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The 2nd annual D-Day Mountain Bike
Event was another complete success! On Saturday June 14th, Dieselbikes
was proud to promote and host a single DEMO mountain bike day event in Lynn
Woods (Lynn, MA) titled "D-Day The Second Drop". This year we were
happy to have warm sunny weather that helped with the festivities and made
the event much more enjoyable for all. The event went off without any
major hitches, however we did have a few schedule modifications based upon
some last minute changes.
This year was host to 18 vendors and 4
manufactures showcasing 2008 and 2007 DEMO bikes for event attendees to
ride. With over 65+ DEMO bikes available to test ride, event attendees
did not have a limited selection of bikes to choose from. There were a
number of lightweight XC models to full suspension all mountain and downhill
rigs available. We were limited on a few different DEMO bikes such as
29ers and a number of Downhill rigs were not allowed in the woods, but in
general we believe everyone was happy with the bikes that were available.
In addition to DEMO bikes, a number of
sponsors offered riding and maintenance clinics to assist attendees in
making the most of their DEMO ride. Set up of a DEMO bike to a
specific rider is a difficult venture to accomplish, since the set up is
limited to the bikes current build kit, but all the sponsors made their best
efforts to assist any request they received. Sponsors were also
available to answer technical questions regarding specific bike designs,
comparison of models and availability for inquiring minds.
 One highlight of this year’s event was
the addition of some women specific venues sponsored by The Boston LunaChix
and Specialized Bicycles. The LunaChix and Specialized were a perfect
combination to run this venue and they got the job done! The LunaChix
were in full force with
Jimena Florit (4 x NORBA Champion XC and Short
Track, Pan-American Gold medalist) leading women group rides, technical
riding clinics and helping out with bike set up. With the LunaChix in
the drive seat, Specialized Bicycles was providing the wheel power offering
a number of women specific DEMO mountain bikes. These women specific
bikes are designed with geometry for women by women and are helping
 attract
more females into the sport of mountain biking. Both of these sponsors
were busy throughout the day and we received great reviews for their
efforts.
There were a number of group rides
held during this year’s event ranging from short 15 minute DEMO rides to
90-minute tours of Lynn Woods. Although we had more ride leaders and
additional sponsors holding their own group rides, we did fall short this
year with pre-ride announcement/scheduling, but plan on addressing this
matter during our next event. Regardless of this small technicality,
everyone who went out on group rides during the event came back with a BIG
smile! Some attendees rode Lynn Woods for the first time and a number
hit the new trails that have been built over the last two years. From
beginner to expert technical rides, our ride leaders had it covered and they
were enjoying every minute out on the trails.
Once again, mountain bikes were not
the only wheeled vehicles to DEMO ride. Mountain-Uni was in attendance
providing short classes on how to ride a unicycle. For those who knew
how to ride a unicycle, Mountain-Uni also provided more technical clinics,
having rides navigate trail obstacles. On hand to Demo was a Trials
Unicycle, Freeride and XC 29" for attendees to ride and play around in the
skills area. Just as last year, Mountain-Uni drew a number of
attendees interested in trying out the sport of mountain-uni as well having
a number of spectators when Jeff and his team was out riding the wooden
skills area.
This year Dieselbikes expanded our
wooden stunt skills area offering a number of new stunts for attendees to
try out. One big wooden feature added was the introduction of the
CANNON. The CANNON is our portable 12-foot by 12-inch wide
teeter-totter that was enjoyed by all that attempted to overcome its
intimidating stature. Also on hand were a number of skinny ladder
bridges of varying widths, a 2-foot elevated deck jump and small beginner
teeter-totter that was a blast for our kid attendees.
Over on the sidelines, we held our
first Mountain Bike Limbo Contest that was broken into two separate groups.
The first group was small bikes under 20" and mostly consisted of kids just
having fun. Among the little riders were some adults trying to squeeze
their way under the limbo stick riding tiny kids bikes…it was a sight to
see. The larger class was bikes over 24" and this was a dual that
ended in a draw between to riders. Both rides were able to squeeze
under 46" but not able to go any lower. The Limbo contest was a fun
time for all and we have been requested to hold more fun competitive games
in future events.
Our music venue was once again
directed by Chris Keating Productions and featured musicians such as "Status
Whoa", "Qwill" and "Scott Void Radio". We also saw the return of
"Walnut - da lyrical geni" who preformed a number of funk hip-hop tracks.
The support from these local musicians groups added another level of karma
to this event. The genre of music ranged from bluegrass, funk,
hip-hop, to rock. Again, we want to thank all the bands and the
efforts of Chris Keating Productions. If you want to know more about
these bands, you can contact them through Chris Keating Productions
(chriskeating@chriskeatingmusic.com).
Last but not least, we have to give a
big shout of THANKS for all our support members, volunteers and sponsors
that help make this event possible. First on the list, we want to
thank our event volunteers who took time from their own busy lives and
helped support our event. With out them, this event would not have
functioned so smoothly. Second we want to thank our club members that
stepped up to the challenge handling every aspect of the event with no
issues or problems to report. Third, we want to thank all of our sponsors
who spent the time and money to come out and support this event. With
out their business support, generous swag and on-site personnel, this event
would not have been any bigger then the year before. We also would
like to thank Dan Small (Lynn Woods Ranger) and the City of Lynn for their
trust and confidence in Dieselbikes abilities to hold such an event.
Without their permit approval, this event would have not taken place.
The stats for this year’s event were
bigger and better then last year. Our attendance had a 15% increase over
last year's 2007 D-Day Event, but over 50% increase for money generated for
Lynn Woods and the park ranger fund. In our eyes, this was a complete
success and big win for the trail network in Lynn Woods. Regardless of
these increases, we will work to make our next event(s) bigger and better
adding more venues, clinics, group rides and contests. We look forward
promoting future events in Lynn Woods and hope to see everyone at next years
2009 D-Day Festival! |
