
• Surly: Rollin’ Fat Ride
• Wolf Tooth: Epic Ride
• NiteRider: Night Ride
• WTB: Coffee & Donut Ride
• Pedro’s: Bike Wash/Lube
• SR Suntour: Beer School
• Focus Bicycles: Saturday Photo Booth
• Happy Valley Brewing Company: Friday Entertainment
• Oskar Blues: Saturday Entertainment

There are 36 miles of fast, fun, flowy trails known as the Allegrippis Trails System just a few pedal strokes away from event headquarters and a new trail on the other side of the lake accessible only via boat, the Terrace Mountain Trail. The trails are perfect for chasing your buddies all day or demoing new bike after new bike from one of our many attending bike brands.

Weekend shenanigans will include (but are not limited to):

• Bike and gear demos from several companies
• Women’s mountain bike clinics
• Skills park
• Gravel rides
• Themed rides/races featuring fat bikes, costumes, nighttime darkness, kids, whatever else we come up with
• Live music
• Craft beer and beer tasting clinics
• Wheelie competitions and the like
• Campfires
• New friends, old friends
• Movies
• Donuts

A portion of the proceeds from Dirt Rag Dirt Fest go directly to support the Allegrippis Trails System via the Friends of Raystown Lake Trails Fund. Since the event began, we have been able to donate more than $20,000 to the trails, which helps keeps them open and maintained. Go us.

Nowadays, there are many things which people like to do in their free time. Playing a variety of sports with their family and friends is one of those things. In addition, sports allow people to spend some time with others happily and with much enjoyment.

What are the benefits of playing various sports?

In the last few months, lots of people play various sports, such as indoor or outdoor, according to their preference. The reason is that it allows people to enjoy several benefits. One of the biggest benefits is that sport can allow you to enjoy the family and friends. There are much more benefits of playing out various sports. Here are some of them-

• Increases fitness level- Sports can allow you to increase your fitness level a lot which can be helpful for you. Also, sports can let you burn some extra calories throughout the world, which can help you lose weight.
• Increase understanding- By playing sports like cricket and football, you can increase the understanding with your family and friends, which can be helpful for you and allow you to enjoy benefits in the future.
• Improves thinking ability- In various sports, one needs to take many crucial decisions very fast, such as cricket or football. This thing can allow you to increase your thinking ability a lot. This can enable you to learn new things a lot faster.

Some of the famous sports which are played across the globe

• Football- It is one of the most famous sports which is played in hundreds of countries nowadays. Many tournaments are organized of this sport which people loves a lot to watch.
• Cricket- It is a gentleman’s game that had a big fan base throughout the world. This is a game which has various rules and restriction which makes it more interesting. Also, many cricket’s national and international tournaments are organized, seen by people with lots of interest.
• Badminton- This is a game of racket and cock which can be played between two or four players. It is also so famous throughout the world that it allows people to get points on their various skill and speed and thinking ability.
• Chess- This is a mental game that was Invented in India a long time before. It is a famous game throughout the world and is loved by every child nowadays. This game can allow a person to increase their thinking ability to a great level.
• Hockey- It is the national game of India, and a lot of Indians and foreigners like to play and watch it. This game is similar to football and also requires a lot of skill to play.
  If you want to do something with your family and friends to improve your fitness, thinking ability and allow you to get enjoyment, you can play various sports. It includes football, cricket, chess and many more. Also, this type of sports can be a good option for your career too.