According to RoadRacingWorld.com, Lance Armstrong dropped out out the Mellow Johnny’s 6-Hour Classic mountain bike race this weekend after aggravating a previous knee injury. Eventual men’s solo winner, Ben Bostrom, even held Armstrong off for several laps before Armstrong bowed out. Race results show Armstrong completed 4 laps in 2 hours, 17 minutes, though technically he didn’t DNF (he just didn’t ride the entire 6 hours). I guess it wouldn’t have looked good for Lance to win his own race anyway – nobody likes a show-off.

The Mellow Johnny’s 6-Hour Classic mountain bike race was held at Juan Pelota Ranch in Dripping Springs, TX.

Yesterday IMBA released its 2010 list of Epic mountain bike trails and the six selections represent a diverse group of trails scattered across the US. The organization claims the trails on this year’s list “provide something for everyone” and we have to agree there’s a lot of variety represented.

photo by Terry_Tiessen

Black Rock (Falls City, OR) Trails for all skill levels, including some with amazing wooden freeride structures like the one shown above.

Fresno-Saucedo Loop (Big Bend Ranch State Park, TX) Miles and miles of trails and old 4×4 roads to explore in the area! Looking at the photos you might think these trails were located somewhere like Fruita or the desert outside Las Vegas.

MoCo Loop (Montgomery County, MD) Forty miles of trails connecting 9 (!) county parks. Plans include a connection to the 180-mile C&O canal path. Can you say bikepacking?

photo by bluejudad

Hurricane Cliffs (Hurricane, UT) This Epic route includes the JEM trail, Hurricane Rim trail, and Gould and Gould Rim trails. The Hurricane Cliffs route also hosts the 25 Hours of Frog Hollow race each year.

photo by trek7k

Oak Mountain State Park (Birmingham, AL) Of the six inductees, Oak Mountain State Park is the only trail I’ve actually ridden (yet). The park features great trails with decent climbs and a dedicated club maintaining the singletrack year round. Look for even more trails – for 30 total miles – to be added in the coming years.

photo by drdiederich

Rock Lake (Cable, WI) Thirty miles of singletrack in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

Add these and other IMBA Epics to your singletracks trail wishlist to explore in 2011!

Mountain biking the Arizona Trail. Photo by Scott Morris.

The Denver Post published a good article about mountain biking in the area around El Paso, TX that got me thinking: desert mountain biking could definitely be fun this time of year. While riders in the northeast and midwest are stuck inside, trails covered in snow, riders in places like southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas are enjoying some of the best riding weather of the year. Just thinking about it makes me fell all warm inside…

Desert mountain biking isn’t all grins and giggles though, even if the weather is perfect – thorns and cacti generally dot the desert landscape leading to flat tires and potentially nasty falls. The author of the El Paso mountain biking article says “Any deviation from the trail, and spiny clusters of ocotillo, prickly pear and agave plants threatened to skewer me like a voodoo doll.” Those same plants also threaten to skewer tires as well making it all the more important to say on the trail and to seal tires with Stans before heading out.

This article also got me thinking that mountain bikers who start out riding desert terrain probably develop above-average bike handling and falling skills. If you know that even drifting off the side of the trail by an inch could lead to a nasty flat you’ll probably be more precise in your cornering. Learning to fall “safely” is an important part of mountain biking and desert riders are some of the best at controlled falls to avoid prickly and sharp landing spots. Sometimes a handfull of thorns is unavoidable though and after a few falls most riders work hard to stop falling

Desert riding can be surprisingly accessible from western cities with trails like Bootleg Canyon outside Las Vegas and dozens of trails in the Phoenix metro area. Give desert mountain biking a try next time you’re out west – just watch out for those cacti!