Schwenksville, Pa. (March 29, 2005) -- Big-time mountain biking returns to the Philadelphia area April 3rd as the first AMBC race ever to be held at Spring Mount Ski Area will kick off the Mid-Atlantic AMBC race series. The series includes the Fitness Concepts Greenbriar Challenge in Maryland and the Ski Round Top AMBC in Pennsylvania. All of these events are qualifiers for the USA Cycling National Mountain Bike Championships to be held in Mammoth Mountain, Calif. Sept 15-18, 2005.

The five mile course has been refined over 14 seasons of racing and covers a variety of East Coast style riding with plenty of technical riding and hard ups and downs. Many past winners, including Jeremiah Bishop, Chris Eatough, Floyd Landis, and Gunnar Shogren come back year after year for the challenge.

The racing will start at 9am behind the main lodge and registration will open at 7am inside next to the ski lodge restaurant. Beginners stagger start at 9am, sports stagger start at 11am, and Pro, semipro, and expert stagger start at 1pm. Register ahead of time at bikereg.com to save $5. Also, NORBA license holders get a $5 lodge restaurant coupon.

For more information, visit www.tailwindbicycles.com.