Bits and pieces for a Tuesday

More bits and pieces.

Tom Held reports in Off The Couch that Jack Hirt's "Unnamed Epic" 75 mile point to point MTB ride near Blue Mounds, WI has been cancelled this year. That is a shame because it was a great mix of road racing and trail riding that left riders simply gassed at the end. Those that finished, that is, since nearly half dropped out if the inaugural event. The route basically connected a series of MTB trails together via road and gravel bike path, with the finish being on top of Blue Mound, the highest point in southern Wisconsin. Initially, we thought that the winner, Pat Lemieux swapped bikes from a cyclocross bike early on, to a full on MTB at the end to help conquer this sick challenge, but Lemieux did it all suffering on a MTB. The first course was probably more suited towards the roadie rather than the MTBer, perhaps Jack was trying to balance it more? This race is also known for it's coolest trophies!

Champions in the team competition looking like they are from Star Trek!

While MTBing isn't the primary target of these pages, as long as we're on that topic, I do want to mention one other MTB race that stands out from the crowd: 12 Hours of Pitch Black Single Track which will be held on September 3/4, 2011. Held at the Cam-Rock trails, just east of Madison, WI (same trails as the 'cross races there) this is an 8pm to 8am race, so the focus is on head lamps and dark trails. A very cool experience even if you just want to pop over and spectate. They always have food and drink available at the S/F ! Maybe someone needs to put on a night time 'cross race around here. Kind of like 'Cross Vegas.