One thing I’ve learned about mountain bikers since starting in the sport, and especially since starting TrailTapes a year ago, is that we are a tight community. We get together at club rides and hang out after for a coffee or beer. We come together from around the country, and indeed from around the world, when a competitor and comrade is in need.

I was forwarded an email from Joe Polk, who runs the MTBCast Podcast, about a petition to reinstate missing womens age classes in the National Mountain Bike Series. Here’s the text of the message and the link to the online petition for you to sign.

My friend Jane Finsterwald, who is a cancer survivor, three time National MTB champion and the current World Champion for 45-49 X country, has started an online petition to add a 50+ expert women’s class and 10 year age groups to the Women’s sport and beginner categories for the 2007 NMBS series.  The text of the petition and the link is below.

Recently, USA Cycling, and the National Mountain Bike Series, eliminated many of the age classes for women in the National Mountain Bike Series.

• No women’s age categories for Beginner and Sport Women Cross Country races
• Expert Women will have three categories 19-29; 30-39 and 40+
• There will be no designation over 40+ in any category

If you believe, as we do, that women athletes should have equal opportunity to race against their peers ,  please join us in signing this petition to get age classes reinstated in the National Mountain Bike Series!

Watch Now:

 Episode 9 TrailTapes Mountain Bike TV: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

How can a cyclist stay in shape during the off season? TrailTapes interviews Herb Case, a sports physiologist at Peak Fitness in Rockford, IL. Herb has raced bicycles professionally for over over 40 years and gives us some tips. Gary Fisher comments on the new mountain biking documentary, “Klunkerz.” Produced by Billy Savage, “Klunkerz,” has some great vintage photos and footage and comments from the guys who first rode their old Schwinns in the Marin County, CA, hills. Remember, donate a dollar or more to TrailTapes and get a TrailTapes, “Get Some Trail,” sticker.

Are you an avid mountain biker and amateur videographer? Do you like to interview other riders or shoot riding footage? Is there a mountain biking event in your area that you’d like to cover for TrailTapes. Unleash your inner journalist and let us see the trails in your neck of the woods. Send us your mountain bike video and be a correspondent for TrailTapes, Mountain Bike TV. Click here for submission requirements.

On any day, my friend Andy can ride faster than me. He’s a great riding partner because he pushes me to ride harder in order to keep up, but also because he’s courteous enough to stop and wait for me to catch up.

Andy bought my cro-moly, full Campy Mirage, Bianchi Eros road bike, circa 1990. It’s a sweet ride with low miles that he’ll use on his annual road riding pilgrimage out west this June.

I’ve never been much of a roadie. For me, threading technical singletrack at 8mph beats dodging cars on long, straight pavement, even if it is at higher speeds. But around here the main trail system at Rock Cut State Park closes for the winter, so any riding is done on a trainer in the basement, or on roads. So I upgraded the road bike and got a new Trek Madone 5.2, full carbon, Shimano Ultegra, sweet. My cat weighs more than this bike.

The weather this winter has been unusually dry and warm and although the days are short on light, when I can get out for a road ride, it’s perfect for the season. And on the new Madone, I’m starting to enjoy road riding. I picked it up the week after Christmas and spent about 3 hours in the shop getting fitted on the bike. Minor tweaks, like tiny seat adjustments and millimeter differences in stem length make major differences and the bike feels really good. No numbness in my hands and feet that were common on the Eros, and even on my mountain bike.

Winter being winter, often the most beautiful sunny days are also the coldest. I’ve found my low temperature threshold is about 30 degrees. Below that I think twice about riding outside. On cold days, or when I just can’t get out of the office during the day, I’ll ride rollers. I find I cannot ride to music outside. It’s distracting to not be able to hear the wind and the sound of the bike. But indoors on the roller I have no problem strapping on the iPod and cranking some tunes.

I’m giving Podfitness, a virtual personal trainer, a try to keep motivated. The cost is $19.95 a month, after the 10 day trial period. Podfitness has a bunch of trainers and preset activities, from cycling, to running, stretching, even pregnancy. I set up my profile, selected my activity, chose my trainer. Podfitness then creates a workout with encouragement from my trainer, using music in my iTunes library. Over time I can give Podfitness feedback on my training sessions and my workouts are automatically adjusted for duration and intensity. It sounds pretty cool. I’ll keep you posted.

Want some other workout soundtracks for your iPod? Check these out:

• FitPod
• ExerciseRadio