The USA Pro Cycling Challenge (USAPCC) is coming to Colorado in less than 2 weeks and I just got back from previewing the first few stages late last night. From what I can tell, this is going to be the biggest and best cycling event in the country since the Coors Classic back in the 1980s! With the top 3 finishers from the Tour de France and 15 current or former National Champions, the USAPCC could easily rival the Coors Classic which was, at one time, the fourth largest cycling race in the world.

Prologue: Colorado Springs

The USAPCC kicks off with a time trial on August 22 at 1:15pm. The course is just 5.18 miles long and starts in the Garden of the Gods, a beautiful park located just west of downtown and one of the area’s top tourist attractions.

Time trial starting line.

I got a chance to ride the course on a proper rode road bike with Cameron Chambers, 2005 24 Hour Solo National champion and Carmichael Training Systems coach, and all I can say is this course is going to be fast! From the starting line there’s a super short climb on the park road – maybe 100 feet or so – before a sweeping left turn and a bombing descent out of the park on Ridge Road. At the bottom of Ridge there’s a sharp left turn onto West Pikes Peak Ave for a few blocks before a dog-leg right onto Colorado Avenue.

Backdrop to the start line.

Colorado Avenue is the main corridor through an area of town known as Old Colorado City and it should be a great place to watch the race with plenty of shops, restaurants, and bars dotting the route. From here it’s a straight shot (literally) to the finish downtown beside the Antlers Hilton hotel. The top riders will easily finish the mostly downhill route in 10 minutes or less! Still, this is the best opportunity to see all the riders as they come down the course one at a time.

Mountain Biking the Prologue

Red Rock Canyon

The starting line for the Prologue is literally steps away from the Ute trail, a mountain biking route inside Garden of the Gods. The trail is short and the area will probably be a zoo on race day but you may just be able to sneak in on a mountain bike using one of the alternate park entrances.

Just across US 24/Cimmaron from the Prologue course is Red Rock Canyon with a network of about 10 miles of mountain bike trails. Monday was the first time I had a chance to ride at Red Rock Canyon and I have to say it’s an amazing addition to the local trail arsenal. The trail features wide open climbs, white shale descents, Ponderosa pine switchbacks, and a few sandstone sections to keep you on your toes. Red Rock Canyon also connects to the Section 16 trails and it’s possible to link up with the miles of trails in Cheyenne Canyon without leaving the dirt for more than a half mile.

Where to Eat

Before my rides Monday I got a chance to meet up with Kings Chef Diner owner Gary Geiser while sampling a yummy breakfast burrito filled with eggs, crispy hashbrowns, and sausage and topped with Colorado Green Chili.  Gary is a mountain biker with serious credentials (Ned Overend was his neighbor in Durango and he trained at the US Olympic Center in town) and he’s been fueling C-Springs athletes for more than a decade.

Now some people may not know this but in addition to mountain biking I’m also an amateur competitive eater (I once got a t-shirt for finishing a 5-lb burrito). Gary has his own eating challenge at Kings Chef called the New Mexico Stomper, a 5 lb. burger served with a large order of fries. Finish the whole thing in less than an hour and it’s free. So far only 2 people have completed the challenge – both women – which sounds like a dare to me. Stop in for a bite and there’s a good chance you’ll rub elbows with some elite riders (and eaters).

Along the prologue course, check out Front Range BBQ (one of my old faves) or the newly opened Firehouse Southern Style BBQ. Meadow Muffins is also a great local bar / restaurant right on Colorado Ave.

Where to Stay

Colorado Springs has a ton of hotels in every price range you can imagine. If you want to go high end, stay at the Antlers Hilton and ask for a room facing south or west to get a glimpse of the action. During my trip I stayed at the Cheyenne Mountain resort and it was great – a very quiet, relaxed spot on the west side with easy access to the best mountain bike trails.

Fun Facts

Chris Carmichael, Lance Armstrong’s longtime coach, is based out of Colorado Springs and his Carmichael Training Systems company is housed in the old Van Briggle pottery building on US 24, blocks from the prologue course. And while the company is known for their training videos and remote coaching services to some of the world’s top athletes, they also have an incredible workout facility available to locals for a monthly fee. Which just makes me want to move back to Colorado Springs even more now…

And that’s just the USAPCC Prologue! As you can tell there will be a ton to see and do around the race later this month. If you live in the area there’s no excuse for missing this race and even if you don’t live nearby, this is a great excuse to watch a world-class cycling event while checking out the MTB trails in Colorado Springs. Next stop: Salida, CO and Stage 1.

Next week I’m heading to Colorado to preview a couple stages of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge race happening August 22-28. Even though it’s a road race this will definitely be an event mountain bikers can get excited about. Here are four reasons to pack your bags:

1. Amazing mountain backdrops. This is Colorado after all and with stages traveling between places like Crested Butte, Aspen, Vail, Steamboat Springs, Breckenridge, and Golden the scenery will not disappoint. Oh, and I’ve heard there are mountain bike trails in some of these places (more on that later).
2. The field is stacked with 136 big name cyclists. I know some of us might not want to admit knowing these guys but c’mon – the top 3 finishers from this year’s Tour de France will be racing in Colorado this month (Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck, and Frank Schleck). Bonus: Cadel Evans actually started out as a mountain biker, winning two World Cup titles and finishing 7th in the 2000 Olympic MTB race.
3. The race is expected to be one of the largest spectator sporting events to take place in the US. Ever. Organizers predict about a million people will watch the race during the week and spread over 518 miles, that’s almost 2,000 fans per mile. My suggestion: head to the Prologue time trial or the top of one of the high mountain passes to get the full crowd effect.
4. Watching the race is a good excuse to ride a new mountain bike trail. Stage 1, for example, crosses over Monarch Pass which just happens to be the trailhead for the Monarch Crest trail maddslacker wrote about earlier this week. And if you’ve never been to a pro cycling race before, it’s basically just a big party at the side of the road – perfect for unwinding after an epic trail ride! Hopefully you’ve saved up a few “sick days” at work…

Because this race is such a big deal and we LOVE to talk about the mountain biking in Colorado, we’ll be posting a series of trail articles centered around each stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. First stop: the Prologue in Colorado Springs!

The video above got me curious about this whole gravel riding phenomenon out here in the middle west. Then I saw this and I was hooked:

A better name for this race: “A Dangerous and Exciting Thing to do on a Sunday.” The second annual Gravel Metric held by the North Central Cyclery of DeKalb, IL was on Memorial Day weekend. I’m new to the midwest, own a badass new cyclocross bike that has helped me stay in trail shape during the off season, and have a healthy disregard for personal safety and severe storm warnings. Additional bonus: I’ve been pumping iron with James Wilson’s Mountain Bike Dumbbell Combos and these days I’m feeling strong like bull.

The author post race, but imagine the entrance (in full motorcycle riding gear) and the impression made.

Photo credit: Audrey “Floozefactor?”

At the start about 120 riders queued up to listen to the final instructions. A casual glance around told me there were some ringers in this crowd. Slick kit, high-end cross bikes built for nothing but speed on the unpaved. The most serious-looking of the contenders brought nothing unnecessary: two bottles, energy food of choice, themselves, and their machines. I felt positively portly carrying a third water bottle, a rain jacket and a steel cross bike with fenders. Ah well, I’m out to do well, ride my own pace and have fun. We’ll see how that goes.

More like lead grey skies but otherwise it started out looking sorta like this

As we rode group-style from downtown DeKalb to the end of pavement it became obvious there were some determined lads and lasses that came to hammer. I tried to maintain a front-of-the-middle position. There was some confusion as to whether we would regroup and have an official start out in the country. Turns out that was not the case, and once the road turned crunchy it was a balls-out sprint start. I turned up the heat and rolled with the second pack for a bit, but soon I realized I was going this one alone.

Falling into your pace is a great feeling; with the knowledge that you’ve got a 100K day ahead of you (about 63 miles in Americanese) you find that balance that’s fast enough to move the miles but tame enough to sustain for the next few hours. I can do this, as long as it doesn’t rain…

Photo credit: Audrey “Floozefactor?“

Oh yeah, then came the rain. There was very little lead up to the heavy stuff, just fat raindrops that came faster and more profuse as we continued the grind. As the real steady rain set in we hit the first dirt section. Check that: it instantly became the mud section. That was about the time my bike ride turned into a hike with a very uncomfortable backpack. We slogged through mud and high weeds pushing, carrying and every once in a while trying to remount and spin. And to think I left my “getting dirty” shoes at home…

As some of my fellow bike masochists know once you’re wet it ain’t that bad. You give in to the fact that you’re out there, it’s 30 miles if you turn back or 30 miles if you soldier on. My phone and wallet are in a bag, I’ve got a Pearl Izumi rain jacket on keeping me warm enough, I took the bike with fenders (such a good call) – let’s knock it out. So that’s how it went for the next hour or two.

Photo credit: Gnat. Found on northcentralcyclery.com.

Did a little stream crossing, then climbed a long hill that someone referred to as “The Lollipop.” It was the out-and-back section around mile 40 that had the last checkpoint. It was a long, straight climb to the top of a hill in an intense rain and electrical storm. There were cookies at the checkpoint, and as I reached into the basket that one of the kind volunteers offered to me my jacket sleeve let out at least a pint of rainwater onto said cookies. Still, best cookies of my life. Iced oatmeal. Thus refueled I turned back and jammed down the hill as the lightning struck all around us. It was a real hammer of Odin type storm, and I was hooting and hollering with that manic energy that you only get when there’s real danger to your safety, there’s nowhere to hide, and you’ve accepted it and decided to go for it anyway.

They decided not to go for it. Probably wise

Photo credit: Audrey “Floozefactor?“

After all that the ending was anticlimactic. I rode some more, got a glorious tailwind for a few miles and was able to cruise down the farm road at 25mph, and generally tried to keep my momentum. The last stretch of 8 miles was on road and surprisingly that was the toughest part. When we got back to North Central Cyclery the kind and generous proprietors had the doors open, the heaters on and the basement BMX room available as a changing room. Suitably dried and refreshed we decamped to a local bar for beer, raffling of schwag, and stories of increasing exaggeration. I had an amazing time, kept a 16mph average speed for 65 gravelly miles, met some new nutty bikers, and rode my motorcycle – what the hell more is there?

I did my first ever cross country (XC) mountain bike race recently.  I’ve done a bunch of longer distance endurance races (6hr, 50 mile, 100k’s, etc) and a few short time trials, but this was my first mass-start, short distance, high intensity race.  It was crazy!  It was both frustrating and fun at the same time, and I can see how people get addicted to it.  I learned a lot that day, so read on to hear how my race went and to see if XC racing is something you might enjoy yourself.

The SS class seemed to be the most eager to start.  432 even false started!

The Race and Course

The race was put on by Gone Riding and was a dual-series race for the South East Regional Championship and the Georgia State Championship.  The course was a flatish rooty and rocky 10.5 mile loop at Dauset Nature Trails in Jackson, GA.  There was only about 900ft of climbing per lap, but there were tons of roots and way more rocks than you would expect to find in middle Georgia.  It was a rough course, but the conditions were hard packed and fast.  There were 3 classes:  Base (XC3) Sport (XC2) and Expert/Pro (XC1).  Base did one lap, Sport did 2, and Expert did 3.  Everything I read suggested first timers race in the Base class, so that’s exactly what I did, in the 19-29 age category.

I knew the pace would be fast the whole time, so for about 15 minutes before we started I rode up and down a long mellow gravel road climb.  I pedaled an easy high cadence at first, then did some sprinting to send my heart rate up to redline a few times.  I arrived at the start line, heart rate up and already sweating, just minutes before we went off.  There were 8 of us in my class, and no one looked slow.

On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!!

No really – GO!!!  As soon as they said “go” it was a full out 100% effort sprint.  We had about a quarter of a mile on a gravel road before we entered the singletrack.  Almost immediately two guys somehow got tangled up and crashed hard at what had to be close to 20mph.  I entered the singletrack at the back of the now 6 person pack.  The pace never slowed down – it was fast, aggressive riding the entire race.  Balls to the wall, hard as you can go.  If you don’t feel like you might puke, you’re not trying hard enough.  After a mile or so I made a pass and moved up to 5th, and kept pushing myself.

Me booking it through the woods.  Be mindful of the trees!  Photo: Mark D.

Around the 4 mile mark I had almost reeled in the two riders ahead of me – I was close enough they weren’t getting out of sight anymore.  Then on a rough climb I downshifted without easing up on the pedals.  This is when I learned my upper limit screw on the rear derailleur was out of adjustment – the chain jumped past the big cog and got jammed between the spokes and cassette.  I had to stop.  The guys in front of me quickly disappeared, and the 3 behind me flew past.  Before I could get the chain free some of the racers in the wave that started after my class had also caught and passed me, including my friend Chris.

One of the Pro classes tearing out of the start line.

Once I got the chain free I took off in earnest, trying as hard as I could to catch back up.  At a switchback there was another crash and I caught my friend Chris and a few other guys.  Chris isn’t slow, so I tried to stay on his wheel.  A short while later I passed Chris when he was in the wrong gear on a rocky climb.  He caught back up to me pretty quickly, but didn’t try to pass.  Knowing he was behind me made me push even harder.  Around 7.5 miles into the lap we catch a group of four racers, then my chain gets stuck between the cassette and spokes again.

This time it’s really stuck good, and I end up literally sitting on the ground next to the trail pulling and tugging on the chain trying to get it free.  A ton of people pass me.  There’s no way I can catch anyone in my class at this point: my race is over.  After what feels like an eternity a course volunteer/photographer comes down the hill and helps me get the chain free.  I finished the lap at a decent pace, but not nearly as hard as I was riding before.  No point in killing myself now.  A few minutes after I finish I hit the stop button on my heart rate monitor.  One hour and nine minutes on the clock, average heartrate of 181 bpm and a max of 206 bpm.  I told you it was full out!

Post-race watermelon really hits the spot on a 90 degree day.

Lessons Learned

The biggest lesson I took away from the race is that perfect bike set up is critical.  I had nearly 200 miles on that bike since building it up with no issues, but the race was the first time I rode it that hard – basically with reckless abandon.  Shifting while cranking as hard as possible on the pedals will show any imperfections in your set up!

Some other advice for those of you interested in trying an XC race:

• Warm up is crucial!  The pace is fast the entire ride so starting cold will suck.
• The ‘beginner’ class isn’t just for beginner riders – the leaders are very fast.  The winners in pretty much every class all averaged over 13mph (on a very rough course) - the sport and expert riders just did it for more laps.
• Have realistic expectations.  Your only goal for your first race should be to finish without getting hurt.  The chance of you winning is very small.
• Keep your head up.  Everything happens fast.  Crashes, people stalling, unexpected roots or rocks – you gotta see them in time to react.

The kids race was awesome!  Photo: Mark D.

All in All…

…it was a fun day, even though I was dead last in my class.  The atmosphere was much more laid back and relaxed than I expected.  Everyone was friendly and there to have fun.  I also thought the kids race was cool – get ‘em hooked young!  The only thing I didn’t like was the drive-time to race-time ratio – I spent about 5hrs in the car and only about 50minutes riding.  I probably wont do another one until I can combine it with a trip to visit friends or family.  I can’t wait to try another XC race though!

photo by JSurratt.

In case anyone missed the announcement on the forums we’re organizing an informal group ride at Blankets Creek near Woodstock, GA this Saturday at 10am. If you’ve never ridden Blankets you’re in for a treat: miles of purpose-built mountain bike trails with everything from beginner-friendly tracks to black diamond worthy runs. Come out and meet singletracks members IRL!

The Tour Divide is a mountain bike race unlike any other, and the 2011 grand départ is Friday, June 10th.  It’s a self-supported race along Adventure Cycling’s Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, which is a patchwork of mostly gravel roads, some singletrack, and just enough pavement to connect everything while more or less following the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains.  Racers start in Banff, Alberta (Canada) and follow the route 2,745 miles to the US/Mexico border in Antelope Wells, New Mexico.  The route has over 200,000ft of climbing, which is equivalent to climbing Mt. Everest. From sea level. Seven times.

There is plenty of climbing on the GDMBR.  Photo:  Nathan Jones

Self Supported

The Tour Divide is 100% self supported, meaning the racers must take care of themselves.  There are no pre-arranged SAG stops or feed zones, and support crews are forbidden.  Racers must carry what they need with them and resupply along the way.  It is a bikepacking race after all.

Racers are allowed to use any services along the route that are available to the general public.  They can eat at restaurants, stay at hotels, or get mechanical assistance at bike shops.  But much of their time is spent alone in remote, beautiful, areas.

Custom frame/saddle bags allow for gear storage while keeping weight low and aero bars provide alternate hand positions and a way to get out of the wind, at least a little.  Photo:  Stephen Huddle

Records

The current Tour Divide record was set by Mathew Lee in 2007.  He completed the entire route in 17 days, 21 hours, and 10 minutes.  Jill Homer is the current women’s record holder, with a time of 24 days, 7 hours, and 24 minutes.  Tracey and Jay Petervery hold the tandem record of 18 days, 13 hours, and 50 minutes.  Yeah, you read that right: tandem record.  Chris Plesco has the singlespeed record of 19 days and 21 minutes.

Divide racing can get lonely.  Photo:  Stephen Huddle

Learn More

To learn more about the Tour Divide head over to their website.  You can also purchase the film Ride the Divide which is a documentary about the race.  In my opinion this film is a must see for every cyclist; no matter what kind of riding you do you’ll enjoy the movie.  If the idea of bikepacking for days at a time sends your brain into a tailspin, head over to bikepacking.net.  They’ve got photos of different bikepacking set-ups, ride reports, and a forum where you can get your questions answered.

Of course, it isn’t always lonely.  Photo:  Stephen Huddle

Follow the Race

There are several ways to follow this year’s Tour Divide race.  All racers carry a SPOT Personal GPS Locator, and TrackLeaders.com provides tracking for the race.  You can see a map showing where everyone is on the Tour Divide’s website by clicking here.  The coolest way to keep up with the race, to me at least, is to listen to the MTBCast podcasts.  Racers periodically call in and leave a quick report of how things are going out on the route.  It’s really a great way to get into the heads of the brave men and women attempting this ride.  You can find the podcasts on iTunes, and you can check out their facebook page right here.

Photo:  Nathan Jones

I would like to thank Stephen and Nathan for allowing use of their photos, and wish them the best of luck on this year’s Tour Divide.

photo credit: Daniel Loots / Glencoe Mountain / bbc.co.uk

Americans can be forgiven for assuming MacAvalanche is this summer’s ridiculous ice cream mashup from Mickey D’s. In fact it’s the Scottish version of the Mega Avalanche DH race held in the French Alps each year and the first annual MacAvalanche happened earlier this month with about 300 racers.

Racers got off to a LeMans start, running uphill to their bikes perched on top of Meall a’Bhuiridh, a 3,635 foot mountain in Glencoe. At this time of year there’s still snow on the ground which makes tire selection for this downhill race a bit of a head-scratcher.

Trials rider Danny MacAskill, the “Mac” himself, took third place and had this to say about the race:

I had a great day at the No Fuss Macavalanche! There was a great friendly vibe plus the course was awesome :0) 3rd place behind Joe Barnes and Neil Donoghue was a surprise, my conti mountain kings did me proud!

Joe and Hannah Barnes (bro & sis) took first place in their respective categories.

Perhaps the coolest visuals from the race were of helicopters ferrying riders to the top of the course. Helibiking isn’t new but it’s still pretty rare to see, especially in a race like this. Check out the video below to see the chopper ride to the start and a helmet-cam view of the race course.

This isn’t going to be a typical race report, where I tell you all about my ride, what I was thinking, feeling, blah blah blah.  I’ll just give you the quick recap of my ride, share some other sides of the endurance race scene, try to convince you to give mountain bike racing a try this season.

The Race and Course

This was a 6 and 9 hour race at Ft. Yargo State Park in Winder, GA.  You could ride either time, solo, or on a team – whoever does the most laps wins.  Final lap finish times are used to determine placing between teams/riders who finish the same number of laps.  This race was part of the Chainbuster endurance series, but this one was put on by Dirty Spokes.  The course was an 11-mile singletrack loop with a little over 1100ft of climbing per lap.  The trails were in perfect race conditions – dry, hard packed, and balls to the wall fast.  Honestly, it felt like there was more downhill than uphill.  YABA (Yargo Area Bicycle Association) has done a really great job maintaining the trails at Ft. Yargo.  The beautiful weather only highlighted the fun trails.

The transition area, full of riders waiting to switch with their teammates.

My Ride

This was my first 9hr race ever.  It was also going to be the first 30+ mile ride I’ve done since December.  Seems like life and storms have gotten in the way of putting together a decent ride the last few months.  It was also the second ride ever on my new (geared!) On-One Scandal.  I built it up Tuesday night, took a shake down ride on Thursday, and planned to race 9hrs on Saturday.  Sounds like a great plan, right?

Turns out I didn’t have any issues. Legs and taint felt great all day, and the bike was perfect.  My nutrition plan however… left something to be desired.  After my 3rd lap I drank some Coke, thinking the caffenine would be helpful.  I never drank Coke in a race before, and I won’t again.  My stomach wasn’t at all happy with me about halfway through my 4th lap.  Apparently it was a bad idea to put Coke on top of Gatorade, bananas, PB&J, and more apple cinnamon Hammer Gel than any man should eat.  Once I finished up my 5th lap I sat down for a minute to eat a bit, hoping it would settle things down some.  It only made things worse – I felt like my stomach was doing barrel rolls.  I was seriously worried I’d ralph if I kept going, so I decided I was done for the day.  I’d rather stop early and happy than later and sick.  55 miles in just over 6hrs, not a bad day considering.  I ended up 10th out of 12 in the 9hr Solo Sport class.

I was in a lot of traffic the first two laps, but that didn’t stop me from having fun.

The Scene

If you’ve never done an endurance race like this, you really need to.  It’s a blast – a fun day on your bike with a few hundred of your closest friends.  Even if you don’t know anyone there, they’re still your friends – you’ll see.  The pit area is full of people, dogs, tents, and crazy nice bikes.  If you’re not up to the solo challenge, get a few buddies together and form a team.  If you’re in the southeast, check out one of the Dirty Spokes or Chainbuster races – those guys put on top-notch events.  In fact, my local club has hired the Dirty Spokes crew to handle the timing for our 13hr Baker’s Dozen this fall.

The hardpacked clay offered plenty of grip in the corners.

Things I Saw

You see a lot of things over the course of a six hour ride.  Here’s a few things I saw that were noteworthy.

- Someone crashed directly in front of me.
- Someone crashed directly behind me
- A bug of some sort flew into the spokes of my front wheel and pieces of bug came out the other side
- Five guys taking a whiz at the top of a climb
- One guy passed me in a tight and twisty section and carried unbelievable speed through the corners
- One of the kids from Cycle Youth passed me like I was going backwards up a hill with a broken leg.  He couldn’t have been much more than 10yrs old.  I was impressed, and humbled.
- Lots of people on the side of the trail fixing flats
- A guy passed me on a SS and I noticed his chain looked loose
- Five minutes later I passed the SSer back while he tried to get his chain back on the chainring
- A guy walking with his bike on his shoulder and taco’d front wheel in his left hand.  I asked if he was okay, he replied “I’ve been better”

Lots of high speed dips and rollers keep you on your toes.

Next

I’m hoping to try my hand at cross country racing in a few weeks, just to see what it’s all about.  My next big mile race will likely be Fools Gold 50 mile in August.  I’ve got a score to settle with that one after my DNF at last year’s mud fest.

What are you guys racing this year?  Going for the win, or just to have fun and see what you’re made of?  Tell us about it in the comments section below.

All photos taken by Great Action Portraits, who provided photography coverage for the event.

In case you hadn’t heard, it’s National Bike Month here in the US and there is a lot going on. Many local groups are hosting bike to work events and it seems like there’s at least half a dozen fat tire festivals happening every weekend. With that in mind we thought we’d highlight a few events and contests (we know you love ‘em) happening this month.

CycleFest Colorado

This weekend the Colorado High School Cycling League is hosting a series of events to raise funds for the youth cycling program (one of, if not the, largest in the US). There’s a gala dinner in Denver hosted by Gary Fisher tomorrow night (seats start at $100) and a group ride in Boulder the following morning (Sunday, May 15).

CLIF Bar Meet the Moment

On Monday CLIF Bar is launching an online campaign called “Meet the Moment” where users are asked to upload photos and stories about their experiences outdoors. One lucky winner will get a chance to pursue their next adventure (like a free trip to trek the Amazon) but the cool thing is CLIF will donate $5 to one of five projects to “protect the places we play” for every person who participates. Not only that, they’ll double the donation if more than 10,000 people participate.

Performance Bike 100th Store Giveaway

It’s hard to believe but this month Performance Bike is opening their 100th store and to celebrate they’re giving away some big prizes during the month of May, including a hundred $100 gift cards, two Pearl Izumi gear kits, and a GT Sensor 9r Expert mountain bike worth $2,349. You can enter online or in the store through the end of the month.

What local events are you attending (or have you attended) during National Bike Month?

I recently had the chance to spend three days at a BetterRide mountain bike skills camp. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in school and the amount of information was overwhelming – in a good way!  I learned a ton of ways to improve my mountain bike riding and handling skills.  With new skills to master, now I approach mountain biking with the same excitement as when I was starting out over 14 years ago.  This post won’t cover nearly as much as I learned while at camp so if you want to know more, head over to BetterRide’s website and find a camp near you.

BetterRide Coach Andy Winohradsky leads a women’s MTB skills camp

In my pre-camp post I mentioned how Gene Hamilton stresses the importance of using visualization for mountain bike racing and riding, and during Gene’s BetterRide mountain bike skills camp at Georgia International Horse Park I realized this actually means two different things. There is the positive-imagery type of visualization that can be used on and off the trail which I find most effective at boosting my riding confidence.  If I use visualization to psyche myself up for a race, or even when thinking about a technical section of trail that I always freeze up on, my actions become almost instinctual to mimic those visions when faced with the real situation.

But positive visualization can only get you so far. Most of time we are physically and mentally capable of riding a mountain bike trail, and to ride it better and more efficiently requires a whole different kind of vision. At BetterRide mountain bike skills camp, Coach Andy taught us about having vision on the trail.  The kind of vision to see the best line that will allow you to keep your momentum and get you where you want to go.  The best line isn’t always the most worn-in, main path on the trail and it certainly can have its share of obstacles.  It sounds easy in theory; of course, we want to take the path of least resistance, but when you’re riding 15 mph down a trail you may not have time to even realize you need to make a decision.  That’s why at camp we slowed things down and practiced training our vision in the parking lot first.

On the first day we did some vision drills to practice scanning and trusting our peripheral vision.  The most important outcome from those drills was remembering to always keep our heads up and focused two steps ahead of where we wanted to go.  Looking down, especially when coming up on an obstacle, can lead to falls and at a minimum it kills your momentum. When you combine vision with proper body position (photo left), also taught during the camp, you have the basics for riding efficiently and being in control.

Over the next two days of camp, Coach Andy showed us more drills for cornering, braking and wheelies, switchbacks and balance.  Putting it all together on the trails was tough, especially because I’ve been riding for more than a decade and have become comfortable in the way I ride.  In particular, downhill cornering is one area I know can use a lot of practice and it turns out this is probably the most common place mountain bikers throw away momentum when not executed correctly.

The first few times I executed a good bike lean in a corner on the trails it felt weird – the acceleration through the corner felt fast, almost too fast, and it definitely surprised me!  I realized I have a habit of slowing down before going into a turn which is clearly the wrong approach. It always felt natural for me to squeeze the brakes at the last second in the crook of a corner but it turns out that’s way too late to maintain good control of the bike. The photo below shows one of the cornering drills we did during the camp.

One of my initial goals for the camp was to learn how to control my heart rate during a ride.  I had gotten to a point in my riding where I thought just pedaling faster and harder would make me better, but it has actually just been making me more tired. Now, having been to camp, I’m convinced I can control my heart rate better by fine tuning my skills to ride more efficiently.  Throughout our time at camp, Coach Andy would say, “sometimes you gotta go slow to go fast.”  I know I have some slow rides–on and off the trail–ahead of me, slow enough to train my vision while doing things right.  I left camp with enough drills to practice in the convenience of my own neighborhood, so I can practice skills like cornering and wheelies on days I can’t make it to the trails.

BetterRide camp was a great experience and I learned a lot, but actually becoming a “better rider” takes a lot of disciple.  Andy was an awesome coach, teaching me what to do and what not to do on my bike, so now if I do my homework I should be able to accomplish my goals.  In fact I’ve even come up with my own measurable goal to check my progress: by the end of the summer, I hope I can shave a few minutes off the time it took me to ride the Blankets Creek trail in the Dirty Duathlon just a few weeks ago.  I’ll report back in a couple months with the results, or watch the MTB event calendar and come ride my time trial with me!

photo courtesy fastermustache.org

Earlier this year singletracks signed our first race team sponsorship with an Atlanta-area club called Faster Mustache (FM) and the guys have been tearing it up ever since! This past weekend FM rider Eric Nicoletti took third place in the Cohutta 100 singlespeed mountain bike race, a 100-mile mountain bike epic along the TN/GA border with 12,000 feet of climbing. And Nico did it on a singlespeed in under 8 hours. Ridiculous.

The team has also notched impressive finishes this year at the Snake Creek Gap Time Trial (first place singlespeed 34-miler and third place singlespeed 17-miler) and six-hour mountain bike races like the Grind on the Greenway, 6 Hours of Heritage Park, and the Chainbuster at Georgia International Horse Park. Yep, these guys are masters of pushing through the pain and they aren’t afraid of pedaling their mountain bikes – a lot.

In addition to the impressive finishes and upcoming race calendar, the FM club organizes an informal night ride each Tuesday that starts in Candler Park, just east of downtown Atlanta. I’ve been doing the Tuesday night ride pretty regularly for the last year and a half and it’s always a blast. Details on the Faster Mustache calendar.

Beyond mountain biking, club members also compete in cyclocross, track, and road races.

Look closely and you’ll see the singletracks logo at the bottom of the jersey. Good thing these guys are so fast – most people will be staring at their backs!

We’re stoked to support such a great group of mountain bikers and we’ll try to keep you posted on their race results throughout the year. Keep your eyes out for the sweet 2011 team kit at upcoming mountain bike races and introduce yourself to the guys!

I had an absolute blast at the Sea Otter Classic this year! I don’t think it’s possible to spend the week at Sea Otter and not have a good time! It’s over a week later and I still haven’t finished sifting through all of the information that I collected at the event and writing reviews of all of the products that I tested, so there is no way that I could recap the entire event in just one blog post. Instead, I’d just like to post a collection of photos of cool products that I saw along with a few of my general impressions from the event.

View of the expo. Photo Credit: brightroom, seaotterclassic.com

Interesting MTB Products

Here are a few products that I thought were just plain awesome:

Dirty Dog DH Stem

All photos with no other credit listed were taken by yours truly.

Dirty Dog is known for creating incredibly unique brake rotor designs. This new stem named the “Reaper” is designed to be unlike any other stem on the market. Due to its short length and heavy weight, this is definitely not intended for the XC crowd… but I would love to mount one of these on my DH rig!

Purely Custom Bash Guard

This bash guard by Purely Custom is a truly innovative design. They have worked long and hard to integrate the rubber edge into the metal guard, and to identify the perfect balance between tackiness and durability in the compound. The result is a bash guard that is very environmentally friendly and doesn’t leave unseemly marks on rocks and other trail obstacles. In addition, it works like a third tire to provide extra traction and stability as you go over an obstacle. Instead of hitting a rock and sliding down it, this guard sticks and allows you to pedal right through!

Fox Suspension

I always enjoy ogling the new suspension, and Fox’s new line looks as gorgeous as ever!

Wooden Bicycles

Photo Credit: Arleigh Jenkins.

Photo Credit: Arleigh Jenkins.

I found out after returning from Sea Otter that I missed one of the coolest booths at the whole show: Renovo’s wooden bicycles. Since I didn’t personally get to see these 2-wheeled wooden works of art, be sure to read Arleigh Jenkins’ post about them at BikeShopGirl.com.

More Beautiful Bikes

One of the bikes I got a chance to test ride was the Diamondback Sortie. Oh how I envy joetutt and his new frame!

I also did my first-ever legitimate mountain bike singlespeed ride… and it was on a steel-framed Spot hardtail with a belt drive! I loved the simplicity of this bike and I’ll probably be writing a more detailed post about it sometime soon…

I would love to have the chance to test out a Niner Carbon Air 9. Maybe someday…

Of course, I’ve got to give a shout-out to my bros at Airborne bikes for the stellar rigs that they are introducing this spring. I got to put in some serious time on both the Goblin 29er and the Wingman DJ bike and I can’t believe the incredible value that Airborne is providing in these two bikes! I’ve already written a short review of the Wingman, and will soon be drafting an initial impressions review of the Goblin, along with a more detailed review after I’ve been able to ride it for a few months. Be sure to check out some GoPro footage of the Wingman on the pumptrack further down this post.

Nutritionals

It seemed that around every corner, there was another booth for some type of granola bar, organic energy drink, or some other type of food. Well one thing is clear: mountain bikers like to eat, and they (generally) like to eat healthy!

I was in heaven while sampling all of these various flavors of peanut butter. I got the chance to sample everything from a raisin-laden peanut butter to dark chocolate and p.b. I’m seriously a peanut butter fanatic, and basically every single flavor that I sampled was the best I have ever had! This all-natural peanut butter perfection will cost you though: MSRP is $5-6 per bottle. ilovepeanutbutter.com

FRS was giving away delicious, natural energy drinks all weekend. Check out this blog post for more details on FRS.

In addition to the couple of products mentioned here, I saw booths for Hammer Nutrition, Luna Bar, Larabar, Nuun, a few different coffee sellers, Dannon yogurt, and of course Clif had a massive tent, as usual. More than once I passed on buying lunch and opted instead to just stroll the fair and eat samples!

MTB Racing

Traditionally, racing is what the Sea Otter Classic is renowned for, so naturally there were tons of races and practice runs going on every minute of the day.

Photo Credit.

Jerry Hazard of the Airborne Flight Crew tearing it up during his DH race run!

Manualing through the rollers during practice for the speed and style competition.

Photo Credit: Arleigh Jenkins

Photo Credit: Arleigh Jenkins

Dual Slalom race.

Riding

Rider: Tony Caruso. Photo: Greg Heil.

While there are races going on all the time during the event, many riders (such as myself) choose to ride at a more leisurely pace and explore the massive 80+ mile network of trails at Fort Ord.

The pumptrack was also a very popular feature this year. The footage below was taken on Thursday, the industry-only day, so I basically had the place all to myself. But once Saturday hit, the track was teeming with literally dozens of people all day long.

Pumptrack footage taken aboard the Airborne Wingman.

The big air bag was a big hit as well.

Conclusion

So maybe I did try to recap the entire event in just one article.  This has definitely been a mega-post, but it is just a small sampling of all the action that takes place at Sea Otter every year!

What are you doing next April?