Mountain bikers from across Pennsylvania and neighboring states descended on Oil City\u2019s Clark\u2019s Summit over the Fourth of July weekend as the Allegheny GNAR races returned, culminating Sunday with the Pennsylvania State Downhill Championship.<\/p>\n
Riders were able to practice the course beginning Friday before the USA Cycling-sanctioned championship races Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Shuttle-assisted downhill rides also gave riders of all ages an opportunity to experience the course without competing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is one of our better turnouts this year,\u201d said organizer Russell Lineman.<\/p>\n
There were 89 registered participants.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some riders in their 60s this year, and the youngest one is 10,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Among the newcomers was 15-year-old Ryder Davidson of Virginia, who traveled to Oil City for the first time after being invited by Lineman.<\/p>\n
Davidson, who has raced downhill mountain bikes for nine years, said the weekend\u2019s heat added another challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is definitely a hot summer,\u201d Davidson said.<\/p>\n
Davidson said he regularly competes in the Downhill Southeast race series.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last race I did was Snowshoe in West Virginia,\u201d he said. \u201cI do a lot of the Downhill Southeast races. That\u2019s the main series that I do, but Russell, who runs this series, sponsored me for this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the terrain differed from the courses he typically rides, Davidson said he enjoyed the challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely different,\u201d Davidson said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot more loam \u2014 loose forest topsoil \u2014 than what I\u2019m used to riding, and it\u2019s a little steeper with tighter corners. I\u2019m used to hard-packed trails, fast wide-open sections, big rock gardens and big jumps. I still enjoy it. It\u2019s definitely fun and a nice change from what I\u2019m used to riding.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s event also introduced a new four-cross (4X) competition, where groups of four riders raced side-by-side down a twisting mountain course after the drop of a wooden starting gate.<\/p>\n
The BMX-inspired format featured tight racing through berms and over a wooden jump, combining speed with friendly competition.<\/p>\n
The camaraderie was evident when Franklin rider Nick Roxberry developed a mechanical problem after winning his opening heat.<\/p>\n
Rather than forcing him to withdraw, another competitor immediately offered Roxberry the use of his bike so he could continue racing.<\/p>\n
Lineman said the organization\u2019s races in President were canceled this year because of logging operations and extensive trail maintenance but are expected to return in 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mountain bikers from across Pennsylvania and neighboring states descended on Oil City\u2019s Clark\u2019s Summit over the Fourth of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[8059,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-237239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-head3","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}