Type of XC race course in your State?

ptfmb71 · Jul 18, 2007

I live and ride in SoCal and have only ridden in Utah, Colorado, and Oregon. but I've always been curious to know the different types of XC or endurance race courses that vary from State to State. How many ft of vertical climbing, altitude, weather, terrain, etc

I live in SoCal and we have everything from
1. Desert: Fire roads and Singletrack sandy and loose and over 100F+ during the summer with no trees
2. Mountain areas with altitude of about 5,000 to 8,000ft, rocks, loose dirt, exposure, etc. Cooler temps 30F during the winter and hot 80 - 90F in the summer.
3. Ocean: not too many races near the ocean, but trails are singletrack/fire road with lots of loose terrain and in the 80'sF during the summer

Most of the XC races have vertical climbing of about 2,000 to 6,000 (all classes) . The longer endurance races have about 8,000 to 12,000ft of elevation gain

borregokid · Jul 19, 2007

I think the race courses in the West and Mountain West are similar in difficulty. I think most of the course are set up so you can ride from either direction. We have in Washington one or two courses that have sections that cant be run from either direction. The climbing you describe would be a little more than I have ever seen. Our courses run between about 1500 feet to 4800 of climb for experts. Most of our course can be run with a hardtail. I ran the Temecula, CA race in Feb and I would say that was a pretty tough course with 1500 feet of climb over 11 miles. There were two or three hills on that course you wont find in most places because of their steepness.

grodo · Jul 19, 2007

Racing in West Virginia

...and PA, MD...

Interesting thread. Typical race in WV (expert distance) is 20 - 30 miles. Courses are usually pretty rough and technical: very rocky, roots, often mud, more rocks, usually with anywhere from 2000 to 4000 feet of climbing. Often a good mix of singletrack and double track. Pretty rare to have extended road sections, if any, other than the start. Promoters here do NOT shy away from gnarly rock gardens or extremely steep drops and/or climbs. When I first moved here (from TX), I was surprised at what promoters would include in their races, as my previous MTB racing experience was with courses that were FAST and routed around anything very technical. Racing here in WV scared the hell outta me at first, but now I enjoy the extra challenge. You truly have a 'full-body fatigue' after these races.

Pro/Expert times usually run between 1:45 (winners/pros) to 2:45.

Note on Bikes: 29ers absolutely RULE the expert classes... maybe 50-60% of the fields? The big wheels really do well here with the non-stop rocks.

CB2 · Jul 19, 2007

Typical course in Connecticut is 4-5 miles long with anywhere from 350' to over 700' of climbing per lap.
Sports usually do 3 or 4, and experts 4 or 5.
Singletrack, and fireroads. T
The fireroads tend to be rocky, and the singletrack runs from hardpack to rocks and roots. Sometimes logs and rocks to hop.
The last race people were complaining it was too technical; 3 people crashed on a rocky downhill and went to the hospital.

ptfmb71 · Jul 19, 2007

borregokid said:
I think the race courses in the West and Mountain West are similar in difficulty. I think most of the course are set up so you can ride from either direction. We have in Washington one or two courses that have sections that cant be run from either direction. The climbing you describe would be a little more than I have ever seen. Our courses run between about 1500 feet to 4800 of climb for experts. Most of our course can be run with a hardtail. I ran the Temecula, CA race in Feb and I would say that was a pretty tough course with 1500 feet of climb over 11 miles. There were two or three hills on that course you wont find in most places because of their steepness.

I did the 12hr of Temecula as a solo in June, and was cursing on each of those climbs.

ptfmb71 · Jul 19, 2007

grodo said:
...and PA, MD...

Interesting thread. Typical race in WV (expert distance) is 20 - 30 miles. Courses are usually pretty rough and technical: very rocky, roots, often mud, more rocks, usually with anywhere from 2000 to 4000 feet of climbing. Often a good mix of singletrack and double track. Pretty rare to have extended road sections, if any, other than the start. Promoters here do NOT shy away from gnarly rock gardens or extremely steep drops and/or climbs. When I first moved here (from TX), I was surprised at what promoters would include in their races, as my previous MTB racing experience was with courses that were FAST and routed around anything very technical. Racing here in WV scared the hell outta me at first, but now I enjoy the extra challenge. You truly have a 'full-body fatigue' after these races.

Pro/Expert times usually run between 1:45 (winners/pros) to 2:45.

Note on Bikes: 29ers absolutely RULE the expert classes... maybe 50-60% of the fields? The big wheels really do well here with the non-stop rocks.

damm...I wanna race in West Virginia

*rt* · Jul 19, 2007

racing in the southeast (GA, NC, SC, TN, AL, FL) you get some of this...
AL

and some of this...
SC

lots of this...
SC

NC

a little of this...
NC

and tons of this...
NC

GA

AL

courses are 7-15 miles long, most in the 8-10 mile/lap range. climbing varies by course from none on most of the FL courses, to >1500 ft/lap on some of the NC courses. heat, roots, and single track are the name of the game.

rt

Dan0930 · Jul 19, 2007

Second CB2 TriState are racing is mostly charging through rock gardens and around switchbacks followed by some punishing roots. One thing we don't have is long grueling climbs. However negotiating rocks and roots on a 20% uphill grade while going around a hairpin turn kinda makes up for it.

sneakyracer · Jul 19, 2007

In Puerto Rico, generally courses are 7-10km long, around 300meters climbing, most of the climbing is at times very very steep, granny gear steep with lots of small rocks, tight poorly mantained sections are most always present at some point in the course with nasty roots and small thornbrush trees waiting for you. The heat is fierce out in the open and its very very humid generally above 70-75%.

douglas · Jul 19, 2007

NY & Mass > everyplace is different...usually involves some dirt, rocks, roots and climbing...occasionaly mud, bridges, grass, fire/dirt roads.

Mass:

Poncharelli · Jul 20, 2007

Utah

Either desert rocky or ski resorts with pretty high speed downhills. Here's a sample from two races that is of each type; St. George and Sundance.

The St. George course is very ledgy, some of the climbs feels like you're doing Gooseberry. Gotta pre-ride to know the good lines.

Some of the ski resort courses have net elevation changes of 1000 feet or more per lap. Either way, they are really fun race courses.

evil genius · Jul 22, 2007

Virginia has a variety. Courses around Richmond are rooty, not to many rocks, short steep climbs. Some technical features may be added, log piles, ect..., Mostly momentum courses. The further west you go, the more climbing, and more rocks.

rryyddeerr · Jul 23, 2007

I moved from GA to New Jersey about two years ago. Terrified. Thats how I felt about the trails here.
There is, of course, a range of terror involved. Trails in Southern NJ are faster with sand and few rocks. Northern NJ, where the glaciers stopped is pock marked with hundreds of lakes and billions of rocks.
I had to completely relearn how to ride, as well has how to enjoy my newfound challenge.

Northern Jersey has some very technical trail, as does all of the northteast.
read cyclingnews' description of the mount snow course from this past weekend.

Elevation gain isnt what you find in WV or VT. There are short, steep pitches that add up. So what you get at the end of a typical day is about 1000ft of gain every 7-10 mi. The different parks offer anywhere from 1.5 hrs. of trail to 5-10 if you know where your going.

Riding here is great. If you find yourself in NJ, dont despair. There are trails.

eggraid101 · Jul 23, 2007

Here in northern VA, the courses tend to be pretty fast, twisty, with short ups and downs. No big climbs, but no time to recover on a donwhill, either. In WV where I was before, like the previous poster said: LOTS of rocks, roots, drops, etc. The old 24 hr of Snowshoe course was described this way: take all of the furniture out of your living room and toss it in a pile on your front yard. Cover it in vegetable oil, hose it down, and then try to ride over it. It was pretty brutal.

Right now things are very dry, but things can get very muddy, especially in the spring.

glenzx · Jul 23, 2007

Here in NM - most races are on technical, rocky / sharp rocky / loose rocky stuff, are epic lung busting high alpine adventures, and there's even a single-loop epic up in Los Alamos, where typical Pro/Ex Podium course times are in the 2h30min range. Fun stuff!

Definately small-ish fields (our Santa Fe La Tierra Torture drew about 250 +/- racers and is/was the biggest XC race in he state series this year) and grass roots feel. The Signal Peak race down near Silver City, NM not only has a crazy course that beats the heck out of you, but they throw a pit BBQ party the night before the race!

Then there's the Horny Toad Hustle.... complete with an invitational gravity powered XC invitational chainless pre-race race, ala Fred Flintstone Style - but with mandatory Tequila Shooters to start.

"....oooh baby I like it RAW...."

G-Live · Jul 23, 2007

WORS races are on cross country ski trails and small ski hills for the most part with tight twisty singletrack sections mixed in. A lot of different terrain from clay to sand to gravel based with rock and root sections. No 2 courses of the 12 per year are very similar. Makes it a great series.

G

davis · Jul 26, 2007

ptfmb71 said:
damm...I wanna race in West Virginia

Don't know where you're from, but we here at Elk River in legendary Slatyfork, WV have a killer race coming up soon. The 12th annual Wild 100 will be held August 18th. You pick the course. We give out the maps 15 minutes before the start and off you go, completing the 6 checkpoint course you see most fit for your ability and attitude. Those who finish will have ridden about 100 km. Those who want more can enter the Wild 100 Plus, do an extra checkpoint, and end up closer to 100 miles than 100 km. Its a hoot. Details at www.ertc.com.

Type of XC race course in your State?

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rt

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