Midwest MTB Report

The cycling season is in full swing! It's been a typical April with warm days overshadowed by cooler days as we are on track to have one of the coldest April's on record, especially in the northern locales. Riding in April always tests the motivation with weeks flip flopping in temps. Regardless, there have been multiple gravel events as well as the first road race that a handful of mountain bikers indulged in testing early season fitness and more importantly the area trails have been open whenever possible for .

The race season is fast approaching with the season to officially kick off with the first Minnesota series race at the popular Woolly trails in St Croix, WI this coming weekend and of course the long time spring opener in Decorah, IA with the Decorah Time Trials which features payback calculated by number of riders and the mood of the race director". Recent wet weather has the Woolly folk a bit on edge and the latest information can be found on the Woolly Bike Club blog.

This opening report includes a quick look at the series in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and many mountain bike related news and notes. Personally looking forward to another race season hitting up a few races, shredding the favorite trails and of course checking out some new ones.

Race Series

Minnesota Series-MNMBS

The Minnesota Mountain Bike Series kicks up early this year, crossing the border to hit up the Woolly trails maintained and operated by the enthusiast Woolly Bike Club. The crew has been dialing the course when weather has allowed and always a solid turnout if Mother Nature cooperates. The series has added a few races for the season. Detroit Mountain Shakedown is a new race at a new venue. With "a mix of classic tight, twisty and rooty hand cut singletrack, doubletrack... and more," this should be a very exciting race course.

Photo of the "Big Bertha" at Detroit Mountain, taken by Lindsey Vories.

Lake Rebecca Big Woods Classic is a great effort of Three Rivers Parks to bring even more trail to the great Minnesota trail systems. They expect to have 12 MILES of trails by August to ride! And Maplelag's Laddies Loppet is back for another weekend of the best and toughest natural singletrack in the US.

Wisconsin Series-WORS

The Wisconsin Offroad Racing Series is back for its 24th season as one of the strongest and largest cross country series in the country. WORS is America's Largest State Mountain Bike Racing Series focusing on racer experience, and hosting events that offer a quality, safe, fun, competitive mountain biking experience to as many people as possible. Every WORS race begins on Saturday, with a marked pre-ride of the course and free Learn to Race Clinic hosted by experienced WORS Racers. The series opens once again at the Iola Sports center on May which features the big bowl, a great area for spectating, especially with spring sunshine! The season concludes on October 2nd in Sheboygan, WI.

Iola photo by WORS

The latest news from WORS is mandatory class move ups for riders that placed in the top part of their class. 

The inaugural Midwest MTB Championships will be staged at Cascade Mountain near Portage, Wisconsin on July 22-24, 2016. This event promises to display the high level of production from past WORS Cups, providing a UCI level experience for participants, spectators, and exhibitors alike. Sanctioned as USA Cycling's Midwest Regional Mountain Bike Championship for Cross-country (XC), Short Track (STXC) and Enduro, the MWMBC will offer both Championship and Non-Championship for all ages and levels of experience. This three day event, (one practice day, two days of competition), is slated to draw racers from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Registration is open.

Mountain Bike News and Notes

Woodruff Around the World

Pro rider Chloe Woodruff who has Midwest connections including a win in the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival is off to a strong start to the season including a win in the big Sea Otter short track. Woodruff posted her best ever World Cup finish in Cairns, Australia over the weekend and has been updating her blog with recaps. 

Chloe Woodruff photo taken by Nic Coury

Singletrack Sagan

Road World Champion took a break from road racing to return to his roots to race mountain bikes again, a discipline he won as a Junior earning a world champion title. Sagan hit up a race in Austria, not having luck which social media was eager to display. "Despite his famed bike handling skills, the Slovak crashed during the off-road race in Graz, Austria, damaging his bike in the process. The Slovak Spectator reports that he suffered minor injuries and was reduced to walking to the finish line.  Read more.

Minnesota Mountain Biking Ranks Among Nation's Best

The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently highlighted incredible network of trails in the state of Minnesota with links. "With more than 4,000 miles of paved bike trails, from the rolling gravel hills in the southeast, to the urban Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis, to the 120-mile Paul Bunyan Trail up north, Minnesota is one of the best places in the country to ride a bike (second only to Washington state if you ask the League of American Bicyclists), reports Brian Fanelli.

Photo of Elm Creek

Fanelli continues. but Minnesota's offerings don't stop at paved trails. In fact, the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) has designated three of the state's mountain biking areas as ride centers, an honor reserved for "large-scale bike facilities that offer something for every rider ...the best the sport has to offer." Only one state in the nation has more IMBA designated ride centers, and Duluth's trail system is one of only six in the world with the organization's top "gold level" certification.

Who Wants to Build a Mountain Bike Park?

Ever dreamed about winning the lottery and building your own trail system in your backyard? If you should happen to pick the winning numbers you might want to check out the Toad Mountain Ranch which is now up for sale. Not only is there nearly 700 acres with a ski hill that never came to be, there is a 80 x 200 riding arena that could be converted to a indoor park for winter shredding fun. The asking price is just under 4 million.

Dropping in with a Dropper Post

The World Cup season opened up this past weekend in Cairns, Australia and with riders and companies constantly tweaking and testing new improvements, perhaps the biggest buzz equipment wise was the use of a dropper post by World Champion Julian Absalon which has been typically used more by enduro riders. Glen Jacobs – Cairns local and owner of trail building company World Trail – reported in 2014 that he designed the Cairns world cup cross-country course in hope of seeing many of the world's best take to dropper posts. While he was disappointed back then, it seems his wishes have come true and there are few riders in the world more influential than Absalon himself.

Photo by David Rome

Prescription Steroids Get Exemption for Master and Amateur Athletes

USADA has created a new exemption for masters and amateur athletes who are prescribed banned drugs. Called a Recreational Competitor Therapeutic Use Exemption, it allows masters and amateur athletes to compete in low-level competitions while taking banned substances. An athlete must prove to USADA that he or she is unlikely to actually win one of these amateur races, in addition to proving a medical need for an illicit chemical. Read full article.

Cycling Into Your 80's

Cycling Weekly UK recently published a nice article featuring 80 year old Brian Shaw. Shaw states; "If I miss a Sunday morning ride now, I feel that I've missed a meal; it doesn't seem right," he says. "The commute gets me about 40 miles a week and then I'm out on Sunday mornings doing 50, 60, 70 miles and more than that in the summer. "I never stop. I'm not one of these guys who goes out on a coffee run, and I don't have an off-season. In the summertime I'm early away — up at 5am some Sunday mornings and home by midday, which leaves the rest of the day to do something else. That way, you don't run too foul of your family."

If anyone has any events or mountain bike related items to note or interested in providing exclusive race reports, please feel free to pass along. See you on the trails...

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/LaMere/Paramount/Jake's Bikes mountain bike team and enters his 26th year of racing and promoting mountain bike races. Have an event or mountain bike related information to share from the Midwest? Feel free to contact Jay at