Midwest MTB Racing Report
October 8, 2013With WORS finishing up its series, mountain bike racing in the Midwest is just about done for the year. However, this is some of the best riding of the year with fall color at its peak in many locales, pleasant temps and no bugs. Also one of the best times of year for making new trail! This weeks report includes a recap from the final WORS event plus a look ahead to a couple events including race #4 in the Minnesota High School Cycling League.
Wigwam Mountain Bike Challenge
Scott Hansen's report from WisconsinOutdoorfun.com :
While the pre-race weather on Saturday may have been depressing, the racing on Sunday was anything but as Cole House edged Brian Matter after a back-and-forth battle to win the Elite Pro Men race at the annual Wigwam Mountain Bike Challenge at Sheboygan’s Jaycee’s Quarryview and Evergreen Parks.
With the rain on Saturday resulting in the famed “Equalizer” to be discarded from the race course for the second straight year, the six-foot-one-inch House took full advantage and finished in an unofficial time of one hour, 54 minutes with Matter finishing right behind.
House, who grew up on Wisconsin’s Oneida Indian Reservation, now has claimed four of the past five Challenges, including the past three.
Chloe Woodruff won the Elite Pro Women race while one local highlight came when Kohler 15-year-old Allison Pieper finished second in the Cat 3 Citizen Female race in a little more than an hour at 1:00.23.03.
“I like racing in the mud, so it was a good course. ... It’s just a great, great course, it’s my favorite of the series, so it was definitely nice to win here today,” House said. “I knew it would be a battle between (Matter) and I, as it usually is, and I think this year was our best battle by far.”
With hundreds of spectators on-hand, race officials were pleased with the outcome of the day’s events, which included five other races besides the pro events. In all, approximately 530 bikers participated in the event, and while Saturday’s drizzles resulted in numbers being lower than what officials would have liked, it was an improvement on last year’s weather-affected event.
“Weather is always a factor that is out of our control. The course conditions were not all that bad out there, and the races were good,” WORS director Don Edgerg said. “Everybody comes out and has a great time. Every year we see new racers here. One of the strong points of this event is the great local support we get.” (Photo: Extreme Photography Unlimited)
Fall Trail Action
Not sure what sticks out more this year than any other year for fall riding but it has been a fantastic end to the mountain bike season as snow lovers patiently wait for the white stuff. Personally it has been fun to explore forest roads in the area the knobbies have not seen before and also taking a road training partner out for a his first mountain bike ride! The fall colors have not disappointed and the rain has been welcomed to replenish moisture lost from the dry end to summer. It also has been a good fall for working on new trail as we have been working on new singletrack at Maplelag, adding an extension to the popular twin lakes singletrack. The new singletrack is part one of a three phase long term plan which includes new singletrack east of Bullhead lake and north near the North Loup ski trail. The new twin lakes segment will add about five minutes to the existing loop. I have mentioned before of doing a point to point, one big lap race in the 30 mile range, (but would include a lot of singletrack) and the current plan is to use the current Laddies Loppet loop plus the new singletrack along with forest roads to the north and west. This would be a spring event.
Remembering Amy
The shockwaves of sadness overcame the cycling community last week when news of pro Cyclocross rider Amy Dombriski was killed in a training ride while motorpacing behind a scooter in Sint-Kateline-Waver, Belgium A memorial was held at Boulder, CO Valmont park remembering the cyclist known not just for her race results including national titles in mountain biking but her uplifting character, remembered by "being kind, loving people and making the world a better place". (Photo: Velonews)
Looking Ahead
Distance: Between 12 and 50 miles. Confused??? The length of the race will be determined during the race by the riders. There will be 5 cards a 4,3,2,Ace and a Joker. A card will be drawn by the leading rider after the first lap to determine how many laps there will be till the next card is drawn. This will keep going on until the Joker is drawn which will signal the last lap to the race.
Minnesota High School Cycling Race #4
The Whitetail Ridge course is a favorite for its rolling trails cut into side slopes through the forest and will be host to race #4 in the Minnesota High School race. There is one long climb shortly after the start, and several smaller climbs in the back sections followed by passing zones up on the meadows. New to many racers will be bench-cut single track with steep sloping hills both above and below the trail. There is also a section called “Three Bridges” for three flat wooden bridges that are all ride-able but require caution.
Keep the wheels moving!
 | About the author... Jay Richards maintains a very active lifestyle. He somehow finds time between managing a full-time resort (Maplelag) and bringing up a family of four boys with his wife Jonell, to compete in both mountain bike and a few cross-country ski races. Jay rides for Maplelag Resort, manages the Maplelag/Paramount mountain bike team and enters his 23rd year of racing and promoting mountain bike races. |