Midwest MTB Report
August is starting out pretty much awesome! Dry air and good ol summer like temps making for nice riding across the board. Kudos to Eric Guse for riding six different trail systems in the Minneapolis area logging over 70 miles and 7 hours this past weekend. Great stuff! Future mountain bike endurance event in Minneapolis? With no series racing in Minnesota or Wisconsin this past weekend most racing action was of the ultra endurance kind. This weeks report includes a recap from the brutal hot and truly epic Mah Dah Heey 100, the Grit Skills Clinic at Spirit Mountain, a couple mountain bike related items to note and the look ahead.
Maah Daah Hey 100
There was no break from the hot summer sun in the Badlands as reports from social media and what not report a brutally hot Maah Daah Hey 100. Kudos to any riders that just showed up and prepared for the event. Charlie Tri was one of the competitors to compete with a fat bike, being the first one to cross the line in that division and sent in a report:
If this race is not on your bucket list of mountain bike races add it.
The Maah Daah Hey trail race is actually about 106 miles of almost all singletrack through North Dakota's Badlands in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. As 130 of us lined up at 7am on the North end of the trail I knew just a few things about what lay ahead; the predicted high was 95 degrees (I am not a fan of the heat), there are effectively 4 sections broken up by the 3 aid stations, there is a lot of climbing, and the 1st and 3rd section are the hardest. I had a goal of finishing, but ideally crossing the line as the first fat biker on my 907 Whiteout. For the record, I ride a fatbike because it is a great excuse for when you don't go fast:)
With the prerace instruction done, a helicopter would fly over, preparing itself to take video and pictures of the race. How...freaking...cool. The race would start without too much hassle as most everyone knew we had a big climb waiting for us in just the first few miles. As we hit that first climb the helicopter would monitoring our progress much like the Tour De France minus the doping accusations. That same chopper was flying low to get shots of us about 45 miles in. Just call me Chris Froome; only tanner, slower, shorter, and fatter.
As the start shuffled itself out, I found myself pacing well as I kept thinking about the 3rd hard section and the heat the was taking over the land. Later as we waded through the 2.5 feet deep Little Missouri River a mile from the halfway point the heat was really starting to turn up. Now this is not your typical midwest heat, but dry, convection oven type heat. The kind of heat that seems to bake you and suck off any sweat that may want to form on your roasting skin. The dirt is dry. Like really dry. Like relube your chain at every checkpoint dry. This is were I have to mention the volunteers at the checkpoints as they were awesome! My chain and body were much happier because of their help.
So as I got deeper and deeper into the 3rd section of the race I also got deeper into the hottest part of the day. The climbs seemed relentless. Add in the canyons we would climb were void of wind and I was down to a crawl literally and figuratively. Never do I remember in my 20 years of racing being that bloody hot. I would find out later people were measuring up to 110F on that part of the trail, so yeah, I guess it was a tad warm. However, here is the thing about the Maah Daah Hey Trail. No matter how you feel, no matter how hot you are, you will come around many many corners and just be in awe of the views you are taking in. The trail is equal parts brutal and beautiful.
(Photo: Tri Photo)
So I limped my way into the 3rd checkpoint; 27 miles to go. A 10 minute rest was in order to force food in my nauseous stomach. It was near impossible to cool down, so off on the trail I went, still crazy hot. The last section is almost all wide open with rolly hills and WIND! However, as nice a breeze is, a 100F+ degree breeze is not all that cooling. I would go on to finish in 12 hours, good enough to be the first fatbiker across the line. A friend had just come out of his car when I finished. The car temp gauge said it was 99 degrees in the shade, and that felt like a somewhat comfortable temp after what we had been through. Perspective is a funny thing. In short, an amazing race for many reasons despite the temps we went through out there.
Grit Clinic
Eleanor Bacso participated in the Grit Skills Clinic at Spirt Mountain this past weekend and recaps the day:
The Grit Clinic at Spirit Mountain was a huge success! Started by Lindsey Voreis, this clinic was focused on by simply bringing women together to share the joy of mountain biking while learning in a safe, encouraging and welcoming environment.
The clinic began on Saturday morning with absolutely gorgeous weather. I was a clinic volunteer along with a few other Duluth women mountain bikers. We started out in a large group in the field below Spirit and soon split into smaller groups with assigned coaches. We began with the basics of biking reviewing how to correctly brake, position your bike, etc. We soon then after learned how to ratchet our bikes to get over tough obstacles, wheelie and even learned how to go off and over wooden boards.
(Photo: Pete Stone)
After lunch, we headed out to the trails. We did a run and worked on different sections of rock and berms together. After we finished, we headed to the skills park. We were taught by our coaches how to ride off of the board drops. Most of the time those drops seem really scary and unmanageable to most people; but with the coaches expertise and encouragement from the group, we were all able to do it! It was super fun to everyone smiling so much and cheering each other on. All of the participants got a video analysis afterwards as well. As day one came to an end there was a happy hour with a great presentation by Lindsey.
The next day we began with some climbing techniques on the hill next to Spirit, it was more difficult than I imagined trying to stay within the rope course. It was incredibly helpful to have the coaches at each tight turn to help us start looking sooner around each curve. In the afternoon I helped lead a more advanced group to Brewer with Cooper Dendel. It was really fun to session some more of the difficult areas together and just all around fun to see everyone enjoying the amazing Brewer trails.
We started to caravan back to Spirit to wrap up the rest of the day, with lots of hugs and contact information being exchanged I can surely say this was an incredibly successful weekend for the coaches, participants and volunteers. I know that everyone had big takeaways from the weekend and that all of the ladies that came are much more confident on their bikes. It was truly an amazing thing to have so many women come together to share their joy and passion for mountain biking!
Additionally I would like to give a big thanks to Pam Schmitt and Danielle Magnuson at COGGS for playing such a big role in helping this Grit Clinic come to fruition here, they worked all week and afterwards helping to set up and organizing the event. And of course all of the other volunteers that gave so much of their time as well. Thank you again to the Grit Clinic coaches, volunteers, participants and of course Spirit Mountain, what a fun weekend!
24 Hours of Wausau
With more endurance epic like events popping up on the race calendar each year, there doesn't appear to be as many 24 hour races but this hasn't stopped the folks at Nine Mile Forest from serving up a great weekend of 24 hour racing that saw another solid participation year.
North Shore Fixings
Last week we took a three day trip to Grand Marais for a mountain biking camping excursion. On the way up the shore, stopped by Duluth for a quick ride with son Jake, checking out the new Hawk Ridge connector which is part of the Duluth Traverse trail. The traverse construction is coming along nicely and a fun ride on what represents the similar trail building on the more rockier terrain found such as the new trail, Brewer Park, located just south a bit in the heart of Duluth. The days up on the shore were spent riding at Pincushion and one ride at Britton Peak. A few new trails added at Pinchusion since we were there last year only adding to the fun network of trails. I particularly like the rift trail which includes a nice blend of progressive build and a natural terrain for a good mix of riding fun. The Tilt o Whirl is a high speed big berm flowing descent and climb named appropiately!
Trail builder Adam Harju was responsible for the new build and explained "We love to embrace the North Shore geology. We built that particular section (Rift trail) with a cold chisel and a mallet!" The fun part of riding at Pincushion is the ride back in to town! Among the newer more popular trail systems having been built in the last 5-7 years we have ridden at including Cuyuna, Copper Harbor/MTU, and Duluth, we put the Pincushion system at the top of the list. Might not have the distance but for a three day trip combined with the massive amount of forest roads in the area, there is no shortage of riding. Our final ride was at Britton Peak just outside of Tofte and actually had the most fun on the "Green" loop which has seen improvements this summer from local trail volunteers. The Pincushion system is host to the Sawtooth Challenge which will be in mid October this year according to the folks at Superior Outdoor Center.
Boogie in the Barn
The Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association (CAMBA) will hold its first-ever Gala fund raising event - Boogie in the Barn - on Saturday, August 22, 2015 from 5:00 to 10:00 pm. The historical Tin Roof Barn on Wald Road in Cable will provide the setting for what promises to be an evening of great fun. As an added bonus, the Seeley Lions Pre-Fat race will be held the same day. Come for the Gala and take in the race! More details.
Looking Ahead
The Minnesota Mountain Bike Series heads south to Red Wing racing on the bluffs at Memorial Park on one of the original courses in the series, going back to 1997. The course is fast flowing with more traditional type trails with a touch of new! The event is run by the RAMBO group.
Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic
The UP of Michigan is once again ready to serve up a classic mountain bike race on logging roads, ski trail, bed rock as the course gradually makes it way to Marquette. A few new changes this year including a different finish area and a divisions for fat bikes! Organizers are expecting over 2500 racers!
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. |