Midwest MTB Report
Fresh air has been welcomed these past few days as hot and humid weather last week in to the weekend made for some tropical like riding. For those fortunate to do so, mid July is a good time to head out west which a number of folks from the Midwest did. This weeks report includes a couple trip reports from out west, a race report from US MTB Nationals and a look ahead to the weekend which includes the big PRO XCT stop in Wisconsin.
Out West
Mid July is always seems like a good time to take a trip out west for some mountain riding. The Midwest humidity seems to be more common than not and bugs in some locales are the worst of the year. One rider who combined a trip with some racing was Dan Meyer of Fast Wax. Dan provides a report of his race at US MTB Nationals which was held at Mammoth Mountain in California. Notable Midwest XC performances in the Elite race include Cole House with a 11th place finish, Joe Maloney in 16th and Corey Stelljes in 20th, all three riders hail from Wisconsin. Former Wisconsin native and TJ Woodruff also posted a solid top 20 finish in 18th. Of course the most exciting news was TJ’s wife Chloe winning the women’s national championship in the XC and the Short Track! The XC fastest couple in the country will be coming to Wisconsin for a few races including this upcoming weekend PRO XCT race.
Dan’s report who was racing in the 65-69 Master Men category:
For a summer trip Rosie and I decided to venture west and hike, mountain bike and rock climb our way to the MTB Nationals at Mammoth Lakes CA and back.
We arrived in Mammoth Lakes on the Tuesday before the race and I was able to check out the amateur race course that showed 1032 ft of climbing over 5.5 miles, indicating a fairly difficult race course. However after riding a few laps it didn’t feel like 1000 vertical ft per lap, it road fun with a good rhythm. The course climbed steadily for the first 1.8 miles then turned into a fast paced aerobic single track with a few short climbs before heading down the last mile of a really wild rocky technical descent.
My strategy for the race was to start out mid pack and try to pace myself for the first part of the climb to avoid going anaerobic at the start, settle and then see if I could hang with high altitude climbers. I was amazed to see at the end of the climbing I was in 2nd place. I held on to somewhere between 3rd and 5th through the 1st lap until we hit the final decent and the western boys put a good gap on me.
Over the next 2 laps I worked my way back into 4th by climbing hard knowing I would need a good gap to hold 4th on the final decent. All in all I was quite pleased with the race to finish 4thwith this quality of competition. I have raced with this group in the past and they are excellent riders and very fun to compete with. I am looking forward to dueling it out with them again next year. Was very much worth the trip.
Related:
We also have reports from riders who were out west last week, not racing, but logging some high alpine environment rides. We have special reports from Ben Olson and Dan DeRoma where were in Montana and Whistler British Columbia, respectively.
Ben’s report:
Just returned from a full week of Montana mountain biking. This was my second summer to make the trip with others (Denny Barry & Corey Tabbert) that have gone for several years. Started the trip on Monday afternoon and arrived in Montana around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. Met up just outside of Bozeman with Paul Cullen and Brian Murdoch (former Minnesotans).
Less than an hour after arriving we had the tailgate pad loaded with 5 bikes and hooked up to the trailer full of camping gear for the week and headed to trail #1. Each of the six days consisted of a morning and afternoon ride that was between 8-16 miles with 3,000-5,000' feet of elevation gain. Working our way around the Bozeman and Helena area we hit all of Brian and Paul's favorite trails.
The trail that stands out the most is Muskrat Creek. The evening of day 3 we hit Muskrat the first time and camped near the trailhead so we could wake up and hit it one more time before moving on. The seven mile out and back trail offers a demanding 3,200 foot climb and a screaming fast, fun downhill full of tight rear tire sliding switchbacks, natural rock jumps and creek crossings.
Very fun week spent with good freinds with many new life long memories including a late night hike to stretch the legs to the top of Sacagawea that included a standoff with a group of mountain goats forcing us to find a different head lamp lit route down.
Can't wait until next year!
Dan’s report:
For my 30th Birthday this year my wife Alye, surprised me with a trip to Whistler. We have been here before for our honeymoon 5 years ago, but that was wintertime.
Summertime in Whistler brings a whole different crowd of bike lovers. There are tons of opportunities for both downhill and cross country riding, we got to spend some time with both. Our first day was slotted for our XC day, it was clear that things were a little different out here when we rented cross country bikes and they handed over bikes with 4 inches of travel front and rear! Clearly not your typical bike for the Midwest! I spent the morning getting aquatinted with the trails right in Whistler, the system was called Lost Lake and was a BLAST to ride. A trail called “Pinocchio’s Furniture” was my favorite, it featured about 10-12 wooden bridges of all shapes, sizes and lengths. The bike made me feel invincible and I had no trouble tackling the tough terrain. The afternoon we went exploring up Blackcomb Mtn. and found some great trails and some insane climbing.
Day two was one of the funnest days I’ve had on a bicycle. We headed over to Whistler Downhill Park and rented full on racing downhill bikes, these were $8,000 dollar, 8” travel dream machines. I’ve never been on a bike that inspired so much confidence! (Every bike we rented was 650b, I think they are on to something?) Also they don’t let you ride with out a full face helmet, gloves, knee/shin pad and elbow pads which also added to the confidence. We started off on the easy green flow track, this is a trail that even a beginner could ride. Don’t be intimidated by the huge jumps at the bottom of the hill, there are trails for everyone on the mountain. After we warmed up it was time to go fast. The trails are separated into two categories, Flow/FreeRide and Technical. We headed over to the Blue Flow trail. This was by far my favorite type of trail, they consisted of huge banked corners, jumps, fast down hills with very little technical parts. My wife Alye was drawn to the Blue Technical trails, these would be equivalent to our Black Diamond trails back at home, lots of rocks, roots and drops. However they didn’t feel quite as hard with the bikes we were using. Oh and nobody clips into their bikes in the downhill world so we had a lot of comments like, " you must be XC riders"? oh well I felt way more safe and in control being clipped in.
In the afternoon it started to rain, which was a good thing because the trails were dry and dusty. We rode right through the rain and when it stopped the trails were perfectly tacky. The afternoon also brought me to the top of the mountain, (there are two levels of lifts you can take up and getting the bikes on the lift is a skill that took a few attempts?) there was only one blue flow trail from the top and I wanted to ride it all the way down to the village. This was by far my favorite part of the day, it was well over 4 miles of straight flow track with over 2,500 feet of elevation drop according to my GPS. After about 30 miles and over 10,000 feet of decent we were both spent. I bike a lot and downhill biking was a different set of muscles, my quads, hands and biceps hurt from holding on. The trails were a little wash-boardy from people breaking too hard, that took a lot out of my grip and upper body. We never ventured to the famous black diamond flow trail called “A-Line” this featured huge drops and jumps that I’m just not ready for, even on the fancy bike. My favorite run was “Blue velvet to Crank It Up” and Alye’s was “Ninja Cougar to Karate Monkey to Ho Chi Min”.
By day three we were getting tired, the combo of XC and Downhill pretty much made us sore everywhere. So this day we rented what they call “valley bikes” which were 650b hardtail bikes. Whistler has a whole trail network of paved trails so we used those to explore the town and take in the breathtaking scenery.
Our conclusion for the week; we need to come back and spend more time biking! Every local we met told us to come back for the month of September, the trails quiet down, kids are back in school and the temperatures cool off as well. It can get very hot in the summer, our last day it was 90 and the sun is brutal. Also we are going to explore some other small towns close to Whistler, all the locals said we need to check out Squamish and Pemberton. Both have extensive networks of trails.
A tip for saving money on rentals: Prebook and shop around, most rental locations offer multi day discounts and off peak season discounts.
Cheers!
Singletrack Times
It’s great to see the continued growth in high school cycling. The MN League is gearing up for another big growth year. "Season 4 for the MN League is shaping up to be an exciting year," said Josh Kleve, MN League Director. "Existing teams are expanding, new communities are coming on board and our middle school program is growing steadily." said Josh Kleve, MN League Director. "Last year at our first race, we had just over 100 middle school kids registered to race - as of July 12, we are already at 100 registered Middle School racers.”
The latest Singletrack Times highlights the latest news including the newest teams, race schedule, Race for Free in the MN Series, Skills Camps, Try it Out Demos and more!
Lightning Fast
Next to snow, lighting has to be one of the most phenomenal weather events I can think of, personally. Last week it seemed like there was a thunderstorm every day and accompany lightning strikes. With the US on track to have the most lightning deaths on record this year, (49 is the average) the NWS published information on how to safe which any cyclist that hits the open road should be aware of.
Looking Ahead
Many of the Pros who raced last weekend at Mammoth will be toeing the line in Wisconsin as the Pro XCT makes its final stop in Wisconsin, this time hitting up a new venue Portage, WI at Cascade Mountain which is a c1 UCI classification race. WORS Cup Pro XCT course is of the modern World Cup model, approximately 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) in length. Over an area of 60 acres, it winds in on itself several times to provide spectators convenient access and numerous viewing opportunities
The Minnesota series heads over to Wisconsin again for race #7 at White Tail Ridge just outside Rivers Falls, WI. The course features a mix of fast-flowing single track, roots and rocks, fast downhill sections, wide open fields, leg scorching climbs and a elevated wooden berm. Whitetail Ridge is fast-becoming a Twin Cities favorite for riders looking for an ever-evolving challenge. Each race course is tailored to meet the ability level of racers, yet pose a challenge to keep things interesting.
The race has evolved over the past years into a great community fund-raising campaign in which the local mountain bike club, Kinnickinnic Off-Road Cyclists (KORC) use 100% of the race proceeds to either build and maintain new trails at Whitetail Ridge along with promoting other mountain biking opportunities in the Twin Cities metro and St. Croix River Valley
Wild Goose Chase Mountain Bike Race
Gooseberry Park in Moorhead, MN is host to the first annual Wild Choose Chase Mountain bike race which will take place along the north flowing Red River. The FM Trail Builders have been working hard this summer dialing in a fun course on fast flowing river bank singletrack. The event will feature a 10 and 5 lap race.
I had a chance to ride here back in May before the official loop was set in June but it was a good time and should provide a great challenge for those racing 10 laps! There will also be a kids events and the FM trail builders always have a ton of prizes at their events.
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. |