The first annual Sugarloaf Fat Tire Festival and Banked Slalom Race was a huge success –thanks to all who helped! This event, which was the brain-child of Sugarloaf’s Andy Gendron and CRNEMBA Board member Joe Hines, was hosted by Sugarloaf on April 3-5 and supported by CRNEMBA and Maine Huts & Trails. The New England Mountain Bike Association and Bicycle Coalition of Maine’s executive directors were on hand and a variety of industry organizations including Downeast Bicycles, Pedro’s, Bar Mitts, Bikeman, Rose Bike, Northern Lights, Littleton Bike and Allspeed supported the event with prizes and demo equipment. A special thanks to Downeast Bicycles for donating a Framed Minnesota 1.0 fat-tire bike for CRNEMBA to raffle during Saturday’s mountain-bike season kickoff party. The weekend started with a race pre-registration event at the Sugarloaf Outdoor Center which featured famous Rolling Fatties burritos for dinner, limited night riding, and lots of excitement. Between the on-line registration and those taken Friday night, forty-six competitors signed up for the race. The race on Saturday morning was admittedly a bit of a slush-fest but despite the weather and course conditions there was no shortage of smiles. There are some great photos and a video posted on the CRNEMBA Facebook page. www.facebook.com/pages/Carrabassett-Region-Nemba Men’s podium finishers: 1. Troy Barry, 2. Thomas Morton, 3. Robert Carmen Women’s podium finishers: 1. Kathy Morton, 2. Kendra Emery, 3. Martha Fanning Full results can be seen at: http://allsportsevents.com/Results/mountain_bike_results/SugarloafFatTireFestival2105.html Not only did Robert Carmen arrive at the mountain from CT at 4:30 AM for the race, he placed third and then displayed the insanely light bikes from his company, Fat Ass Bikes during the day. Guided rides were held on the hour from 10:00 AM till 2:00 PM and thanks to the participating bike shops a sizable demo fleet allowed almost 100 riders to participate in the 30-45 minute ride from the base area to the Sugarloaf Outdoor Center. Sugarloaf graciously provided return bus service to the resort base area. Participants included all ages and abilities –Turkey and Czechoslovakia were well represented by students from Lincoln Academy. The day’s fun was recapped at the CRNEMBA kickoff party Saturday evening which featured video footage and photos from the race and the demo event. The event, which was held at the Sugarloaf Inn, also included remarks by CRNEMBA President Pete Smith and NEMBA Executive Director Philip Keyes. Pete described some of the upcoming CRNEMBA events and plans while Philip praised the club for the quantity and quality of the work that has been done in such a short time. Steve King won the bike raffle; perhaps the happiest face at the event. Steve reported a day later that he could not get his daughter off the thing! Sunday featured a well-attended guided ride from the Valley to the Maine Huts & Trails Stratton Brook Hut. By all reports, the smiles continued. Thanks from CRNEMBA to all who helped and participated. See you next year! Stay connected: www.carrabassettnemba.org, www.facebook.com/pages/Carrabassett-Region-Nemba