photos: Don Feeley.

“The whole weekend was a mud fest.”

This is how Team Florida’s premier mountain bike racer Victor Alber sums up the 2011 Collegiate Mountain Bike Championships, which were held in Angel Fire, NM from Oct. 28-30. The town, a popular ski resort destination that boasts elevations of nearly 11,000 ft., was a far stretch from the terrains he normally covers in Florida. The elevation and ice-covered soil posed some challenges but didn’t prevent him from posting some very impressive results.

Alber compared the elevation to the restrictor plates used to limit engine power in NASCAR. “I could push my legs, but it was only so long until (my) heart rate (went) through the roof.”

Alber examined the task at hand and barreled forward, earning a seventh-place finish in the cross-country race and ninth place in the short-track event to put the finishing touches on an incredibly impressive 2011 season.

For somebody who reaches the podium in nearly every event he enters, it might seem a little odd to learn that Alber admits to spending nearly all of his time training through road cycling.

“You can control your efforts a lot better, and you don’t beat up the bicycle.”

Despite the tendency to train on the road, Alber will quickly admit that his true passion is mountain bike racing. He began riding seriously at 14, and he found himself competing within a year.

When asked why he prefers mountain biking over road cycling, he said, “It’s more of an individual sport. You control your own race, and it’s not just about how strong you are. It actually takes technical ability.”

With multi-day races heavily scattered through the year, it’s pretty remarkable that Alber is able to churn out such dominant performances while balancing training, racing and school.

“It’s all about time management. School comes first, so I try to get my work out of the way so I have time to ride,” he said. “I also find that riding helps my ability to get schoolwork done, if that makes sense. Sometimes getting out there and riding can help me clear my mind so that I can get back and focus on my work.”

Alber also emphasized the point that mountain biking doesn’t always have to be such a serious, stressful event.  He said his favorite race of the year was the first race of the season, the ETSU SECCC Dirty South Weekend in Johnson City, TN. With a huge turnout from schools throughout the southeast, the Dirty South Weekend was a great way to start things off.

“It’s a fun time traveling with a bunch of friends, meeting new people and starting out the season. And it wasn’t as stressful [as the National Championships].”

Of course, nobody starts out on top—you have to work your way up there. In Alber’s opinion, you’re never too old or young to start.

“My dad started at 40, and that really helped me to start riding. Here in Gainesville we have an awesome cycling community with GCC (Gainesville Cycling Club), Team Florida and all the bike shops. So there’s a wide range of skill and ability, and there’s a lot of group rides so anyone can go find a group.”

Victor finished 4th in the individual D1 omnium at Nationals and also won the SERC/US Cup East Pro championship this year. Singletracks.com is an official 2012 Team Florida sponsor and we’ll be posting some of their MTB race reports throughout the year.

photo by joetutt.

Graham Swamp mountain bike trail near Daytona Beach, FL was built more than 7 years ago by Mickey Garrett and some friends. The 6.5 mile trail has been maintained by Garrett under an agreement with the landowner, St. Johns River Water Management District, and until recently, everything was cool. That is, until the local bike club, FACES, started showing up with their own volunteer trail workers and “dummy(ing) down the trail,” according to Garrett.

FACES club vice president Tony Libretti says his group was just trying to add a few miles of new, easier trails for beginning mountain bikers. Garrett says anyone is welcome to ride at the trail but that since he’s responsible for maintenance, he should be the one to call the shots. The district land manager agreed and the local club decided to back down and allow Garrett to maintain the trails with his own crew.

In many areas, it’s hard enough to get a single group to maintain a trail so it’s surprising to see two groups fighting over who gets to do the work. Clearly much of the dispute centers over “creative control” of the trail network but it still sounds like there are more volunteers willing to work than there is work to be done. I bet there are plenty of trail groups out there that wish they had the same problem…

The other interesting thing here is that the public land manager sided with an individual trail maintainer rather than turning over responsibility to an established club. While we’re sure Garrett is more than capable and deserving, we’ve seen problems with this model in other areas. Even with the best of intentions, an individual “head of the trail” can be viewed by others, rightly or wrongly, as possessive of a trail system that is open to the public.

We’re interested to hear about other trails on public land that are maintained by an individual or ad hoc group rather than an established club and how the arrangement is working out. Should this be a new model for land managers to consider or is it a dispute waiting to happen?

via Daytona Beach News

Photo from Red Trail Racing flyer. Slick or knobby tires are ok

This weekend we got a chance to attend the Athens Twilight Criterium and even though there weren’t any mountain bikes around we still had a blast. Watching those guys and girls take 90-degree turns at high speed will get anyone’s adrenaline pumping! There were thousands of cheering spectators lining the inside and outside of the 1-km downtown course which was pretty impressive, especially given cycling’s low profile in US sports culture.

Anyway, that got me thinking about mountain biking (which tends to happen at least a few times a day ) and how tough it is to put on a spectator-friendly mountain bike race. That is, unless you invent an urban MTB criterium like Red Trail Racing has done.

Just two weekends ago Red Trail Racing held a mountain bike criterium in downtown Lakeland, FL that sounded like a blast. The circuit course went up 5 levels of a parking garage (that’s 50+ feet of climbing for those keeping track), back to street level, then down the steps outside City Hall before more stairs and a sidewalk climb back to the start. The main event was a competition to see who could complete the most laps in 45 minutes (each lap took 5-6 minutes). Sorta like a short track race but with technical obstacles and urban flavor. There was also a 2-cross trials competition with ramps and plenty of big air.

Don’t get me wrong, I love mountain biking in the woods and in the backcountry but I’m also excited to see mountain biking becoming more accessible as urban courses and events spring up. Anyone else up for putting on an urban MTB crit in their town?

Freeriding in BC? Nope – try central FL.

It must be frustrating to be a Florida mountain biker. The weather in Florida is great for riding pretty much year round but most of the trails are nearly pancake flat and damage from a single storm can shut down a trail system for years. Now there’s another threat to one of Florida’s most important mountain bike trails: budget cuts.

The Florida Office of Greenways and Trails (OGT) manages the land where Santos (an IMBA Epic) is located and is facing a potential 80% cut in funding. There is talk of rolling OGT into the state park system but this means the Santos freeride park and jump area may be nixed because “these types of uses are not compatible with the mission of the State Park system.” Yikes. The Ocala Mountain Bike Association has put together a sample letter Florida riders can send to their state representative and we’ve posted a copy on the forums for your convenience. Speak out and help save a FL MTB gem!

Speaking on Florida MTB trail challenges, the Blackwater State Forest MTB Trail Blog has some info on the latest storm damage and pics of a submerged road within the park. I’m not familiar with the Blackwater State Forest trails but from what I read on the blog this place has had some bad luck with forest fires and now flooding. Just goes to show you that mother nature can be a bitch sometimes – as a trailbuilder you just gotta get back in and rebuild.