Midwest MTB Report

by Jay Richards
July 13, 2023

Summer is zipping on by and it's hard to believe it's the middle of July already. It has been a great summer of riding with pretty decent weather, almost September-like in some locales for much of this month, which has made riding possible in areas that we usually wait until fall. This week's report caught up with Liftetime Grand Prix rider, Jenna Rinehart, for a exclusive recap from the latest event, the Crusher in the Tushar, highlights for the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships, a quick recap from the Bike Duluth Festival and a look ahead to a couple of events that have been brought up to us.

Jenna Rinehart at Crusher in the Tushar

Beaver, Utah was the site of stop #3 in the Life Time Grand Prix, hosting the Crusher in the Tushar. Riders were faced with a shorter course but a lot of sustained climbing at high elevations. Jenna Rinehart recorded a respectable 18th place finish which moved her into 14th overall in the series after three races. I touched base with Jenna earlier this week to see how things went down:

Another race is in the books! Congrats on the finish and placing. Going into the Tushar, what were your expectations, considering the elevation and what not?

Thanks! It was a tough one but I'm happy to finish and enjoyed racing with a strong women's field. My only goal for this race was to finish it and give it my best. To be honest, this was the one race in the series I was least looking forward to. On paper it just doesn't suit my riding style and is pretty much the opposite of any type of riding we have here in MN. I originally thought maybe I would skip this one and use it as one of my two drop races in the series. But when Unbound didn't go as planned and I had to DNF I decided to give it a try.

Not having time to acclimate, what was your approach to managing racing at such high elevation?

Unfortunately I wasn't able to acclimate for this event so I decided to try the show up last minute approach. From what I've learned and researched about altitude racing is if you don't have at least 2 weeks to acclimate then you are best off showing up as late as possible to the event start. I flew into Las Vegas and then spent a day in St George which is at about 2,700 ft vs 6,000 ft in Beaver. I decided to do my pre race spin in St. George and then head to Beaver to drive a little bit of the course. It felt a bit strange to not ride any of the course before the race but I think it was the right call.

How did the race unfold?

The race started out with a 10 mile paved section before you hit a gravel climb. They actually start the women's field 5 minutes before the men's field. The pace started out pretty slow as everyone knew once we hit the dirt it was going to be a big day of climbing ahead of us. It sounds like the men's field had some early attacks and they ended up catching us on the pavement a mile or so before the dirt section. When they caught our group the pace really accelerated as women jumped on their wheels. The first big dirt climb was a little over 13 miles and took me about 1:15. The temps were nice and cool and even a little bit of snow on the side of the road near the top. I felt pretty good on this climb and crested the top in about 9th place. From there we had a super fast sketchy gravel descent into the valley. I hadn't looked at this part of the course and felt a little nervous on the loose switchback corners and had a hard time trusting my tires. I got dropped by a couple riders and when we reached the valley I was all by myself. You do about a 10 mile loop out in the valley and this is the one spot on the course you really want to find a pack to work with. I tried to catch the riders I had been with but wasn't able to make up any time on them. Finally about halfway through that loop I got caught by a group with a few guys and a couple women. We rotated as a group on the pavement and then we hit a section called the Sarlacc Pit. This section is a loose sandy double track with a gradual incline and the hottest part of the course. I still felt pretty good here and rode this with the two women in our group. After the Sarlacc Pit is when things get really tough. This is the second big climb of the day called the Col d' Crush. It's about 13 miles again but this climb had longer steep pitches and is more exposed. I managed to hang in there pretty well on this climb yet. I got dropped by the two riders I was with at the beginning but caught another 2 riders near the top. I felt relieved when I made it to the top but didn't realize this would be where things got really hard for me. We had about 10 miles of more rolling terrain finishing with a one mile super steep paved climb to the finish line. These last 10 miles were all near or above 10,000 ft and I think the elevation started to take its toll on me. With just a few miles to go I ended up getting caught by a group of 5 women and didn't have anything left to try to go with them. It was a bit of a bummer to make it so close to the end and then lose that many places.

Any different set up on your bike? What tires did you decide on? Any mechanicals?

Figuring out bike set up for this race was really challenging as it seems there is no perfect bike for this race. I raced my S-Works Crux and after doing as much research as I could I decided to run the S-Works Pathfinder 42 tires. I also switched my gearing to a smaller 42t chainring and 10-44 cassette. Thankfully my bike worked perfectly and I had no issues during the race. I used all my gears and was happy with the setup.

Anything unusual or neat happen or see along the course?

There were some really awesome volunteers on the course at the aid stations. They do not allow outside support during the race but instead have 5 feed zones plus some unofficial feed zones from race sponsors. There were so many people handing up drinks, putting ice down your neck, and spraying water. I think I took coke handups 3 different times out there haha!

Are you able to check out some local eats while at the races or stay pretty close to a particular diet? I can imagine being at the different locations you are able to see a different aspect of America.

The title race sponsor was a super cool place called The Creamery. They have an assortment of dairy products but also have a really good restaurant with farm to table options. I wanted to support them since they were supporting the race and it was so good we ended up eating 3 different meals there haha. They also had chocolate milk and ice cream for the racers afterwards. I find with traveling and especially flying to a race where you can't cook as easily it's important to be a bit flexible with diet. These long races tend to start pretty early so I have had to get a little creative for breakfast before the race. I ended up bringing a mini waffle maker and made some protein waffles in the hotel room the morning of the race. But overall I try to make the best choices available and just not stress about it too much. It's fun to find the local places and get to know the area a bit better.

With the next race a month away, what will be your approach to prepare for the big Leadville 100 race? This is your first time, right?

I'm a little nervous about starting at 10,000 ft and how my body will react to that but I think I need to stop thinking about it so much and just go do it. Yes, this will be my first time doing Leadville. The bike shop is a little hectic this time of year but if all goes well I'm hoping to try and get in 2 weeks at altitude before Leadville. I also would really like to see a few parts of the course and better understand the layout and feed zones etc... I'm hoping to get in some bigger training rides as Leadville is another really long race.

Any racing plans between now and Leadville?

I think I'm mostly planning on just doing some big rides but I plan to race the marathon race in the Minnesota MTB Series race at Mount Kato next week.

Life Time Grand Prix Website

USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships

Beaver Creek Resort near Longswamp, PA was host to the cross country and short track USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships last week. Hot and humid conditions with thunderstorms made for extra challenges on the technical course much unlike the National race series and most cross country races in general.

The Midwest had strong representation highlighted by the overall win by Rob Obgren in the 75-79 category which was the oldest category. Congrats Rob! Very inspiring.

The Pro women's XC race saw a tight battle between Savilia Blunk and former world champ, Kate Courtney, with Blunk edging out Courtney by just five seconds to take the title, while Holly Lavesser from Wisconsin posted a top-10 finish at 8th.

The Pro men's XC race featured a battle between Chris Blevins and Riley Amos, with Blevins edging out Amos at the end by 27 seconds. The top rider with Midwest ties was Brian Matter who flew in last minute to post a very impressive 9th place finish. Former Minnesota rider John Wessling also nailed a top-15 finish in 15th, followed close behind by Wisconsin rider Casey Hildebrandt in 16th, and fan favorite Josh Bauer from Minneapolis posted a top-20 at 19th.

Short track racing was highlighted by Hildenbrandt's top-5 finish, an emotional placing for Casey as he highlighted some of that emotion in an Instagram post:

"To cross the line in 5th place behind the absolute best in the world is something so special to me. For so long, I chased a dream thinking it was about some outcome based result, but the last few years I learned it’s not even about that. For me, it’s about embracing the process of becoming the best person and athlete I can be. When I was finally able to do that and understand that’s what I was truly chasing, I fell in love with the process and each day I take another step in self-discovery."

"Never stop believing in yourself - you never know when you’ll break through. This is a day I’ll never forget."

After a 12 year hiatus I made a return to Nationals and it was great to be back with the fun and energetic vibe ever present. There was definitely more of a youth feel with such a large number of junior riders. The fields were so large they ran qualifying races to have one final of 120 riders!

I raced the cross country Masters Cat 1 50-54 division. We had a delay in our race due to a thunderstorm moving in right before our race, but after a two hour delay we were off, albeit the race was shortened to only two laps of the super sweet course. Having a back roll call up I got caught in the bottleneck traffic but was able to move up on the climbs and post a top-20 finish which I was really happy about. The race was more than about trying to post a top result, it was an inspiring trip to get ideas for future race promotion at Maplelag, and seeing the energy of the youth was awesome.

USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships Website

Full Results

MNMBS #4: Spirit Mountain/Bike Duluth Festival

This year's Bike Duluth Festival was another huge success, with big number increases in the gravity events including nearly 300 participants in the Enduro races alone.

The Elite cross country races featured some exciting battles with the youth dominating at the top, especially in the female race.

Phoebe Leege took a convincing win over fellow 16-year-olds Kate Bindebender and Ani McQuillen. Risa Hustad and Stell Powell rounded out the top five respectively, both also juniors.

In the male race, Quentin Loxtercamp continued his dominance in the series after a hard fought battle with local Chase Sams, last year's state high school champion. The two put a sizable gap on third place finisher Chris Ziegler and teammate Jake Richards, with Aldric Gengler rounding out the top five. Richards also competed in the 7-stage Enduro the day before, placing fifth.

The Minnesota Mountain Bike Series continues a busy month of July with racing again this weekend at the Woolly Trails in St. Croix, WI.

Spirit Mtn/Bike Duluth Festival Results

Detroit Mountain Loss

Very sad news in my neck of the woods . . . general manager Mark Knutson of Detroit Mountain was struck by a truck that was pulling a boat trailer this past Sunday and passed shortly after. Knutson had been the race director of the popular Fargo Marathon and had recently taken the reins of the ski area just east of Detroit Lakes. Detroit Mountain is host to race #7 in the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series on July 30th.

Mark Knutson, GM of Detroit Mountain, Dies in Biking Accident

Looking Ahead

Bemidji Race at Movil Maze

Movil Maze will be host to a fundraiser race for the Bemidji high school mountain bike team on July 22nd. There will be two options, a 7 mile race and a more advanced race of 10 miles.

There is no race fee, but all proceeds will go towards supporting traveling and operating expenses for the team.

Facebook Event Listing

Gunflint Scramble

Minnesota’s scenic Gunflint Trail will be host to a 20 mile mountain bike race on October 7th.

The course is on a system of nordic ski trails, snowmobile trails, and forest roads, as well as a section of single track trails. The trails are remote and beautiful, and are seldom used outside of the winter.

Registration is limited to 100 riders!

Gunflint Scramble Website

Giants Ridge Grind

Giants Ridge will once again be hosting the GRIND mountain bike race on August 19th featuring a long and short course.

The race course utilizes the most scenic and challenging terrain in Minnesota’s Iron Range. Expect extremely tough climbs, fast descents, varied terrain with rocks, roots, creeks, and plenty of passing opportunities.

Giants Ridge GRIND Website

Keep the wheels moving!