I don’t race much, the plan is 2 races this year, the Lemurian and this last weekend the Coolest 24. For some reason 24 hour races are a fascination with me. The last few years I’ve done 4 man and 5 man team 24 Hour events. This year I decided to step it up a notch and race on a 2 man team, a big step up actually going from 3 hour breaks between laps to 1 hour and going from 5-6 laps for the race to 9+. At 12+ miles and 1500’ of climbing per lap, that’s a lot of riding. My team mate was a friend of mine I’ve been riding with for about a year now named Seth. I’ve been quite anxious about this race and my personal fitness and weight over the last few months. Not seriously training, just focusing on getting long rides in on the weekends and riding 8 miles to and from work every day.

Seth is faster than me and as such I had him do the first lap. Overall a great choice. Seth managed to be in the top 10 of the team riders out of the gate and then got back in 5th overall at 55 minutes, giving me a traffic free first lap. We managed to stay ahead of most of the traffic, leaving the dust and constant passing to the other teams. My times were about on par with the second place team but Seth continued cranking out amazing lap times, putting 10 minutes per lap on the second place team. By sunset our team was 30 minutes ahead of the second place team. Read the rest of this entry »

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One of the Premier MTB races in Northern California the Lemurian Classic is a great race held annually in June. There is a long course which is a single 26 mile long lap, a shorter 20 mile loop, and the beginners loop is 8 miles. There is no sandbagging at the Lemurian, you chose which course to race on and a Pro class but otherwise it’s just simple age sex categories. Even better, the Lemurian course is mostly singletrack.

The real kicker that makes this the king of Grass Roots racing is the fact that the proceeds from the race all wind up going directly to improving the trails in the Whiskeytown/ Mt Shasta Area. Combine this with a great great atmosphere, awesome trails, and a laid back group that puts on the event and the $35 entry fee is dirt cheap.

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For people in the South Bay area, you can head down to Fort Ord for a series of 9 weekend races (3 races are over already). These are put on by Central Coast Cyclo Cross (CCCX) and you can find a schedule of events here. There is racing for all classes and ages and from what I understand it’s a very fun series. Entry fees are $35/event.

Here’s some more fun for Sacramento area racers. There is a series of events at Granite Bay (NE of Sacramento) including several Friday Night MTB races, some Duathalons and mini-Triathalons. The races are put on by TBF Racing and there is a schedule if you follow that link. There are 3 MTB only races in June for all classes and age groups. Entry fees are $20.

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I don’t race much, but there are a few races which I enjoy. These are generally the sort of grass roots or fund raising events where the fees are usually low and the atmosphere is generally awesome. I’m going to try and report on all the local/grass roots races in Norcal that interest me. Don’t expect to see Sea Otter or any of the big venues show up here. They just don’t interest me a lot and get plenty of coverage elsewhere. The first grassroots race I want to cover is actually a weekly series in the Sacramento area.

The Prarie City Race Series is a weekly mountain bike race series held at the Prarie City OHV park located between Rancho Cordova and Folsom off of Grant Line Road. The races are held every Wednesday evening at 6:15 PM (show up early for registration) starting April 2nd. The only prizes awarded on race day are random door prizes. This event has been growing significantly over the last few years and currently they average over 350 racers per week. The laps are short, 3-4 miles and the different classes all race varying lengths; 2 laps for beginner, 3 for sport class, 4 for expert and 5 for expert ‘plus’ (instead of pro). The course is very fast, SS friendly with lots of short ups and downs rather than any prolonged climbing.

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Check the weather update at the bottom of the post

On September 22nd and 23rd the TROGS, the Ogre (from Ogrehut.com), and some Sonora area locals are inviting you to a get together at Pinecrest Peak. Prepare for 2 days of riding, camping, and general MTB mayhem. If you’ve never ridden at Pinecrest, this is a great chance to try out some awesome Sierra Nevada trails which are a bit off the beaten track. Anyone is welcome to show up and we have plans for any level of rider.

Location : We will be camping at Fraser Flat Campground near Strawberry on both Friday and Saturday Nights. All rides will meet at the Strawberry Store (Big Red Store on Right).

Times : Rides will meet at 10:00 AM on both the 22nd and the 23rd (Sunday’s Easy ride will start at 11AM)
The Rides: Exact rides and routes will depend on who shows up. Currently the following rides are planned.

Friday: We’re going to have a Friday night ride at 9PM along Fiona’s Favorite trail. The ride will be laid back and at a slow pace. Expect a mellow ride dodging trees through some fairly tame terrain. This is about a 9 mile loop and will be the only ride to start and finish at Fraser Flat campground. (Rain/ snow cancels)
Saturday: (none of the rides planned on Saturday are to be shuttled)
Easy Ride: Fiona’s Favorite Loop, down Ewok Trail from Strawberry, crossing the river at Spring Gap Road, then returning on the RR Grade to Strawberry. 10 miles, easy pace with very little climbing.
Challenging Ride: Climb up to Pinecrest Peak and alternately climbing up Willow Creek or Hammil Canyon then returning via Pinecrest Peak Trail.
Expert Route: This is a highly challenging ride for expert level mountain bikers, it’s a 35-40+ mile route with tons of climbing, technical cross country riding and finishes with the the killer Pinecrest Peak Downhill.

Sunday: Sunday’s plans are not set in stone yet. Here are the tentative plans for the day.
Easy Ride: 10-15 miles riding along the Flume trail above the Stanislaus River (may have a delayed start time due to shuttling Challenging riders)
Challenging Route: This will be a shuttled ride, the shuttle will drop riders off at the base of Eagle Peak and riders will climb up to Eagle Peak coming down some fresh new singletrack. At that point they can go directly to Pinecrest Peak via forest roads or drop down Willow Creek trail before climbing to Pinecrest Peak.
Expert Ride: A second day of high mileage, challenging cross country riding. The second day will likely not include Pinecrest Peak but will include 30-40 miles of challenging singletrack.

Cost: Zero $ (responsible for own campsite and food/ alcohol)
Registration: Just show up at Fraser Flat on Friday Night or meet us at the Strawberry Store on Saturday or Sunday Morning.

Saturday
Mostly cloudy with rain or snow likely. Highs 41 to 51 higher elevations…54 to 64 lower elevations. Snow level 7000 feet.

Weather seems to be deteriorating on Saturday. Still have a chance that it will blow over but I would suggest anyone day-tripping to come on Sunday rather than Saturday. The trails should be awesome post rain/ snow. I’ll be up there both days rain or shine and will likely ride on Saturday if it’s just limited to showers or a light drizzle. Friday nights ride is canceled if there is rain. Night rain rides are not fun (I’ve done it)

Also, note that Sunday’s Easy Ride will start at 11AM rather than 10AM as was listed originally.

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I spend the last 5 days riding up in Oregon, 2 days on rides just with friends, and 3 days at Mountain Bike Oregon (MBO). Mountain Bike Oregon is a mountain bike get together held in Oakridge, Oregon, a no-name town in central Oregon with a trail system that is second to none. The ‘500 miles’ of trails listed on Mountain Bike Oregon’s web site is not an exaggeration, and the quality of the trails is phenomenal. Most of the trails are skinny, buffed single track, but there is a good selection of technical riding as well. Rivers and streams crisscross the unique rain forests of northwest Oregon. The technical challenges are as often made of roots and tree stumps rather than rocks and you are just as often riding on bark and pine needles as dirt on many trails. (My Pictures from MBO) Read the rest of this entry »

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I stumble into the RV, my brain isn’t working quite right, I know I need to get out of my sweat soaked clothes, eat, and wake up my brother before I go to sleep. I start to change but get distracted by hunger and start to prepare some food. Before I make much progress there, I look at the clock, it’s 3:30AM. I set the alarm for 6AM so I can wake up in time for my next lap. Clothes are hanging all over the RV, mostly air drying stuff I’ve already worn. I chase down my clean, non-riding clothes and start to put them on but decide I’d better eat something first. Pour myself some chocolate milk and chug a little before my numb right toe reminds me I need to get out of my wet clothes. This time I manage to finish changing. Then I scramble up some eggs. I put some seasonings on them and too much salt but it doesn’t bother me one bit. Scrambled eggs have never tasted so fluffy and good. Drink a little Gatorade and some chocolate milk. The adrenalin is finally starting to drain out of my system. I’m getting tired fast. Read the rest of this entry »

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We’re going to be having a little get together up at Bear Valley on the weekend of September 16th. Some of us will be camping and some people will just be doing day trips. Personally, I’ll be up there on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We will have 20-30 mile rides each day for more advanced riders and on Saturday and Sunday there will be some 10-12 mile rides for beginning riders. So far it looks like a fairly small group of about 5-10 riders, but if you come it will be more. There are a lot of killer singletrack and some fun challenging jeep trails (including the really cool “slickrock trail”). Check out the pics I have posted for this place.

If you would like to camp with us, let me know.  I’m not sure which site we’re going to be at yet. If you just want to day-trip for one or more of the rides, we are meeting at the bike shop/gas station right inside of the town of Bear Valley at 9:30AM on all three days.

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