2006 CHDH Video

Some video of the 2006 Corral Hollow Downhill race that I spotted on YouTube:

More Sea Otter Course GPS Fun

Following up our recent MotionBased Sea Otter Course mapping coverage, MotionBased has just announced new features for their service to download the courses to your Garmin Edge & Forerunner GPS units. This lets you see the course as you are riding it, including coming elevation changes. You can also race against a pre-recorded pace partner.

The MotionBased crew will also be at Sea Otter in the Garmin booth.

Technorati Tags: mtb, mtb-race

Norcal Racing This Weekend: Mar 31 - Apr 2, 2006

So it's a light weekend leading up to next week's big Sea Otter event on the coast, but there are a still a few places that you can get some minute last tune-ups:

• Tonight's (Friday 3/31) Short Track XC event at the Fool's MTB race marks the start of the weekend's festivities in the Whiskeytown NRA. The event is described as "Starting at 5:00 you sign in for your first lap when your ready, hit the 1-mile loop as hard & fast as you can." Online registration is closed but you can also register onsite.
• Continuing at the Fool's MTB Race on Saturday, is a XC race is scheduled for between 2.5 and 9 miles on different courses depending on category. The race starts early tomorrow morning, so you need to get your stuff together and roll up there tonight. More information on both the XC-ST and XC race are available at http://www.trailtime.net/.
• Finally, on Sunday, TBF Racing is having their Real MTB Triathlon. For those of you who have been itching to try out their new wetsuits all winter, here is the chance to test their thermal limits. Held in Folsom Lake in Granite Bay, CA, the race is part of Xterra's USA Championship Series and is described as "The race starts with a half-mile swim in Folsom Lake, water temperature around 62 degrees (ed - My ass it's 62, think more like 50). Wetsuits are permitted (ed - think required) for all athletes. The 16-mile bike course on single track trails around the lake is two loops with mixed terrain of single track, downhills, climbs, sand, and packed decomposted granite. The 3-mile run has a mix of trails and roads." This is going to be brutal race -- I can see the lake from my house and it looks high and cold. Registration is still open here.

Everyone pray for dry weather. Please. I'm begging you.

Technorati Tags: mtb, mtb-race, MTB-ST, MTB-XC, norcalmtbracing

Slippery Eel Chainless 2006 Announced

On the heels of the announcement for the "Where The Trails Return", the Trinity River Pirates have scheduled a new and unique gravity event for Hoopa, CA (north of Eureka). The Slippery Eel Chainless 2006 is a pure gravity downhill race -- no chains on the bikes, just momentum (The guys will have equipment onsite to remove/replace your chains). This event will be run on the Slippery Eel trail and have both A lines and B lines (men, women and youth).

Event: Slippery Eel Chainless
Dates: April 29th, 2006
Location: Hoopa, CA [ MAP ]
Competition: DH (chainless)
Cost: free!
URL: http://www.trinityriverpirates.com/
License: none
Registration: email pimpindaddypat284@yahoo.com

Technorati Tags: mtb, mtb-dh, mtb-race

Billy Cross 1 & 2 Rescheduled !

A message on the Billy Cross Racing website explains the rescheduling of this weekend's races at Bogg:

*** ALERT: They got a foot of snow at boggs 3/28 and it's supposed to rain throughout the weekend. So, this weekends events have been rescheduled for April 29th and 30th, with the 29th being the CC, and the 30th being the high school race. ***

Considering how the Bogg For Africa pictures looked, this is a wise move.

Technorati Tags: mtb, mtb-race, mtb-xc

RACE REPORT: Corral Hollow Downhill 2006

I haven't seen the official CHDH results posted here yet , but we are starting to get a lot of race report and photos posted so I wanted to pass them along:

• Beautiful photos from Steve Wolf's website
  
• Some of the same photos at MTBR forum but also some new ones
  

I'll update this when I see the official results posted. Of course, there is also some bitching about the race organization over at the RideMonkey forums. So while I've read the complaints (couldn't attend as I was sick this weekend with the flu), I saw all the preparations that the RideSFO guys went through to pull this race off and if the worst glitch was not having a few medals on hand, I would consider it a raging success.

Props to the RideSFO guys for bringing some gravity to NorCal.

UPDATE (03/30/06): Results posted.
UPDATE (04/01/06): dhRENO has a race report.

RACE REPORT: CCCX 4

Last weekend's CCCX 4 results have been posted. It looks like they had another stellar turnout for the what appears to have been the only day it hasn't rained IN MONTHS (okay, not really but it did hail at my house today). They also posted a few photos. TeamWrongWay has chronicled the event with two race reports: one from Matt Leonard and another from Matt Cerkel.

The last race of the CCCX series has been moved from May 6th, however it doesn't appear that it has been rescheduled yet. I'll post something as soon as the new date is announced.

Technorati Tags: mtb, mtb-race, MTB-XC, norcalmtbracing

RACE REPORT: 2006 Bogg For Africa

Bikemonkey has posted the results for the 2006 Bogg for Africa endurance race. It looks like a muddy event from the front page of Bikemonkey and there is a writeup here.

Technorati Tags: endurance, mtb, MTB-MA, mtb-race, norcalmtbracing

Weekend (Mar 25/26) Race Results

So other than a nice blog posting detailing the Bogg For Africa event, I haven't seen any results for this weekend's racing. From the posting, I expect to see:

• CHDH results should be posted Monday night
• CCCX 4 usually posts late Monday night or Tuesday.
• No word on when the Pre-Otter results get posted (since it was delayed until Sunday, it may be a while)

I'll post 'em all as soon as I see them.

Technorati Tags: mtb, MTB-DH, mtb-race, mtb-racing, MTB-ST, MTB-XC, norcalmtbracing

RACE RESULTS: Sand Hill 4

P&R Sports has posted the results for the final race of their spring series. Congrats to George Stephenson III for holding it down for the Sierra foothills scene with a 2nd place in the Pro/Semi-pro category.

Fool's Day MTB Race

Wow, this came out of nowhere: Trailtime.net is hosting the Fool's Day Mountain Bike Race (PDF link) on March 31st and April 1st, 2006 in the Whiskeytown Nation Recreational Area. On Friday night (March 31st), they will have Short Track competition and then on Saturday (4/1) they will have a XC race. The fees range from $25 to $60 depending on races and accomodations. Registration is available here.

UPDATE (10/07/06): results are posted here.

2006 Where The Trails Return (DH) Scheduled

So I haven't heard anything about these so-called Trinity River Pirates (they DO have a kickass picture of a dog wearing body armor on the front page) and it appears that I missed the first two races, but I'll include it anyway:
The Hoopa Valley Tribe’s Where The Trails Return 2006 is a downhill (DH) race north of Eureka, CA being held on August 12th and 13th. It looks like a cool grassroots affair with two different course ("A" line and "B" line) and a pretty impressive prize package. And they've got a cool website.

Event: Where The Trails Return
Dates: August 12 - 13, 2006
Location: Hoopa, CA [ MAP ]
Competition: DH
Cost: ? (Doesn't appear to be any)
URL: http://www.trinityriverpirates.com/
License: ? (Doesn't appear to be any)
Registration: email pimpindaddypat284@yahoo.com (limit 60 riders)

Technorati Tags: mtb, mtb-dh, mtb-race

UPDATE (07/18/06): This may get cancelled, see here for details.

Velo Bella Sponsors Women's MTB Skills Clinic

Velo Bella Kona is organizing a mountain bike skills clinic this Saturday (tomorrow, 3/25/06) for the ladies. Held onsite at Fort Ord (the site of the CCCX races), this clinic will include both lectures and riding with lunch included. Clinic attendees will also get a discounted entry fee for the CCCX 4 race on Sunday. Many more details over at the Surly Gurl Clinic blog.

I think I'm a little late on this, but it looks like you can still register onsite. Thanks to the anonymous CCCX booster for the heads up on this.

Technorati Tags: mtb, mtb-race, mtb-xc

Norcal Racing This Weekend: Mar 25-26, 2006

This week marks the run up to the traditional start of the MTB racing season (Sea Otter Classic) and you've got some tough choices to make: Do you venture north to finish off your aerobic base with some short track racing ? Maybe head south to finish off your strong pre-season start in the coastal local series ? Get your downhill on with the first year of a new Bay Area classic ? Or pedal up to Wine Country to endurance race for a cause ? Choose wisely young grasshoppers.

• Saturday's Bogg for Africa marries endurance XC racing with social change by donating their profits to AIDS relief in Africa. It's a eight hour marathon at Bogg State Demonstration Forest in Cobb, CA (north of Napa) for solo or team participants. There's a great swag of prizes, a cool course and even a nice T-shirt awaiting your karma boosting but calorie depleting pedal.
• Also on Saturday are the training runs for the first Corral Hollow Downhill. The CHDH, formerly the Groovy Games, will pit the Bay Area's best downhillers on Livermore, CA's Carnegie SVRA course. Training runs are 11 AM - 2 PM on Saturday and the racing starts at 9 AM Sunday morning.
• Moving south on Sunday brings us to the fourth race in the CCCX XC series. CCCX 4 takes place in Fort Ord's East Garrison in Seaside, CA (north of Monterey, CA) and covers 5 mile laps of rolling, fast XC trails. Check out my race report of CCCX 2 for some ideas about the race scene. CCCX 4 starts at 9 AM on Sunday.
• Last, but not least, the first really North NorCal event of the season is Team Bigfoot's Pre-Otter. Set six hours north of Sacto in Arcata, CA, the Pre-Otter looks to blow the cobwebs off your aerobic system with multiple laps of short track XC racing.

Four types of MTB racing in four corners of NorCal; Not bad for one weekend. If you are stuck deciding which of these races is closest to you, check out the NorCal MTB Racing Map for some clues.

Technorati Tags: endurance, mtb, MTB-DH, MTB-MA, mtb-race, mtb-racing, MTB-ST, MTB-XC, norcalmtbracing

Billy Cross Racing Announces 2006 Schedule

I don't have a lot of information, as it looks like this just got posted this morning, but Billy Cross Racing has finally announced their 2006 MTB schedule:

• April 1st April 29th (XC / Bogg's Mountain)
  
• April 2nd April 30th (NorCal HS Championship / Bogg's Mountain)
• April 15th (XC / Lake Sonoma)
• April 23rd (XC / Bogg's Mountain)
• May 14th (8-Hour Team Race / Bogg's Mountain)
• June 4th (XC / Bogg's Mountain)
• June 25th (8-hour Team Race / Lake Sonoma)
• July 2nd (XC / Lake Sonoma)
• August 13th (XC / Bogg's Mountain)
• September 3rd (6-Hour Team Race / Bogg's Mountain)
• September 17th (6-Hour Team Race / Lake Sonoma)
• October 1st (XC / Bogg's Mountain)
• October 15th (XC / Lake Sonoma)

These are NORBA sanctioned races and require a license (one day licenses available onsite). Fees and registration are detailed here. I'll be updating this story throughout the week as more information becomes available.
UPDATE (03/29/06): The April 1 & 2 races have been rescheduled. See here.

Technorati Tags: mtb, mtb-race, MTB-XC, norcalmtbracing