The visitPA Mountain Bike Racing Team is made up of a mix of elite mountain bike racers from around Pennsylvania. Team captains Mike Kuhn (Allentown) and Ray Adams (Harrisburg) lead a team that together have over 80 years of PA trail riding experience. All team members work full-time jobs and spend nearly every weekend from April through September racing around the state and region promoting Pennsylvania as a great place to vacation and ride. The team not only enjoys promoting PA riding, but is considered the top elite team in the region! If it's not Ray or Wes winning the elite men's field or Nancy standing atop the women's podium, Hebe will be dominating an off-road duathlon; from Mike Kuhn's top finishes in 100 mile endurance races to Rob's incredible 24 hour racing stamina, the team members prove their mettle week after week!

The Team's sponsors include Pennsylvania-based Cannondale Bicycles, who provide the team with their top-end frames, Deuter hydration packs, Suunto heart rate monitors, Northwave cycling shoes, and Rudy Project eyewear and helmets. In turn, the Team gives a charitable contribution to the Blue Butterfly Fund, an organization that helps families whose children have cancer and organizations that assist these families. Every time visitPa.com wins, so does the Blue Butterfly Fund!

VisitPA.com Mountain Bike Team Directors Ray Adams and Mike Kuhn are please to announce the Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic: a seven day mountain bike stage race through the beautiful mountains of central Pennsylvania. The race will be held from May 30 through June 5, 2010 in and around State College, PA. The seven stages will be comprised of stellar east coast singletrack interspersed with rolling mountain roads, showcasing the style of riding central PA has to offer. The experience will include four stages starting and finishing within riding distance of the race campground and three stages within a one hour drive of the camp. The first stage of the event is a 10 mile time trial, with remaining stages consisting of single-lap cross country courses 25-60 miles in length. Trans-Sylvania will include categories for solo competitors as well as two-person and corporate teams.

Trans-Sylvania Epic director at large Ray Adams hopes to expand the scope of the event beyond that of serious racers:  "The Trans-Sylvania Epic is within a day's drive of the majority of the US and Canadian populations and makes for an affordable summer vacation. We hope to draw not just competitors, but the families and friends of race participants as well. It is very easy to get to State College and participants will find trails that are as good as anything anywhere in the world."  Executive race director Mike Kuhn agrees, "Our home-base campground offers numerous amenities including lodges, a swimming pool, and a full dining facility and is a convenient drive to State College, home of Penn State University, where you'll find all the variety the largest city in central PA can offer including a whole host of food and lodging options."

Having promoted some of the largest mountain bike events in the Mid-Atlantic, Kuhn has a considerable amount of experience in organizing such gatherings. "We are excited for the opportunity to bring the off-road stage racing format to Pennsylvania. This is an event we've been working on for well over a year, we are looking forward to showcasing the incredible trails here in the Keystone State and giving participants a great time," said Kuhn. "Compared to other events of its caliber, Trans-Sylvania will be the great value in a well-earned race experience and fun vacation for participants and spectators alike."

Unique to Trans-Pennsylvania and designed to appeal to a broad variety of participants and generate interest within professional circles is the Corporate Category. Within this category, the fastest three team member's times on each stage will count toward the overall while permitting teams to start as many riders as they like on any given day. This allows riders of all abilities to participate as often as they like through the week without penalizing team members who want to ride every day. Designed with incredible riding and a fun experience in mind and with the ease of travel to get to the event, the Trans-Sylvania Epic will appeal to serious racers as well as those looking for a week-long adventure vacation in the beautiful Pennsylvania wilderness.

The Trans-Sylvania Epic is a production of The Outdoor Experience Organization, a non-profit Pennsylvania organization whose mission is to build and create, improve upon, and document forest trails in the state of Pennsylvania for the use of foot traffic, bicycles, cross-country skiers, equestrians and other user groups in order to increase interest in sustainable, healthy, and enjoyable outdoor oriented activities; build outdoor recreation tourism in Pennsylvania; and contribute to improved community health and wellness by increasing availability of fitness-related outdoor recreational activities and enhancing outdoor recreational opportunities.

Read more about the Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic.

Meet the riders who make up the visitPA Mountain Bike Racing Team.

Read the latest race reports from the team.