Midwest MTB Racing Report
A epic weekend of mountain bike racing with racers hitting up the CAMBA trails during the the Mt Borah Epic, mudfest in Mankato for race #2 in the Minnesota series and WORS peeling off their third race in Camrock. This weeks report is highlighted by reports from Mt Borah, Mankato and an enduro report from Duluth plus the usual look ahead.
Mt Borah Epic
Racers competing in the Mt Borah epic were treated to some great summer like weather on the classic CAMBA trails that featured a race course with almost 30 miles of sweet flowing singletrack. Matt Engen files a report:
Matt Wenzel, Steve Wenzel, Greg Ames and myself, sporting our Maplelag kits, rode the Mt. Borah Epic Race on Saturday, May 31st in Cable, WI. The point to point race starts in Cable, WI and follows 30+ miles of awesome singletrack to Hatchery Creek Park in Hayward, WI. This is by far one of my favorite races. Not too many races have 30 miles of perfect single track.
The race leaves Cable on Randysek Road for 2 or 3 miles before turning on to singletrack. It paid off to push hard on the road and get to the singletrack early. Riders further back had a major bottleneck. I quickly got into a group of five riders that had a similar pace. The singletrack was dry and fast. Lots of banked turns, rolling hills, rocks, roots, trees, lakes and the Gravity Cavity. (Photo: Mt Borah)
The Gravity Cavity is a gully with high banked swooping turns running all the way down. Super fun. With 10 miles to go the group I was in had narrowed to three riders. We were steadily passing riders. The last 5 miles seemed to take forever. I was riding with a Ski Hut rider and was comfortable following him into the finish at Hatchery Creek Park. My finish time was 2 hours and 53 minutes. Ishay Rotem or Durango, CO (Jamis) won the race with a time of 2 hours and 17 minutes. He was followed by Brendan Moore. Sara Kylander-Johnson won the female category in 2 hours and 39 minutes.
The race director, Jack Zabrowski, did a fantastic job marking the trail and with logistics to get us and our bikes back to Cable. After the race brats and beverages from Oskar Blues Brewery hit the spot. Awards were presented at Rivers Eatery in Cable along with a few more beverages and tasty pizza.
Great day and great event. (Photo: Todd Bauer)
Related: Mt Borah press release
Mankato Mudfest
When I first started racing, we would just head to the races not knowing what to expect sometimes. Rain would fall without warning turning the race in to a mudfest. Was it hard on equipment, yes, but most racers took it as part of the scene and most everyone was cool about it. Advancements in technology have made cycling "easier" with full suspension, bigger wheels, tubeless, tubular singlespeed, fat bikes and different gearing but nothing takes the tough out of a good ol' mudder. Either you like racing in mud or absolutely hate it. Many racers opted out of not racing and those that did were definitely treated to some serious slime.
Local star Jenna Rinehart files a full report from Mankato:
The race at Mt. Kato was a big mess with the rain. It rained hard all night leading into the race and continued to rain on and off race day. This made most of the course pretty much unrideable because of the mud. The course seemed to be getting worse as the day went on. I watched close to 30 racers in the Citizen and Sport race roll in with broken derailleurs and chains from the mud. Most of the riders were unable to finish the race and those that were had to stop each lap and hose down their bikes before heading back out.
After watching my father in law (Tom Rinehart) DNF in the sport race because he ripped off his derailleur, broke a spoke which then caused his tire to go flat I decided it would be smartest not to race. He said you could barley even push your bike walking downhill. It was a hard decision to make not being able to do my home race but I think it was the right one. I just hope our trails will recover from the damage and that the next race will be dry. Nice job to those who stuck it out and were able to finish.
Related: Statement from MNMBS on racing in mud and decision to hold the race
Enduro Duluth
Lucky Duluth residents kicked off the first race in the Duluth Enduro series Wednesday night, racing at the just drying out in time trails at Piedmont. Son Jake is working and training in Duluth this summer and hit up the sweet course and sent in a report.
The first Duluth Enduro series race of the year took place at Piedmont Park Wednesday evening. A little over 30 riders came out to shred on the beautiful evening. Piedmont had just opened early in the day after a very wet weekend, and the trails were in great shape. The first stage started on Deer slayer and was a fast flowing section with a couple short climbs. After the first stage, the riders had enough time to finish out a lap before the second stage. The second stage featured some gnarly rock drop-offs; that required some skills. The trail then continued on a very rocky, technical downhill and ended on skyline road. The next enduro is June 25th at Lester River Park.
Sagan in the Singletrack
Fun video of Euro pro Peter Sagan turning up some dirt on the mountain bike.
Looking Ahead
Race to Sunset is an Endurance Mountain Bike Festival, designed to bring together mountain bikers from near and far for some good ol’ North Dakota fun! As the state’s only endurance mountain bike event, Race to Sunset seeks to introduce new mountain bikers to endurance sports through a supportive, upbeat atmosphere, while concurrently attracting some of the best fat-tire athletes in the United States.
The Marquette Trails Festival features a full weekend of mountain bike events including downhill, dual slalom, cross country and the super fun enduro events. All proceeds from the event go back in to trail building.
The Blacks Grove mountain bike race will be held on the Black Grove trails just outside of Wadena. Rain over the weekend wrecked havoc but the course is shaping up nicely and Denny Barry provides the latest report from the trail: "The Grove is shaping up -a few heavy clay spots are saturated and holding moisture -all are short enough , but leave few options other than muck it through or hop off and push . We have rerouted 2 lower areas , ending up with a better trail and no water worries." Kids 18 and under race free. Old school course and a down to earth grass roots feel make this a fun venue for a morning of mountain biking.
Menacing 40 Mountain Bike Race
Have the endurance and mental fortitude to battle 40 miles of single track? Join us on Saturday, June 21, from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., at Elm Creek Park Reserve, Maple Grove, and find out! Compete individually or in teams of up to four riders. Each Menacing 40 consists of four 10-mile loops. Awards, door prizes, and good times to follow each race.
Pre-register and save! Cost is $20 for individuals and $40 for teams that pre-register. Registration the day of the event is $30 for individuals and $50 per team. Call 763-599-6700 to pre-register. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and the race start is at 9 a.m. This race is for ages 14+ and is sponsored by Maple Grove Cycling and Freewheel Bike.
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. |