Midwest MTB Racing Recap

by Jay Richards
May 31, 2011

A pretty quiet weekend, relatively speaking, with no mountain bike racing to talk about over the Memorial day weekend, and rain in certain locales keeping riders from hitting the trails. Trails that were open, riding nice and some of the best riding of the year before the bugs get real bad. A portion of the new Cuyuna trail opened to the public with a few reports to highlight and a look ahead to a busy start of June, caps this week's report.

Cuyuna Trail

The new mountain bike trail called "Cuyuna" was open to the public at the end of last week. The trail is starting to gain attention from early rider reports and I hope to head over there soon to check it out. There are three segments: Huntington, which has been open for riding and represents about 14 miles of trail; Portsmouth and Yawkey which remain closed until the grand opening, which is part of the Cuyuna Mountain Bike Festival, June 11th-12th. Trail stewards are reminding folks to please stay off the closed trails until they officially open.

Early reports from riders hitting the trail have been all positive with very good feedback. My good friend "Zigs" back home from a short visit from Vermont, hit the trail the other week on a pass from his uncle who volunteered some trail work time and reported a super fun ride on sweet trails. Darrin Baerclaw posted on the MORC message board:

"It's super fast and flowy. It will redefine whatever you think is "flow". The whole trail system promotes high speed, with gentle curves and no hard switchbacks. Much of it is banked. Some of the downhills have huge berms to ride. You will find yourself at the summit of large hills and think to yourself how you got to the top so effortlessly.

A fast rider can air it big over a lot of the berms. In fact, if you're riding fast enough you can air it all over the place!! There are literally hundreds of places to air it. It's like riding a rollercoaster.

Don't be fooled though. If you like to remain stuck to Earth you can. A beginner can ride this trail just as easy. I came back thinking it's probably the best trail to bring a beginner do to the flow and scenery."

Hansi Johnson, IMBA Midwest trail advocate representative, posts some photos on his blog from a ride last week.

DNR Map (Inset A and B currently open for riding)

Link to Parking Lot Location from Brainerd

 

Looking Ahead

The Minnesota series resumes this weekend, heading south and hitting the slopes of Mt Kato, just outside Mankato, MN for the Bluff Riders Charge on a fast and fun course. The course starts with a nice warm-up climb to the top of the ski area. Once on top, all racers make a large traverse along the front of the ski area. The course has a good balance of climbs, descents and technical sections with switchbacks. The approximate vertical gain per lap is 500 feet. All proceeds for this event are going to support NCIA/Minnesota High School Cycling League.

The Cable, WI. area is having a big trails day to highlight the hundreds of miles of trails in the CAMBA system, with the third annual CAMBA Festival of Trails.  Although there isn't any racing, lots of activities for mountain bikers to broaden the horizons including the taste buds with a Taste de Trails - fine dining on two wheels!

Michigan Tech Mountain Bike Camp for Juniors featuring Brian Matter: Joe Haggenmiller, Michigan Tech Nordic ski and cross country running coach, giving heads up to the 2011 mountain bike camp for juniors to be held at Michigan Tech. All campers will enjoy the beauty and variety offered by the trail systems in and around Houghton, hundreds of miles of logging roads at the camps disposal. These are all unpaved trails, with technical singletrack. Camp size is limited to the first 60 applicants. The camp is led by Brian Matter who carries one of the most impressive resumes in the Midwest: multiple time winner of WORS series, Ore to Shore, Chequmegon Fat Tire, Ice Man and Cyclecross World Championships/MTB Junior World Championship participant for US!

Keep the wheels moving!