BARBOURSVILLE -- A little bicycle ride in the park isn't what it used to be.

And that's a cool thing.

High above the youth sports Mecca that is Barboursville Park is the place where mountain bikers come to play.

This weekend, the rolling hills, meadows and the nearly 20 miles of trails beside the river and rails in the 750-acre park is host to the third Dirt Derby.

It's the 16th and last race in the spring-and-summer-long West Virginia Mountain Bike Association's Series Championship.

The race takes place at 11 a.m. today with the start and finish of the races at the No. 1 Picnic Shelter (the road to your right on top of the hill) at the park.

Registration opens at 8:30 a.m. for the races, which include a 21-mile expert race, a 15.5 mile sport race and an 8-mile beginner race.

Registration is $30 for members and $35 for non-members.

The first 100 riders registered get custom-quality T-shirts and free food and drinks following the race.

Mike Boyes, promoter for the Dirt Derby, said they're looking for about 100 racers to come out and are hoping to get a good local contingent.

"We're hoping to get a really good local turnout of people who are not racers in the series but who have heard a lot about Barboursville Park and want to see how they stack up and to challenge themselves," Boyes said.

Although some of the top pro riders in the state, such as Gunnar and Betsy Shogren, of Morgantown, will be there, the race is open to anyone.

"I think that is one of the key things I would like to get out is that the race is open to everybody," Boyes said. "I think there is a lot of misconceptions about that. Really, the main reason for doing the race here is to try and grow the sport and get some exposure to it here in this large population base between Huntington and Charleston. Folks can come out and ride with some of the fastest people in the region."

Boyes, who is part of the local group, Bike BFAT, that regularly rides at Beech Fork State Park, Barboursville Park and the Boy Scout trails near Camp Arrowhead, said the race is a great way to showcase Barboursville Park where the group has weekly group rides on Thursday evenings.

"It's always refreshing to get out and away from the traffic and into the woods," Boyes said. "Mountain biking is a good healthy form of exercise that's good for the mind, body and soul. Even on the worst day, it's better to be out in it, than looking out at it. Mountain biking ties you in with nature."

At 2 p.m., or as soon as possible following the race, there will be an awards ceremony for The Dirt Derby, followed by the WVMBA Series ceremony giving the top awards for the state-wide racing series.

The WVMBA point series doles out more than $10,000 in cash and prizes to the series winners who have ridden in mountain bike races since the series began March 30, at Pipestem State Resort Park.

One of the oldest Mountain Bike series and associations in the country, the WVMBA series in '08 has traveled all around West Virginia and into neighboring states of Virginia and Ohio.

The championship series has been in Spencer, Davis, Oak Hill, Phillipi and Bruceton Mills in the Mountain State.

This is the closest race to Huntington.

The other western West Virginia race was the Black Bear Race that took place in Kanawha State Forest on Aug. 10.

Boyes said it takes about a dozen volunteers to help put on the race, and one of those volunteers is Dwayne Walters, a Barboursville Park member who started building mountain bike trails at the park in 1998, along the Guyandotte River.

Walters, who is tied for fourth place in the Sports Masters Division (age 45 and older), said with his children now grown, he's racing the series for the first time.

Boyes said they're excited to have Walters, who has spent so much time building the trails, out there racing on them for the Dirt Derby.

"This is his first year of racing in a long time so he won't be working this year," Boyes said. "He'll be playing."

File photo/The Herald-Dispatch

A rider blurs past a line of trees along the course in this yearÕs Dirt Derby in Barboursville Community Park in Barboursville in this 2006 file photo.

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