Join the Mountain Bike Community for the Palos Meltdown.

There's really only one thing better than mountain biking: mountain bikers. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my bike, I love the trails, I love the feeling I get when I'm flying through the trees, up and over bumps and rocks and roots and floating on a seemingly endless ribbon of dirt.

But it's the community of riders and trail workers that make it feel like a family. Knowing that there's thousands of others out there who sit around daydreaming of riding; nerdy nit-pickers that dial in their bike and talk endlessly about bar width and whether clipless pedals are really better than flats. Beer slinging, cliff bar eating, cytomax drinking, chamois butter buying crazies that would rather spend a whole day sweating in the saddle than sipping fru-fru drinks at the golf course. These are my people.

Some ride and dash, others hang and share suds and stories, still others spend most of their time doing the back breaking work that's required to keep that magic dirt carpet under your 26", 27.5", or 29" wheels. Whichever of these characters you are, know that you're part of the community.

CAMBr invites you, welcomes you, to our little portion of that community on July 19th and 20th. On the 19th, we'll be tightening up the course and handling race business during the day, and in the afternoon and evening, all racers, volunteers, and enthusiasts are welcome ride the trails, eat the food, drink the beer, and share the laughs and stories at our annual camp out in Palos Forest Preserve. The next morning we'll all wake up, drink strong coffee, and take our places as racers, course marshalls, etc. for the best race in the midwest (in our opinion anyway).

For more information, visit www.palosmeltdown.com or www.cambr.org and we hope to see you at Palos!

Marcin