news Dirt Fondo Riders Enjoy Excellent Event

Posted on August 31, 2017

Thank you to all who supported MCBC’s Off-Road Program by taking part in the sixth annual Dirt Fondo! Choosing a variety of distances, 300 riders headed out on adventures and everyone made it back to the BBQ in one piece. And we didn’t run out of beer (thank you Sufferfest!)!

What a phenomenal day!

We had perfect weather for most of the route, with a nice cool coastal wind to our backs – many asked if we had arranged that with mother nature. Only the 45 milers got hit with real heat as they navigated around the mountain top. But all of those hardy riders persevered!

We had amazing support from our rest stop hosts, including OSMO Nutrition and REI at Muir Beach, Fantic Bikes at the top of Tam, Beeline Bikes at Tennessee Valley and Studio Velo at Cardiac Hill. While all our stations were well stocked, Studio Velo went above and beyond with salmon and cucumber wraps and pickle juice.

Austin McInerny, executive Director of NICA, lead one of our group rides in the morning and was stoked to see so many young riders out on the course. We need to give a shout out to all of our VIP ride leaders including Otis Guy from the Marin Museum of Bicycling, Bjorn Griepenburg, MCBC Planning Director, Yuri Hauswald, global racer and Community Development Manager at GU Energy and Kim Baenisch, Executive Director at Trips for Kids. We also had a number of Marin NorCal coaches and student riders providing first aid support and we had the LIV Chix leading out groups of women riders

Speaking of women, a big Thank You to Bridget Zapata and Redfrog Athletics for organizing our Women Prep-night events and encouraging more women to ride dirt!

And we need to give a big MCBC shout out to the Marin Amateur Radio Society (MARS) for being our eyes and ears on the course and being at the ready to address any emergency situation. Their volunteers are in inspiration and they provide an invaluable service to the Dirt Fondo, Marin Century, Jensie Gran Fondo and a number of other athletic events around Bay Area.

None of this would be possible without our sponsors and partners. Bay Area Bicycle Law, Marin Bikes, Studio Velo, OSMO Nutrition and Mike’s Bikes were our presenting sponsors. Additional support was provided by Redfrog Athletics, Sufferfest Beer, REI, Clif Bar, Lagunitas Brewing Co., GU, VehicleSF, LIV, Marin Museum of Bicycling and Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and the Ocean Riders equestrian group at Muir Beach. We’d also like to thank Sven at Mauro’s Pizza and Pasta for catering the BBQ meal.

Our hosts included the Presidio Riding Club stables, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Mount Tamalpais State Park and the Marin Municipal Water District watershed.

Of course, an event of this magnitude cannot happen with the efforts of our always amazing MCBC Volunteers, whose smiling faces and helpful instructions kept everyone happy and healthy on the ride.

MCBC Volunteers were so important to the success of this year’s Dirt Fondo
that we’ve created a separate “thank-you” just for them!

Here are some of our favorite images from this memorable day – please share yours via instagram and facebook, using hashtag #mcbcdirtfondo – and don’t forget to tag @marinbike!