Mountain Biking

“Summer’s Here and the Time is Right, For Racing in the Trees…”

A Guide to the Region’s Cross-Country Race Offerings

by Terry Blanchet

These past few years, February’s kickoff Groundhog Day tends to be marked not with the emergence of some burrowing hibernating woodchuck from its hole, but instead with the first appearances of mountain bike race flyers for the upcoming season. With skiing very deep in my genes from nearly 30 years of weekends at Gore Mountain as my childhood playground, these race announcements invariably ‘see their shadows’ and the winter with all its alpine opportunities slides on for another six weekends — or twelve if I’m lucky!

But these Groundhog Day emergences still mark a striking change in my behavior. The number of midweek evenings spent on the bike, training on the snowmobile trails and dirt roads, takes a distinct bump up while the rest of those evenings each week suddenly become devoted to scouring the Web collecting as much bike race info from around the Northeast and building up the mountain bike calendar of the regional North Atlantic Velo team with whom I’ve been racing.

Anticipation builds as the season approaches, with the first couple race opportunities in early April inducing some serious thought on how to spend those weekends and the corresponding introspection as to whether at heart I am most a skier or a mountain biker. Invariably I keep heading north to Gore and Whiteface for as long as they are willing to keep turning those lifts, though freely admitting jealousy upon hearing the good news from teammates and friends, like Nathan Smith of Schenectady and Bryna Nestor of Troy, of their weekend victories down in Connecticut at the first couple races of the Root 66 series. Life is full of such ‘weighty decisions’ I suppose, but at least I know well enough that there will be plenty of mountain bike racing left for me in the coming seven months once those chairs are taken off their cables.

The Killington Triathlon, with its ski/mountain bike/cross-country run format, offers like-minded folks a comfortable taper from the ski to the mountain bike racing season, especially with its date now moved two weeks earlier this year to May 14. Thereafter, the mountain bike racing season is underway, full throttle. The previously-mentioned Root 66 series (www.root66raceseries.com), though strictly within New England, has events in Vermont just a couple hours’ drive from this area, such as those in West Fairlee and Putney. At several of their venues, events are held on both days of the weekend, with a short-track format on Saturday and cross-country on Sunday, to provide more racing bang for your carpooling buck. Also in Vermont, the Catamount Outdoor Family Center (www.catamountoutdoor.com) in Williston will again be putting on their three-race series with the Flower Power, Mini-E, and Eastern Cup races.

Closer to home in the Adirondacks, Pedals and Petals (www.pedalsandpetals.com) will again be putting on their McCauley Mountain Challenge and Black Fly Challenge races May 21 and June 11. The Black Fly’s 40-mile trek will this year run from Indian Lake to Inlet. As opposed to the muddy rolling single- and double-track of the McCauley Mountain race, the Black Fly’s dirt roads across the Moose River Plains are sufficiently fast to allow winners to amazingly finish in less than two hours, and cyclocross bikes are a feasible option exercised by many. If loyally sticking to the mountain bike though, a pair of high-pressure slick tires should at least be considered!

In the northern Catskills, the Masters of the Mountains Series (www.mastersofthemountains.com) will consist of three races at the Winter Clove Inn, Hunter Mountain and Reidlbauer’s Resort on June 12, July 31 and September 11, while just to the south Plattekill Mountain (www.plattekill.com) will be holding its three-race cross-country series July 17, September 10 and October 16. And the eight-race ‘Hudson to Highland’ series (www.rvccmtb.com), extending from the hills of northern New Jersey to the highly-technical single-track of the Taconics’ Tymor Park (June 12) will also include the long-awaited return of the fabled Williams Lake course – complete with its cave passages! – in the Catskills foothills of Rosendale on May 15.

The National Off-Road Biking Association again brings its National Mountain Bike Series to Mount Snow in southern Vermont. This year being held late-summer August 26-28, NORBA Nationals gives regional mountain biking enthusiasts the opportunity to race in its many amateur events as well as to catch a glimpse of the top pros up close as they climb and descend this most grueling course (www.usacycling.org).

In addition to the couple-hour individual efforts required of the above events, 24-hour mountain bike relay racing has been growing steadily over the past couple of years, with four-, five- and even two-person categories giving buddies the opportunity to test their teamwork – and often even their friendship – while racking up as many laps as possible in the time allotted. While several local riders, author included, will be drawn down to West Virginia to kick off the 24-hour racing season at the ‘blueprint’ for all such events being put on for its 14th year by Granny Gear Productions (www.grannygear.com) on June 18 and 19, closer to home the 24 Hours of Camp Cutler (www.parkavebike.com) will be held the same weekend in the Finger Lakes of western New York.

The 24 Hours of Holiday Farm (www.twenty4sports.com) will be held the very next weekend, June 25-26, in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, while the 24 Hours of Catamount (www.catamountoutdoor.com) will be held in Williston, Vermont on September 10 and 11. The 24 Hours of the Adirondacks at the Verizon Sports Complex/Mount Van Hoevenberg has also become a great late-summer tradition, so check back with High Peaks Cyclery (www.highpeaksma.com) for further details on this year’s event. For teams looking to ‘ease’ into 24-hour relay racing many of these events also offer a 12-hour category to get your feet wet, while the ‘Churn & Burn’ series will hold a 12-hour-specific event in the Stewart State Forest near Newburgh on July 23 (www.genesisadventures.com).

Though perhaps quite a stretch to the imagination of many, there are actually several athletes in the region who travel far and race fiercely in such 24-hour events as soloists. For example, the Capital District’s own Heather Mosley of Rexford just won the solo female category in Arizona’s 24 Hours of the Old Pueblo in February! For those of us who are just mere mortals, the New York State Endurance Series (www.heartrateup.com) is offering three 6-hour races to test individual endurance abilities, being held at Highland Forest in Fabius on May 21, Holiday Valley in Ellicottville on July 10 and Spencer Park near Canandaigua on August 20.

The duration of the NYS Endurance Series events is comparable to the time it will take to complete an endeavor such as the Vermont 50 (www.vermont50.com), a 50-mile single loop of dirt and carriage roads, and double- and single-track, climbing nearly 9,000-feet of elevation in the surroundings of Mount Ascutney on September 25. The 700 available spots will fill within a few short hours of the opening of registration at 7pm on May 25, so mark your calendars!

Pushing further the trail blazed by the Vermont 50, the Jay Challenge (www.jaychallenge.com) with its 64-mile length and over 10,000-feet of climbing will be held July 31 in Jay, Vermont. And new this year will be the Ultimate Hammer 50 (www.ultimate-race.com), a 50-miler being held September 18 at Killington, Vermont. Other considerable individual endurance events requiring just slightly less time and distance include the Darkhorse 40 (www.darkhorsecycles.com) near Newburgh on August 7, as well as the Adirondack 46er at Verizon Sports Complex/Mount Van Hoevenberg with details surely to follow shortly in future Adirondack Sports & Fitness issues.

So, do northern New York and the surrounding region have enough weekend opportunities to satisfy your mountain bike racing appetite? I sure hope so, but if not then you might also check out the Tuesday night series being held by the Racers of the Adirondack Region team in Cadyville (web.northnet.org/roar) or the Wednesday night series being held by Holiday Farms in nearby Dalton, Massachusetts (www.holidayfarm.com) that can be piled on any given week when feeling the need for speed.

It’s definitely going to be a great season, so get out there and enjoy — and I’ll see ya ‘at the line’!

Terry Blanchet is ranked second statewide in Expert 40-44 by NORBA, and is an aspiring road bike ‘wanna-be,’ and a member of the North Atlantic Velo cycling team. He is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and resides in Schodack.

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