Find friendly competition at a local race

Local mountain bike races provide a fun format for increasing your skills, feeding the competitive animal inside and meeting other regional riders. Additionally, these homegrown events are often hosted by local bike shops or bike-friendly organizations. So, supporting them supports the local cycling scene (trail access, community awareness, availability of bikes and parts).

However, many intermediate and veteran riders are intimidated by racing, seeing it as a fiercely competitive format for super humans who live on their bikes. Don’t be. If you’ve been riding for awhile, check out the local racing scene to spice up your normal riding schedule and style.

Visit your local bike shop and ask about races, check out their bulletin board or web site. Keep an eye peeled at trailhead kiosks for race posters. Do a Google search for mountain bike races in your area. Once you find one, check out the course, to make sure it is within your skills and abilities. Then sign-up! Go into the event planning to have fun, stay safe, all the while pushing yourself. The experience will change the way you look at riding.

Here is a sampling of upcoming local events in the mid-Atlantic area:

TWISTED TIRE / FALL CUP -  Ashland, VA Sunday, September 13, 2009

MIDDLE MOUNTAIN MOMMA – Clifton Forge, VA Sunday, September 27, 2009

MONTVALE MAYHEM MOUNTAIN BIKE RACE – Montvale, VA, Saturday, October 10, 2009

ASSAULT ON LIBERTY MOUNTAIN – Lynchburg, VA, Saturday, October 24, 2009

TIDEWATER MOUNTAIN BIKE CHALLENGE – Williamsburg, VA, Sat.-Sun., October 25 & 25, 2009

©Big Mountain Riding

Railing the classic bridge on LU's A Trail Too Far

Second Annual Assault On Liberty Mountain

This is a challenging, fun event in the heart of Virginia. Dishing up 19-miles of back-country style riding, the Liberty Mountain race shows off some of the breadth of the trail system (while leaving lots of the extensive trail system to be explored.) Last year’s event was an eye-opener for many regional riders who had not previously pedaled this recently upgraded trail system.

Support local trails! Sign-up as a show of the strength of the local cycling community.

October 24, 2009

Camp Hydeaway

(Google Street Address: Lake Front Dr. Rustburg, VA 24588)

10:00 am START!

Click Here, to download application.

Click Here, to register online.

For more information or questions e-mail Race Director Joshua Yeoman

DOWNLOAD THE COURSE MAPS – GREAT FOR PRE-RIDING COURSE!

Pro/Expert/Sport Course Map

Novice Course Map

Story and photos below the video feed from WDBJ News 7.

Monday, June 22, 2009 – Bedford, VA – More than 50 riders rolled up for the Rally Ride to show support for Blackwater Bike Shop following Saturday’s fire that destroyed the entire complex, including several other area businesses. News coverage matched the show of rider support. Several area news stations were present, including WSET, WDBJ and FOX. The News & Advance also had photographers present and columnist Darrel Laurant was on hand.

Blackwater owner Davy Hazelgrove kicked off the ride with a “thank you” speech, and then everyone headed out on one of two road rides in the Bedford County area around Forest – an 18-mile and 11-mile route. The weather shined on us, with high pressure and partly sunny skies. All bikes were welcome, and the rides ranged from a recumbent to mountain bikes to fixed gear and retro road bikes up to light-weight road racing and triathalon dream machines. Near the ride’s end, a rainbow appeared in the sky over Wyndhurst, a fitting finish to a great show of support, and a unity-building moment for the Central Virginia cycling community.

© Big Mountain Riding

Most of the group at the Forest Sonic

Clothes pulled from the fire and used in clean up

Lining up in the bike shop parking lot pre-ride

Rocking the Retro Raleigh

Local riders got some press coverage

Monday Night Live at the Blackwater Bike Shop

After surviving the onslaught of a fat kid with a super soaker at the Lake Vista pool

A quiet scene on Coffee Road

Spacing out on Coffee Road

Pedaling through the Sonic Drive-thru

Down Time at the Forest Sonic

Chowing down on Chili Dogs at the Forest Sonic

Sonic supports the local bike scene - they paid for the drinks for Rally riders

Living easy at the Forest Sonic

Tanks refilled, it's time to hit the road again

A fitting climax near the ride's end - a rainbow

© Big Mountain Riding

The 14th Annual Wild 100

The 14th Annual Wild 100 is scheduled for Saturday, August 15, 2009.  This is one of the most popular mountain bike endurance races on the east coast, so register early if you plan to attend. Registration includes camping Friday and Saturday nights; Slatyfork Trail guide; food at checkpoints 3, 4, and 5; and a Survivor’s BBQ Party on Saturday night. Learn more at www.ertc.com

Misty Mountains of West Virginia

The organizers are offering a special for first-timers. Sign up with a first timer friend before July 31st for $100.00 each! If you’re thinking about tackling an epic mountain bike event for the first time, or for a classic event on some of the most gnarly singletrack on the east coast, please contact me via the comment feature on this post, or send me an e-mail at rides@bigmountainriding.com. I’ve raced this event seven times since 2001, and I think it’s a great starter event for those looking to get into epic, big mountain riding.

Going down on the wet roots of Douthat State Park

The 2009 Middle Mountain Momma XXC race served up an extra dose of pain and suffering. This Mountain Bike Virginia classic at Douthat State Park is always an epic, with approximately 40 miles of singletrack, soft-soiled doubletrack and forest service road. Adding to this already challenging mix was a deluge approaching the stuff of a Johnny Cash song. It had rained 1.5 inches overnight, and the race organizers said it had rained an additional 1-inch that morning before 9 a.m. On our way into Douthat SP, the streams were rushing along high between their banks, and large puddles reached far out into the road. As we registered, people were talking of a significant storm cell holding in the area.

The Double XC race did not start on time, as race organizers talked with the Park Rangers about whether or not to postpone the race, and consulted the radar displays. Riders huddled under a group picnic shelter and awaited the verdict. I know personally that I kind of hoped for a cancellation. It was cold standing around, damp-footed. However, I also wanted a green light, as I felt I might do better in the poor conditions, having raced several editions of the Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure Race in deplorable conditions including all-day cold rain.

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2009 Middle Mountain Momma XXC STATS: 40 Miles, +/-6,000 feet of elevation gain,

about 40 racers, winning time – +/-4.5 hours, lots of DNF’s, my time -  just under 6 hours, 22nd.

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Read more…

Start climbing

2009 Middle Mountain Momma XXC Race Debrief Part I

At the bottom of Salt Stump Trail, a hoot of a descent in the wet conditions, I rode out into the Douthat SP campground and saw another couple of crates of Kroger bottled water. That was bad news – in that it indicated a lot of climbing remained ahead. Still clinging to the shreds of denial and hope, I stopped to pull out my soggy paper map and race description that they had handed out at the start. Blast, there it was: “Follow the regular XC markings to the finish.” Ha, ha! Like it was almost over. This entire second half of the normal cross-country course loomed ahead. Read more…

Wet roots always win in the end - Middle Mountain Momma 2003 copyright iPlayOutside.com

I am foregoing the Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure this year and will live local and revisit and old favorite, the Middle Mountain Momma at Virginia’s Douthat State Park. Will probably sign up for the Double XC course – 40+ miles of pain and desolation out in the mountains that don’t stop till half way through West Virginia. I hope the ground is not too soft, because that can make the miles really drag!

In 2004 or 2005 I did the XXC, and spent what felt like all day riding around on soft, grassy fire roads on the backside of who knows where. By the end of a day like that – with water only at the mid-point, one wants to reach the finish line mostly just to be able to stop riding.  In these type of races, quitting at most points on the course merely means walking back to the finish line instead of riding (or riding an additional 10 road miles). Sounds like fun, right?

I will miss the Pisgah Mountain Bike Adventure, but I am setting my sights on a top 5 placing in the West Virginia Wild 100 in August.

©Big Mountain Riding