Catching up with the Lancaster Bike Club who will be trekking to this years TRY ALL BY FIRE! 
Q: How many members do you have in your club?
A: Lancaster Bike Club has around 600 memberships at any given time. Since we charge the same flat $20 annual fee for individual or family memberships, there are actually more than 600 members.
Q: How many folks do you think will attend Try All By Fire?
A: As of this writing, I believe 13 of our members have already registered, and I know of 2 more who will be registering shortly.
Q: How did you hear about TRY ALL BY FIRE?
A: As far as I know, we all heard about this when the Try All event info and links were posted on our bike club’s Yahoo group email. Apparently, someone from your organization had contacted our club and provided the details. Guess you guys are glad you included Lancaster Bike Club on your contact list, eh?!?! Then again, you may live to regret this (see next answer).
Q: What attracted your group to the event?
A: Did someone say P-A-R-T-Y ?? What more fitting conclusion to a long, active day in the great outdoors than hanging out with a couple hundred other sweaty, stinky folks who have nothing better to do on a Saturday night than partake of free beer, food, live music & camping?? One major challenge you guys forgot to include in your description of the Try All … stumbling back to your tent, if you can find it, after a night of hard partying. I mean, seriously, who can pass on an event like that! Oh, and there are showers available? Oh baby, that means more women will come. This is a slam dunk – we feel lucky we got in before registration closed! By the way, the create-your-own-route concept did cause confusion for some, but when it was explained to them that it was just an excuse for a wild PARTY in the woods, the whole route thing was quickly forgotten …. LOL
Q: Have you ever participated in an event like this?
A: Can’t say that any of us have. Of course all your literature suggests that ‘this is a first-ever, an event unlike any other’, so I’m not sure how any of us COULD have participated in such an event! LOL LOL 
Q: What route or routes or plans do you have for the event?
A: To borrow from the immortal Emmit ‘Doc’ Brown in Back to the Future – ” …. routes? What routes? Where we’re going, Marty, we don’t NEED routes.” !!
On a more serious note, we haven’t gotten to the level of route planning just yet. I know that we will not all be doing the same thing. Some are doing single sport (biking), others will be doing multi-sport. For example, there are about 6 or 7 of us who are also avid flatwater kayakers (myself being one of them). I know we’re planning to arrive early on Friday morning so that we can get in a full day of paddling (15-20 miles, hopefully). A couple of our gang are also runners, so they’ll be figuring out some trails or roads to hit. But we’ll all do some riding, most likely on Saturday, if not on Friday and/or Sunday as well.
Q: Is your group open to have others join you?
A: I’m sure we won’t mind people hangin’ with us at all! Meeting new people is part of the fun – but I have a strange feeling that our route planning will be last-minute. Stay tuned, folks …
Q: What part of the event are you looking most forward to?
I think we spelled this out pretty clearly in #4 :-) but the experience will most certainly be rounded out by meeting fantastic, energetic people and discovering new roads, trails and rivers that we can visit again (At the very least, next year at the SECOND Annual Try All By Fire?!)
TABF: Thanks so much Lancaster Bike Club! We hear you have a bit of a reputation for ‘bringing the party to the party’ so we really excited to have you as part of our event! (Special Thanks to Jeff Elliott for taking the time to respond to our questions!)
If you want to join the Lancaster Bike Club as well as other endurance athletes who are ready to kick back and enjoy an evening at the Try All By Fire register today while spots are still open! For more info contact info@trychips.com
PRIMAL ON THE BIKE:
LOOK WHO’S COMING: Tom Oswald, Oswald Cycle Works in Mansfield, PA has mapped out his route as follows (You are welcome to join him) Oswald Cycle Works: http://www.oswaldcycleworks.com/
“Here’s the route I plan to take – just barely over 70 miles” – Tom Oswald
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/29058054
Will probably ride back the same way the next day.
PRIMAL – MULTISPORT
Dave Hunter – Race Director of Megatransect invites you to join him on his trek to the TRY ALL BY FIRE:
Come join my “Trybe”….. As a race director I am always looking for new and exciting ways to challenge my contestants as well as myself. At the age of 54 I am looking for such a challenge. The Try All by Fire will allow me to embark on my longest endurance ultra that is my own design. My rules, my course, my friends!
The core of my challenge is a 27+ mile trail run. I am looking to incorporate some mountain biking into this adventure. This will most likely be an 18 mile downhill ride on a dirt road before the run/hike portion. (My course and downhill still counts on the bike!) This will all end at the Western Clinton Sportsmen’s Association.
This is all subject to change… Others will join my Trybe and together we will brainstorm the logistics, change and finalize our plans as needed.
This is what I have in mind: Getting dropped off at the top of the Carrier Rd. where it intersects Route 664. We will set off to enjoy a fast 18 mile downhill ride to Farrandsville on mountain bikes. From there I will arrange to have a trailer pick up the bikes and transport them to my house via trailer. The Trybe then sets off for an ultra. Now here is where it can get interesting…… We can meet up with other Trybes that have kayaked to that point in Farrandsville from Lock Haven. Some of my Trybe could even continue on riding their mountain bikes on the Graham Rd. that ungulates on the north side of the Susquehanna River. Hikers and runners can simply start there as well as road bikers that have arrived on the pavement. No rules, no constraints, just simple endurance gratification!
There are so many ways to get to the finish line. From the north, south, east or west, will you and your Trybe rise to the occasion or be apathetic and just read about this unique event after it has passed you by! Only you can declare war on the enemy, that being Apathy!
Come join me at the finish line,
Dave Hunter
Race Director of the Megatransect
