Midwest MTB Report
A busy weekend of racing and riding as both series in Minnesota and Wisconsin hosted races plus the popular Lutsen 99er went down up along the north shore of Minnesota and enduro racing was happening in Marquette, MI. This weeks report includes first hand recaps from Lutsen, Cuyuna, and Samuel Elson who hit up the last two PRO XCT races. Also in this weeks report includes a trail review of the Spearfish, SD area, mountain bike related happenings and a look ahead to the Fourth of July Holiday weekend!
Elson goes National
Young gun Samuel Elson from Breezy Point, MN, riding for Team Hollywood Cycles, is coming off a two weeks swing in the mountain states, hitting up the PRO XCT races in Missoula, MT and Colorado Springs, CO. In between, he and his father Brandt have been hitting up a lot of sweet areas to mountain bike making for a dream trip out west. I happened to be in Colorado Springs over the weekend for a hockey event with my son Jon and met up with Sam and Brandt for a fun adventurous ride at the Bear Creek Park the day before he raced. Sam recaps the racing and the trip:
We showed up in Missoula about three and a half days before the race so that we had plenty of time to get to know the course. We camped right at the base of the mountain, which was at about 3,900 feet. The course is 2.93 and climbs straight up 950 vertical feet, and then plummets down some awesome single track. There were only 8 people in my age group, but the 15-16 age group started 30 seconds in front of me, so I had plenty of fast kids to chase. I had a good start, I was in third place right away and drifted back to 5th but I was able to hang onto the top 4 riders. I felt quite good during the whole race, but I felt like I didn't have as much power as the other kids going up the main climb. At the top of the hill on the first lap, I was able to get into the single track in 2nd place. I could maintain the position fine in the single track, but they were to strong for me on the climb. All in all, I think it was an awesome experience to be able to mix it up with some of the fastest kids in the country.
We made our way into Colorado Springs with a quick trip to Breckinridge to do a ride at high altitude. We ended up camping for a few days near Woodland Park, did a couple recon rides around the course, and rode around rampart reservoir, which was pretty amazing. We also did some exploring with Jay around Garden of the Gods the day before the race. I was feeling pretty good in the days leading up to the race. It turns out that I didn't have much in the tank that day, possibly due to too much time at altitude, struggling with the heat that day, and being tired from all the traveling. The course was almost the opposite as the one in Missoula. There was much less climbing and a lot rockier single track where it was hard to get any kind of rhythm. I started in a far bigger wave because my age group was mixed with the 15-16 age group. I kind of struggled with the fast start, and I was near the back of mid pack. Once the adrenaline wore off, I started drifting back a few places due to having nothing in the tank. It was still a great experience just to be racing at that level. We ended the day watching the pro short track, which was quite inspiring. I'm ready to get home, take a small break, and then get right back to work.
As a whole, this was an unforgettable experience and I can't wait to come back next year.
Lutsen 99er
The Lutsen 99er has grown in popularity over the years with almost 1500 riders venturing to the northern shore of Lake Superior. Tom Miller, a household name in the Elite class the past decade and a half has kept the wheels moving nicely despite a busy work schedule and a new baby the past year requiring him to be creative with his training to have the fitness for a ultra endurance event. Tom provides a great recap of what makes the Lutsen 99er a great event and the details of his personal race below. (Just one more comment: how about Steve Tilford! Just when he was getting chirped on his blog by fellow master blasters he might be getting old, he goes out and wins the 99er. Pretty darn impressive if you ask me and true definition of a seasoned grizzled vet!)
The annual Lutsen 99er returned to the North Shore of Lake Superior for the 5th time this past weekend. Since 2011, the race has gained significant popularity with nearly 1500 riders making the journey to the small destination community this year. I can understand why. The Lutsen, MN area presents one of the most dramatic backdrops for a mountain bike race in the Midwest - - stunning views of Lake Superior, rugged glaciated terrain, numerous rivers and streams and some serious topography for this part of the country. Add in great amenities, a well-supported event, an awesome after-party with music, and kids races and you have the makings for a great weekend of Mountain Bike Racing.
For me, this year's '99er presented an opportunity to put an event on the calendar that would require a decent amount of training. As a new dad since last fall, I have had to be creative in finding time to get on the bike and put in the miles necessary to race this distance. A 99 mile 6+ hour race is tough to "fake." Between diaper changes and a demanding work schedule, I found time to sneak away on the bike 3 or 4 times a week....and when I did, I made sure I made it count.
This year's 99er was my second time at the event -- I raced the 39er in 2013. That year I had a decent finish. I was sitting in 3rd place overall until the last climb out of the Poplar River Valley. The wheels came off the cart and I had to walk my bike up part of the climb, but I still managed to finish 5th overall. I had so much fun during that weekend that I promised myself I'd be back again...and the next time it would be the real deal.
Fast forward 2 years. I arrived in Lutsen Thursday afternoon with my whole family in tow. My dad came up to celebrate his 60th birthday by racing the 39er. My aunt and uncle came out from Bozeman Montana to do some hiking along the shore and check out the race. My wife and new son came up to relax for the weekend and check out the festivities. Also, a few of my best pals also came up to either participate in the race or spectate. That is the type of event the '99er is great for....an excuse for a mini vacation with a top-notch bike race built in.
I rolled to the line late on Saturday morning after I arrived at the event and realized last minute that I accidentally locked my bike to my car rack and forgot the key back at the cabin. I rolled to the (back of) the line with 3 minutes to spare. The gun went off and I did my best to carefully slalom my way through the big pack of racers, down ski hill road (the main thoroughfare leading to Lusten Mountain) towards the front third of the pack.
The motor-paced roll out led us onto Hwy 61 for about 2 miles before "unleashing the dogs" up the 1,000 ft climb of Caribou Trail. At the top of the climb the 99ers and 39ers diverge with the 99ers taking a right onto Mistletoe Creek Rd and then quickly onto a snowmobile trail. The trail was actually really rugged...much more so than I expected. I opted to ride a fully rigid 29er, thinking that the advantage of a light-weight, responsive rig would outweigh the benefits of suspension on a course that includes 40+ miles of Forest Service roads. This was a mistake. I really had to focus on riding smooth and picking a smart line to not get throttled. If I ride it again, I will at least adorn my bike with a suspension fork.
For the first 50 miles of the race, I felt great. Having started a ways back in the field, I slowly advanced my way past a good number of riders, maintaining a decent pace (about 15.5 mph average), but still leaving some reserves in the tank. I was also starting to recognize a few folks I was riding with who have posted good results in the past at the 99er - Al Iverson from Lifetime Fitness and Jeff Bushendorf from LCR (who recently won the 25 hours of Hellside) to name a few. I felt grateful and very happy to be sitting where I was in the race. I was on track for around a 6:30 finishing time and a finish in the top 50 or so. Then it happened....pssssttttt!!!!. Darn. The dreaded puncture flat at mile 51. A quick tube change and I was back on the bike and glad to be rolling again.
I spun up to the mile 59 aid station (the 3rd of 6) , refilled bottles, grabbed an extra tube from my drop bag and slammed an iced coconut water/coffee. The aid stations were awesome. It felt like a NASCAR pitstop. As I rolled up, the drop bags were organized by number plate and before I arrived at my number range, one of the volunteers had already seen me coming and had my bag ready to go. Refilling water bottles with Gatorade or water was insanely fast...volunteers were ready with gallon jugs and would have you topped off in a matter of seconds. With this level of support, you could easily get away with racing sans hydration pack. Lots of the top guys did. Good to know for next time.
For the next 25 miles, I put my head down and tried to regain as much ground as I could from the earlier flat tire. Then it happened again, at mile 85, only this time worse....way worse. The shotgun-blast-blowout flat. I pulled over to assess the damage. Huge rip in the sidewall of my tire. I spent the next 15 or so minutes "MacGyvering" a fix to the tire. I cut a section of tube with my mini-Leatherman to use as part of a boot. I then layered in 3 GU packets to be used as additional support. Finally, I threw a new tube in and inflated it to about 15psi...hoping that the lower pressure might be better to not force the tire apart further.
I then gingerly limped my way towards the finishing line at Lutsen Mountain, praying that the tire would hold to the finish line. It did. Barely. I was so happy to be climbing up the final ascent with a partially inflated tire, that I ignored the fact that only one quad and once hamstring (from different legs) were functional. My goal was to do it in under 7 hours, and I managed in 6:57 despite the mechanical malfunctions.
I can't comment first hand on the top finishers, but from those who watched them come in, it was incredible. Steve Tilford made the trek up to Lutsen and posted a blazing course record of 5:36 (17.6mph average). Apparently he looked as cool as a cucumber climbing up the final ascent towards Papa Charlie's. My dad said Jeff Hall came in comfortably and with a big smile to finish 3rd in 5:45 (Ever since I was about 15, my dad always tells me how awesome Jeff looks on course). On the women's side, Ally Stacher came all the way from North Carolina to finish an impressive 14th overall in 6:10 (16.10mph)
Overall, one heck of a northwoods-Paul Bunyan-esque good time of a weekend! Oh, and by the way, the afterparty was awesome. 4 on the Floor, one of my favorite bands in Minneapolis, came up to rock....and they did.
Overall male 99er winner Steve Tilford's Blog Post on Lutsen 99er
Crushing Cuyuna
Although the Cuyuna mountain bike trail system has posted races the past few years, this was the first time the Minnesota series made the trek to Crosby area to race on probably the most popular mountain bike trail system in the state of Minnesota. Saturday saw time trial and short track racing as well. In only his second full year of racing, Comp rider Ben Olson pulled off another top finish despite dealing with a slow leaking tire. Ben's recap:
I am lucky enough to have a whole family who loves to Mountain Bike. My wife (Heidi) and our two boys (Jake and Marc) headed over Saturday morning and pulled the camper into the DNR camp site right in the middle of all the red dirt. We thought it would be a good location, but turned out to be great. About a 10 minute singletrack ride down to the Yawkey Unit where the Saturday Time Trial and Short Track were held and about the same in the opposite direction to the Mahnomen Unit were Sunday's Cross Country MN Series Race was held.
We cheered on both boys on Saturday as they competed in both TT and ST. The ST course was different from past events being that it was 90 percent single track. Not near as much tight racing and passing as I have seen or ridden in at other venues, but there were people on MT Bikes racing so still fun to watch.
Sunday morning we rolled down the singletrack to the Mahnomen unit and the kids and Heidi got there races going early. All three had a blast and Marc made the podium in his kids comp age group.
My comp race was going awesome... Had a 50 yard lead on the group at the top of the first climb which turned out to be the worst of the climbs in each loop. I was huffing and puffing pretty good, but knew everyone would be at that point so kept on the gas and got into the flowy stuff. Cuyuna is all fast and flowing which makes picking up plenty of speed on the downs really easy. Within all the red dirt are plenty of sharp rocks. I didn't know it but I must have found one of those rocks. At the end of the first lap I noticed my rear tire didn't quite have as much air as I started with. It seemed to have resealed though and I kept rolling cautiously into the second lap. By mid-way of the second lap I had caught many of the riders in the waves ahead of mine and would guess that I had a 3-4 minute lead on my wave. Making the final climb up the gravel road everything was still going great. I wasn't railing the corners like I wanted but still able to keep plenty of speed on the climbs. Half way through the final Lap I noticed the tire getting worse and had slowed me down considerably. After a few corners of that I decided to give it a blast of CO2. Was able to get back on without anyone from my waving passing me, but it turned out that the shot didn't last quite long enough. About ¼-1/2 mile left in the race and I hit a corner harder than I should have with the again underinflated tire. It rolled off the wheel enough to release any remaining air that I had. Jumped off and gave the rear one more blast of CO2, but wasn't able to get rolling again until one from my group passed me. Determined to get that spot back I gave chase, but that only lasted about 1/8-1/4 mile. Rolling on a completely flat tire I let the would be second place finisher by. I came out of the single track and rolled down the gravel hill and across the finish line flat, but in third place. Happy to have finished as well as I did considering the flat, but hard to take when I was so close to the end...
I wasn't the only one with tire issues at the Crusher. The race lived up to its name claiming at least 20-30 other riders. I saw lots of bikes upside down with tubes in hand.
Former XC and Super D Pro Kyia Anderson returned to the racing scene for the day to take on the marathon course and files a report:
I've been enjoying the local group rides this spring so I thought I'd drop in on the Marathon at the Cuyuna Crusher on Sunday. It was a great excuse to get up to Crosby/Ironton and #shredthered! Off the start I settled into a good pace and tried to hang with some of the top guys. I wasn't sure if my front suspension was "active" so I loaded it a bit more than normal and it was working and soon I was off in the woods. Upright and back on the trail I settled into a good rhythm and the laps started to tick by. I thoroughly enjoyed the course layout, brought me back to some of the western races I used to do with long descents! I was smiling ear to ear. I got a bit thrown off when the course was switched to the Elite loop but it was also a nice change of scenery for lap 6 and 7! So fun to see the local MTB crowd (and enjoyed the cheers as I lapped through multiple times while they were waiting in call up) it's truly a great group of good people that are fun to hang out with and ride with! Well done MN MTB series with bringing the race to a new course. While I don't get to too many races anymore the experience is always enjoyable and makes me want to go back for more!
Cyclova XC: Mullin's Cuyuna Crusher Race Report
Spearfish Mountain Bike
As mentioned earlier, I was out in Colorado for the weekend with a hockey showcase for my son Jon. Of course I had both the road and mountain bikes along and fortunate to get some riding in between the hockey checking out some of the area trails including the National course Sam raced on. One area I checked out I hadn't been to before along the trip out there was the Tinton trail just outside Spearfish, SD. I was able to sneak a quick ride in on the way out there and made a point to get there late Sunday night for a early morning ride on Sunday. One of the reasons I wanted to get back was on the first outing, I got caught in a thunderstorm halfway through the ride, turning the adventure into a mud bath. I took a forest road down missing out on all the sweet descending back to town to avoid flying off course with the greasy conditions Monday morning I was back on the same trail, climbing for about 2000ft before coming back down the same way enjoying a most excellent descent. The area had yet another thundershower the night before making for some slippery areas but awesome ride nontheless. I opted out trying to ride a full loop not knowing the layout of the trail system with no map. However, heading down I hardly new it was the same trail.
To be honest, I hadn't really heard much about the mountain biking in the Spearfish area. Of course, Strava is a great way to check out the number of trails and when I went in to a local bike shop to pick the brains of the area shred heads, they also said Strava was one of the better ways to see what is out there. There is a nice website by the Black Hills Mountain Bike Association that highlights area trails as well all though the bike shop said the locals have kept some trails secret! All told, the bike shop folks said there was over 200 miles of trails in the area. Most of the trail can be described as classic cross country riding. The only real "flow" is that which comes natural. Surprising, the high point of the trail I was on topped out at almost 6000 feet so there is a little bit of elevation to handle as well. I definitely will be back!
On the way home, I had to make another stop at White Butte, the highest point in North Dakota just outside the sleepy town of Amidon. I had been here before with my sons Jack and Jake on our way back from a National race six years ago and had to take Jon to the top. The temp was in the mid 90's making for a steamy trip up but worth it for the fascinating view and exploration of geographical phenomea in the area. The trail is short and not a destination mountain bike area but well worth side trip to say you ascended the highest point in North Dakota.
Related: Black Hills Mountain Bike Association
Coldwater Mountain
In the most recent IMBA newsletter, one of the highlights featured is the mountain biking at Coldwater Mountain.
Tucked away in the small town of Anniston, Alabama, the trail system at Coldwater Mountain is quickly becoming a "must ride" mountain bike destination. Combine beautiful scenery, well-built trails with easy access, great restaurants and microbreweries, and a dash of southern hospitality, and you have a Silver-level IMBA Ride Center. Currently offering about 30 miles, the trail system is set to double its mileage in the future. IMBA Trail Solutions and volunteers with the Northeast Alabama Bicycle Association (NEABA) work nearly year-round to evolve and expand this southern gem.
Full article with link to video
Metro Women Mountain Bike Riding and Racing
(Photo: Liz Rolfsmeier)
Star Tribune ran a nice article about women mountain bike riding and racing in the Twin Cities including clinics held at Lebanon Hills and racing at the popular Thursday night at Buck Hill as there's been a concerted effort lately to attract women and girls to the sport. Dakota County Parks has introduced workshops and camps for women and girls, and a new mountain biking group for women organizes events and rides at places like Lebanon Hills and Buck Hill.
Looking Ahead
With the Fourth of July holiday falling on the weekend this year, most race organizers holding off on putting on any major events. With that said, a happy and safe weekend and I hope everyone gets a good ride or two in.
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 25th year of racing and promoting mountain bike races. |