Midwest MTB Report
Welcome to the 2015 mountain bike season in the Midwest! What a wild start! We started out nicely this month with relatively dry weather and warm temps that allowed most trail systems to open up for some awesome early season shredding. However, this week has been a serious wake up call from Mother Nature, reminding us it is April with snow falling in most locales. Either way, another great season of mountain bike riding and racing is on tap! Many folks have been using the plethora of gravel events in the Midwest to tune up for the season while others pound pavement, sneak in hot laps at the favorite course or were maybe lucky enough to sneak a trip down south for early season warm weather riding.
Personally, it is hard to believe it has been 25 years since I first started mountain biking on a fully rigid hard tail GT Karakoram back in college, built singletrack and started the Laddies Loppet mountain bike race. It is amazing how the sport has involved from technology to the trails making it even more fun for the seasoned grizzled vets to the greenhorns. I am as excited as ever for the season to ride,check out some new tight and twisty, hopefully race a bit and prepare and promote the 25th Anniversary Laddies Loppet. This years first report will take a look at a few events Midwest riders participated in last weekend and a look ahead to the usual early season for many riders, the Decorah Time Trials. With that said, anyone that is interested in providing exclusive race reports (reports not posted on a blog, website or social media) or any pertinent information to mountain biking in the Midwest please feel free contact me at
6 Hours in Frog Hollow
Perham, MN area rider, Ben Olson, leaped his way to Utah leaving sunshine and 60's in Minnesota to snow and fresh temps in Utah to participate in the Frog Hollow race, located in Frog Town. Ben's report:
When I decided to do the 6 Hours in Frog Hollow Race it gave Heidi (my wife) an excuse to plan a family trip. The Venue rests in the shadow of Gooseberry Mesa and Zion National Park just outside the town of Hurricane, Utah. The staging area is known as Frog Town. We arrived in UT early last week and road MTB trails in the Moab area along with lots of day hikes in the National Parks in Southern Utah. Come race day we couldn't have asked for any better weather. The 13.5 mile/lap race began with a Le Mans style start. The run to the bike was a short 1/8 mile. Once on the bike the course headed up a gradual double track 1,000 ft climb. This double track section of the course is where I learned was the best place to rehydrate and refuel each lap. I had both Heidi and my two boys (Jake and Marc) waiting for me at the staging area after each lap to swap water bottles and load me up with more fuel for the next lap. Once at the top of the climb the course switched over to a flowing singletrack. At the top there were a few technical spots to maneuver. Once through these areas it was all nice down fast and flowing. Much needed to recover for the next laps climb back to the top. For most of the top riders each lap took approx. 1 hour. The top guys were able to do it in just over 50 minutes. The objective was to get as many laps as you can in the 6 hour race. Racers were cut off at the start/finish at the 5 hour mark. If you crossed prior to 5 hours you were "allowed" to go out and do another lap. I crossed the start/finish on my 5th lap at 4:03. I knew that I would need to put in one of my best lap times if I was going to "get to" go out for the 6th lap. Headed up the climb pushing as hard as I could on the 5th lap, but realized that the dry dessert and 4 previous laps were catching up to me and I was not going to make the 5 hour cutoff. By the time I got down the singletrack the clock read 5:11 and I was fine with doing "only" 5 laps. It tuned out that there were only 3 solo riders that put in the 6th lap. We joined everyone at the fun awards ceremony and swag give-a-way and then started our long road back home, which by the way is way too long to sit after racing hard for 5 hours.
The race was fun and I would do it again. If nothing else just to spend more time in the southern UT area. In the fall they host the 25 Hours in Frog Hollow that takes place the weekend we turn the clocks back, hence another hour of riding. This I would have to recruit a few teammates for… (Photo: Ben Olson)
Sea Otter Classic
The Sea Otter Classic is a long time favorite for mostly many southern riders to kick off the season and was part of the PRO XCT series for this year. The Sea Otter celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. The Sea Otter event features a full plate of cycling disciplines and brings in many big name riders. It also give the industry a chance to show off new product for the season. QBP rep Clayton McLagan from the Twin Cities made the journey to Monterrey, CA and reports:
I wasn't sure what to expect from Sea Otter this year as I haven't been on dirt since the first week of November and my overall riding time has been low, but hey any day on dirt is better than every other day.... The morning started with a cab ride up to Laguna Seca at 6 am with a chilly 46 degree damp drizzle coming down from the marine layer. My warm up was a brief 10 minutes as I didn't want to warm up to much to stand in the staging area for 30 minutes freezing. My start was shortly after 8 and my age group had approximately 50 people lined up and ready to crush it, unfortunately 49 or so were all locals and looked like they are peaking for the season. From the start it was a moderate 20 -25 mph rollout on the race track that lead to a short uphill on the dirt, about 3 miles in (sitting 7th wheel) the course turned up in a big way and the top 5 guys put in a major attack!
I was caught off guard and didn't get a jump as the guy in front of me didn't even respond. I put in a solid solo effort for about 2 miles, however that group of 5 were gone! For the next few miles I slid back a bit and found myself around 13th and feeling pretty comfortable. As my body started to recover we headed into a long downhill paved connecting road and I was looking to open up my legs, as we descended I started to catch and pass a few people and soon found myself out of gear! My Wolf Tooth 34t was perfect for the ups, but left me looking for more at 42 mph! As we dipped back into the single track I focused on my game plan, pick them off when you can and know that we your suffering their suffering, that's the best time to make them hurt. About this time the marine layer was gone and the sun was heating up to a comfy 78 degrees. I focused on hydrating and racing my race, which left me with a solid 8th place finish and only 5 minutes off the 5 man break. Would I do anything different, probably not, but sliders for dinner the night before might not have been the best choice..... (Photo: Dave McElwaine)
River Bottoms Update
Dennis Porter has been working hard bringing awareness to the issue of paved surfaces in the popular riding place in Bloomigton, MN, the River Bottoms. (Photo: mountainbikegeezer.com)
Dennis checked in recapping the situation and for those interested in helping out:
Natural trail supporters along with Minnesota Off Road Cyclists, trail runners, hikers, continue to try and keep the Minnesota River Bottoms Trail in Bloomington as a natural trail not a paved trail. We are trying to convince the DNR and others that this area should remain natural with only infrastructure improvements like bridges, signs, trail heads etc. As many know this area is very popular natural trail as it is now. Most notably this are is a major flood plain that has flooded nine times over the past ten years. Any improved or paved trail will have tremendous expenses due to the geography of the area. At the same time the current trail has existed for many years at no cost to taxpayers. Our fight is not against paved trails but is more about the question of changing or paving an already popular trail in a major flood plain. There are proposals for two trails one paved and one natural. The two-trail proposal will not stop the huge expenses of a paved trail and will certainly change the natural character of the area. We hope that land managers can look at embracing this natural trail for what it is and keep it natural. We can’t go back once the bull dozers move in. For more information, please view the attached links:
https://www.change.org/p/bloomington-mn-city-council-stop-the-plan-to-put-a-paved-trail-in-the-minnesota-river-valley-between-the-bloomington-ferry-bridge-and-the-old-cedar-avenue-bridge
https://m.facebook.com/SaveTheRiverBottoms
Looking Ahead
We didn't do a full preview of events in this first report with most people clued in via the Internet. The Minnesota Mountain Bike Series and Wisconsin Off Road Series are set for another great season of events and racing. The Minnesota series kicks off early this year at the legendary Buck Hill in Burnsville on May 3rd and the Wisconsin Off Road Series on the third of May as well at the usual opener venue in Iola. We will be highlighting events a week out and any big news as appropriate.
Decorah has long been one of the early locations for many mountain bikers to kick off the season, racing in the Decorah Park System on a 9.2 mile course featuring a nice dish of technical singletrack. The Decorah TT is the longest running mountain bike event in Iowa! Key highlight is any rider that bests the course record will find themselves with $500 instead of the guarenteed $200. There is also a 1.5 mile kids course so parents, don't leave your kids at home!
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. |