Midwest MTB Racing Report
The mountain bike season is suddenly upon us. A late winter followed by cool and wet weather in April delayed the shredding of the tight and twisty by a few weeks. But racing has already kicked off with the first series race in Wisconsin and the annual season opener in Decorah, IA with the Decorah Time Trials. Another exciting season of mountain bike riding and racingstarts up as more funding is earmarked for trail building, and the racing scene expands from the early years of grass roots of cross country racing with yet more endurance and "epic" events. This year's first report includes recaps from Decorah, Iola and a look at a few mountain biking related topics including exciting news for the Cottage Grove Mountain Bike Park.
WORS Opener - Iola Bump and Jump
Series racing kicked off in Wisconsin this past weekend with a nice size field tearing up the dirt at Iola Winter Sports Club when less than a month ago people were still skiing! Minnesota Elite rider Josh Bauer made the trek east and provides a report:
It feels dang good to put a mountain bike between your legs after a really long, cold winter, especially racing it. This past weekend was only my second time out on the mountain bike so it was hard to know what to expect at Iola. I still had some pretty good expectations after coming off a really good weekend down at Decorah, IA for the Decorah Mountain Bike Time Trials the last weekend of April with a 3rd overall finish.
I headed over to Wisconsin on Saturday with Eric Thompson and Eric Brekke so we could get a good pre ride in. None of us had ever raced or road at Iola so we wanted to know the ins and outs for Sunday's race. We pre road 3 laps and felt pretty confident and nailed all the tricky parts of the course. To give you a little run down of the course, FAST, FAST, FAST. A few bigger climbs at the start of the race all on double track, it reminded me a lot of Chequamegon because it was all taken place on XC ski trail. The single track was really fast and had great flow especially since the dirt was primo because of the previous weeks rain. I had heard in past years the race had been either a mud fest or super sandy so we were up for some phenomenal conditions.
At the start line on Sunday I had about a 4th row start and smack dab in the middle and this is not where I wanted to be because I knew I would have to put in some extra efforts to make my way up to the front. WORS race director Don Edberg had his infamous "goooooo" and the elite/pro field was off. I managed to slowly make my way up trying to be as smooth as possible. With about two miles into the race I had caught the lead group.
There were about 9 or 10 of us in the lead group Joe Maloney, Nathan Gurrera and Eric Thompson were pinning it off the front and I couldn't hold the pace with them, so I took it down a notch figuring I would save myself so I wouldn't blow up later in the race. I road the rest of the first lap by myself and I made a huge mistake at the finish/lap transition area and I accidently started heading towards the finish line instead of going onto my next lap. I had to backtrack just a tad but I was still by myself. It wasn't a while until the 2nd chase group caught up to me. It was a group of three with a local familiar MN racer Dominic Talerico. We road about 1 1/2 laps together until Dom put in a huge attack, I chased as long as I could but he and another ended up getting away from me. I ended up losing the guy that was riding with me as I was starting to feel my fitness dropping and I ended up losing a few spots as I took a lap to conserve myself for the last lap and a half. I road the last lap and a half by myself, just trying to catch a rider but came up short. I ended up crossing the line with a time of 1:54:51, a 16th overall spot and a 1st in my elite age group. (Photo: Todd Bauer)
We couldn't have asked for a better day to race bikes. The weather was perfect and the course stayed in great shape from Saturday's pre ride. It was great to see the huge Minnesota crowd representing the state. Congrats to Joe Maloney on his first WORS win and to Eric Thompson on his 3rd place finish. I was happy with my result and it's great way to start off the season but there is always room for improvement and I know what I need to work on the make up the spots I lost during the race.
Decorah Time Trials
Midwest mountain bike legend Jeff Hall made a return to racing last summer and has already toed the line this year, taking the win in Decorah two weekends ago and also breaking the course record, posting a sub 49 minute time and rolling home with $500 extra green backs. Mike Hall reports:
Jeff Hall and I have traveled to Decorah, Iowa many Aprils' in the past, but it has been about 6 years since we have been there. I have been known to race a few of these time trial mountain bike races in the past. The race has been the kick off to many race seasons. The weather can be a factor, rain or snow while the race is on. The Decorah mountain bike group is an awesome collection of good people. These are some of the best trails that I have ridden. It is not for the faint of heart, steep climbs and fast rocky descents. These are good mountain bike trails!
Read Mike's full report on his blog. (Photo: Mike Hall)
Cottage Grove Mountain Bike Park
Exciting news this week for MORC and the folks involved with the Cottage Grove Mountain Bike Park upon hearing they were the winners of the Bell Built Program Grant. The Cottage Grove Bike Park, headed up by the Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists (MORC), will split the $100,000 in grant money with the other two regional winners. With help from both Bell Helmets and those at IMBA (International Mountain Bicycling Association), the grant money will help secure the funding to complete the dirt jump section of the park, which will go alongside the 4x race track, two pump tracks, a tots track, slope style course and a mountain bike skills course.
Return of the Powder Monkey and Green Man?
While Duluth area mountain bike trails await for the final patches of snow to melt and frost to go out, mountain bikers got a nice plate of dirt upon hearing the city council approval to invest $80,000 in the development of mountain bike trails at Spirit Mountain. Most of the original mountain bike trails were built by Scott Kylander-Johnson and other areas hard core shredders. One of the first mountain bike races I did back in the early 90's was at Spirit Mountain and simply called the Spirit Mountain Bike Festival, promoted by high energy downhill speed racer Todd Gremmels. The course was about as real of a mountain bike race you could get, and called "one of the toughest races in the Midwest" by Pro TJ Woodruff. After a few years hiatus, mountain biking returned with the Powder Monkey and bonus racing with other events including the infamous Green Man Festival. Racing and old school mountain bike trail racing came to a halt again with the building of the alpine slide. Bottom line, would be great to see racing return to Spirit.
Looking Ahead
With Mother's Day weekend on tap, the mountain bike racing scene is relatively quiet. However, in between, Twin Cities riders can get a jump on the season with the Thursday Night Races at Buck Hill starting this week. Mountain bike racing at Buck Hill enters its 23rd season, hanging on to 3 mile course despite massive development in the area. Entry fee not more than $10 and lots of door prizes and good mountain bike camaraderie make it one of the best ways to spend a Thursday night!
If you have any information relative to mountain bike racing in the Midwest or have an event you would like listed, please feel free to contact skinnyski at or myself at
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/Podiumwear mountain bike team and enters his 24th year of racing and promoting mountain bike races. |