Dirtcast by the Pennsylvania Dirtbags
Sep 17, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min · 10 segments
Ultra endurance cyclist Mike Harding joins Bearcat to discuss his recent Endless Mountains Gravel 250 victory…
Mike HardingGuestBearcatHost
I think that there's probably no less than half a million cliches that we could throw out there about like being the change or some shit like that.
But like, yeah, like you're... you know, your energy is going to help to sort of like create the, the reality of the world around you.
And if, if, if, and it's infectious and it's like something that like, if you don't get like caught up in like the gossip, that's going to happen.
And, and you sort of like, just keep, you know, like stay sort of like focused on creating like a positive sort of like nurturing sort of like community, then people are going to like, everybody wants to like, at the end of the day, like everybody wants to sort of like feel like they're a part of something and they want to do that in a positive way.
And a lot of that has to do with like, you know, online meme culture and stuff like that, where it's like, oh, it's funny to be a dickhead, but at the end of the day, you're really selling yourself short on...
You're wasting an opportunity to actually build somebody up instead of being... you know, being negative about it.
And I think that that is something that like we see in the, in the bike community all the time, like always.
And it's, and it's, and it's something that always has to be sort of like reeled in because people start to get like sort of carried away with it.
I mean, you always have like roadies versus mountain bikers or like now everybody's like against gravel riders and like, you know you have different factions in the same town going at each other about like which ride is like, more valuable or like whatever, you know what I mean? It's like, and, you know, just helping people sort of like realize that that's silly and it might be, maybe it's funny.
But, you know, at the end of the day, having a tether on that and just anchoring the community as a whole, I think is something that's, you know, really important.
I think it's something that like we're, you know, we have a good, we have a good, uh, sort of grasp on here in Philly.
We have our, our, our cycling community is like under stated in every sense of the word, man.
I mean, I think that like I've tried in all over the country and the world riding.
And I think that like what we have going on here is super, super special, you know what I mean? And, and I'm really happy and proud to be a part of it.
Um, we have something for everybody uh the riding here is good i mean obviously like there's it's a big city and there's suburbs so there's lights and so it's kind of tough but there's like it's it's it's pa it's it's it's there's punchy hills dude like i you're not gonna get away from my climbing training here essentially i do i have like a two-hour ride out in like the in the main line in the gladwin hills that like you you're you know you're doing some some serious like uh vert and some like hard climbs out there so it's uh it's not like you know i talk to people sometimes and they're like i almost get the the the sort of uh you know i almost almost almost feel like they think that you live in a city you must only do city riding you know what i mean it's like yeah like we're not just like doing laps like in like around blocks in south philly you know what i mean like there's plenty of good riding like you know, four or five miles from here.
And we're, we also have like, I do a ton of like mountain biking and, uh, and dirt riding and we have Belmont, we have Wissahickon, we have Hines, we have like all of these, all of these spots that, uh, that you can really, you know, sharpen your teeth on some pretty technical riding.
I mean, Wiss is, Wiss trails are, are, are renowned for being quite difficult and quite, uh, uh, quite fun.
So like, I mean, I would say when it comes to like Southeastern Pennsylvania, I don't know if there's many, I mean, Trex is kind of cool, but it's not like WIS. Um, so we're blessed, man.
I think that there's probably no less than half a million cliches that we could throw out there about like being the change or some shit like that.
But like, yeah, like you're... you know, your energy is going to help to sort of like create the, the reality of the world around you.
And if, if, if, and it's infectious and it's like something that like, if you don't get like caught up in like the gossip, that's going to happen.
And, and you sort of like, just keep, you know, like stay sort of like focused on creating like a positive sort of like nurturing sort of like community, then people are going to like, everybody wants to like, at the end of the day, like everybody wants to sort of like feel like they're a part of something and they want to do that in a positive way.
And a lot of that has to do with like, you know, online meme culture and stuff like that, where it's like, oh, it's funny to be a dickhead, but at the end of the day, you're really selling yourself short on...
You're wasting an opportunity to actually build somebody up instead of being... you know, being negative about it.
And I think that that is something that like we see in the, in the bike community all the time, like always.
And it's, and it's, and it's something that always has to be sort of like reeled in because people start to get like sort of carried away with it.
I mean, you always have like roadies versus mountain bikers or like now everybody's like against gravel riders and like, you know you have different factions in the same town going at each other about like which ride is like, more valuable or like whatever, you know what I mean? It's like, and, you know, just helping people sort of like realize that that's silly and it might be, maybe it's funny.
But, you know, at the end of the day, having a tether on that and just anchoring the community as a whole, I think is something that's, you know, really important.
I think it's something that like we're, you know, we have a good, we have a good, uh, sort of grasp on here in Philly.
We have our, our, our cycling community is like under stated in every sense of the word, man.
I mean, I think that like I've tried in all over the country and the world riding.
And I think that like what we have going on here is super, super special, you know what I mean? And, and I'm really happy and proud to be a part of it.
Um, we have something for everybody uh the riding here is good i mean obviously like there's it's a big city and there's suburbs so there's lights and so it's kind of tough but there's like it's it's it's pa it's it's it's there's punchy hills dude like i you're not gonna get away from my climbing training here essentially i do i have like a two-hour ride out in like the in the main line in the gladwin hills that like you you're you know you're doing some some serious like uh vert and some like hard climbs out there so it's uh it's not like you know i talk to people sometimes and they're like i almost get the the the sort of uh you know i almost almost almost feel like they think that you live in a city you must only do city riding you know what i mean it's like yeah like we're not just like doing laps like in like around blocks in south philly you know what i mean like there's plenty of good riding like you know, four or five miles from here.
And we're, we also have like, I do a ton of like mountain biking and, uh, and dirt riding and we have Belmont, we have Wissahickon, we have Hines, we have like all of these, all of these spots that, uh, that you can really, you know, sharpen your teeth on some pretty technical riding.
I mean, Wiss is, Wiss trails are, are, are renowned for being quite difficult and quite, uh, uh, quite fun.
So like, I mean, I would say when it comes to like Southeastern Pennsylvania, I don't know if there's many, I mean, Trex is kind of cool, but it's not like WIS. Um, so we're blessed, man.
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