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Sports

Fat Tire Festival Draws Record Crowds

About 500 people attended the Westchester Mountain Biking Association's Fat Tire Festival on Sunday and took advantage of the Blue Mountain Reservation's world-class trails.

An energetic mix of spectacular trails, many exhibitors, guided rides and entertaining competition helped make 2011's Fat Tire Festival at the Blue Mountain Reservation a big hit on Sunday.

"It's been tremendous," said Tim O'Connell, volunteer administrator for the Westchester Mountain Biking Association (WMBA), which both organizes the event and helps create and maintain the Blue Mountain trails.

With more than 40 miles of trails and terrain left almost untouched since the last glacial era, Blue Mountain gained a "Best Hometown Trail" award from Bike Magazine, marking it as a world-class facility.

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In past years, Fat Tire drew about 200 people, most of them male and advanced riders. But that's changed in recent times. On Sunday, an incredible variety of riders of all all ages, sizes, levels and backgrounds gathered to ride, learn, chat and just have fun.

O'Connell estimated that about 500 people showed up on Sunday, a new record for the event. While WMBA sponsors races and other intensive activities, the Fat Tire Festival focused more on quiet competition, touring, checking out sponsor offerings and family activities.

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Attendees came from all over the region, from places like Middletown, Cold Spring, and Beacon. Long-time attendees were glad to see that attendance was expanding. "The population's growing. It's nice," said Adam Pratt, who has attended the Fat Tire Festival for the last seven years.

A.J. Picarelli, owner of Down Cycles of Croton on Hudson, NY, brought his wife and two young children. Rankings of mounain biking sites are done by the bikers themselves, he said. "These trails were made by mountain bikers, maintained by them," he said. "They're pretty spectacular. If you are a mountain biker, you should come up here and check it out."

Alberto, from Beacon, brought his sons Kody and Kai and is wife Joanne. He's been mountain biking since 1994 and was at the Fat Tire festival for the second time. "It's fun, it's a family setting, and it's free," he said.

Sponsors were showing off everything from high-tech bikes that cost thousands of dollars to Subarus especially equipped for hard-core cycling. An entry-level bike can cost about $800; more sophisticated bikes are priced anywhere up to $8,000 and beyond.

"The turnout's been very good. We've had a lot of people come by, and there are a lot of Subaru owners here," said Jason McDade, a field engineer for the automaker.

Cathy and Robin, from Middletown, are just getting into mountain biking. The couple was pleased with both the workout they got and the atmosphere. "They said the mountain was big, and they didn't lie. It was big, it was tough, but it was fun. And the ladies who took us on the ride were awesome. They were very nurturing, teaching us as we rode as well as showing us the mountain. It was great," Cathy said.

Carla came to the festival to help hone her single-track skills. Single tracks are very narrow tracks that can be challenging even for experienced riders. "They're narrow trails through the woods with lots of rocks and roots. It was lots of fun," she says.

Sunday's big competitive event was a "Skinny," which is a competitive ride over a very narrow, elevated wood track about twice the width of a balance beam. Only a few riders managed to make it all the way through, and age seemed to matter less than experience and skill.

2011's winner was Will Lazo of Stamford, Ct.

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