Team “Get Better Big Larry” rode the mic all day while “racing” for Big Larry and he appreciated every minute.  He’s doing better by the way and you’ll see him this summer at the farm back in his rightful place on the tractor replete in cutoffs, the sleeveless T and socks that are way too high for shorts.

Uncle Don Pagano was snapping pics off all day and I’m sure he’ll send those my way for your enjoyment as soon as he can which you can find here on his smugmug.

We loved the costumes.  They get better every year.  ”Team Super Friends” got the nod for best this year, but the voting was close with teams like “The Hiddenburg Ground Crew” and “Black Swanz” and “Escape from Cabin 8″ amongst others putting in a good show.  In my muddled race promoting mind I didn’t even get that the kids were Seuss’ Thing 1 & 2 (& 3 & 4) until after the fact.  Thanks to everyone who put on the costumes and turned down the serious dial.

We got our stuff cleaned up and all put away by 9PM Sunday (which might be a record) and the whole production from soup to nuts only happens because I have a ton of great people helping me out – Zach, Jonesy, Joe, Kristy, Cush, Nancy, Ray, Hebe, Dan, Kurt, Mike L, Mike F, Andy, Janice, Kara, Craig, Judd, Don, Kris, my fam, the Oesterlings, the rest of the Mountain Side crew and more than a few I’m forgetting I’m sure – thanks isn’t really enough, but I appreciate that it works for you.

Nice work Festa for rippin the fastest lap and for falling on your ass during the run in plain view of the announcers.  Congrats to the Whiskey Springs Jrs and the J and K’s who ripped it during the race and put everyone else except an old guy, a sweet girl and a couple bubsers from Freeze Thaw/BikeFlights off the podium.  (Time to tweak the Jr points just a touch?)

Other random good bits:

Beer feed from Swashbuckler

Swashbuckling

Cops and Robbers

Superman losing his cape

Generosity of Giant Mid-Atlantic and a few others with primes

Inspirational quotes from Charlie Sheen that kept me going

Watching my kid spend the weekend riding his strider dawn to dusk

Knowing someone put it in the creek

How freakin’ well the course held up after all that rain

Seeing peeps who I don’t see nearly enough and some I’ve not seen for a decade and meeting a few new ones

Super sweet hookups of burgers, dogs, beers and chocolate

Not flatting after a year of flatting seemingly every time I rode…nice to back on NoTubes…or off tubes…or something

“Team Giant Sucks” changing to “Team Giant Rules”

The goals of the OEO are creating and enhancing multi-use trail network and opportunities throughout the state of PA and further leveraging these trails and networks in ways that will contribute to local community wellness and economic development.

We founded the OEO in conjunction with the launch of the Trans-Sylvania Epic.  TSE currently forms the backbone of our fund raising efforts until we expand with new endeavors currently in planning.

Our goal is that OEO will play a formative role in creating more and better trails through both “boots on the ground” efforts and by contributing financial and in-kind support to clubs throughout the state who are engaged in creating well built multi-use trails.

We were able to contribute a bit to some folks in 2010 and as we grow we’re looking forward to being able to have a greater and greater impact in coming years.

Of course it looks good to do something like this, but from the very beginning TSE has been about the trails in PA.  We love these trails and no matter where in the world we go riding we can’t wait to get back home.  We want to show a little bit of the good stuff we have in PA through TSE and contribute to expanding and enhancing our incredible trails through OEO.

This is a little different group than what we’ve done before though.  While there are some guys on this team who can and will get up and go (present company excluded) the real point is to be out at races and other fun events like the Dirt Rag DirtFest on the Allegrippis trails to chat up folks and answer questions about TSE.  We know anyone who loves mountain biking will have the time of their life at TSE.  We also know that there are a lot of questions about the event, a few misconceptions about it and so much to tell that it is really tough to do so succinctly.  Sometimes it is just easier to ask someone in person than to check out a website or facebook.  I know, live interaction with a person might be scary…

Besides Ray and I the rest of the crew all have differing levels of experience with TSE.  Some of these guys did TSE in year 1 and others have been on board from the get-go as part of the organizational crew.  Some have come on board to help pull this year’s edition together and some are combining working on the event with taking part this year.  I’m even trying to convince Ray that we need our own little Epic Team amongst the staff.  He’s pretty sure I’m out of my mind.