MTB News & Racing Round-up, October 6, 2009

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Date published:

October 6, 2009, 15:44

Edited by Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

Welcome to our regular roundup of what's happening in mountain biking. Feel free to send feedback, news, & releases to mtb@cyclingnews.com and results, reports & photos to cyclingnews@cyclingnews.com.

• United Kingdom gets new eight-hour enduro race for 2010

  

  Article published:

  October 6, 2009, 14:55

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Muc-Off 8 draws solo and team competitors

  The United Kingdom's enduro mountain bike scene will get a boost in 2010 with a new eight-hour event. The Muc-Off 8 will be run on a 600-acre private estate Pippingford Park in East Sussex on April 11. Solo racers and teams of two, three and four will compete for eight hours, trying to complete as many laps as possible, with only one rider from each team on the course at any given time.

  The eight-hour format bridges the gap between the existing, more common durations of racing in the UK including six-hour, 12-hour and 24-hour events. Starting at 9:00 am and finishing at 5:00 pm, the Muc-Off 8 will occupy a single day of racing.

  Organizers are aiming to attract 1,000 racers for the first edition.

  "We are very excited to be hosting our own event and to meet our customers and fellow mountain bikers on what will definitely be a race day to remember," said Alex Trimnell of the title sponsor company Muc-Off. "We are working on lots of new concepts which I think will make this a very unique and exciting event."

  The Pippingford venue is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and organizers are planning an environmentally-friendly event.

  "Working with Pippingford park, the race course has been designed to avoid disruption to the wildlife on the site," said Andy Blow of the VOTwo event company. "We appreciate that we are very fortunate to have been granted use of such a wonderful piece of England and leaving it exactly as we find it will be the aim".

  Event registration is open. For more information, visit www.mucoff8.com.

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• Roll hosting SoCal CycleFest

  

  Article published:

  October 6, 2009, 14:14

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Sawicki, Lopes and Taberlay also featured

  Southern California's CycleFest 2009 will feature Bob "Bobke" Roll as its special guest and host. The event, a fundraiser for the SoCal Interscholastic Cycling League, will take place aboard the historic Queen Mary oceanliner on November 21 and is titled "Bobke on a Boat".

  Bob Roll a California native, is a former professional cyclist who first rode for the 7-Eleven Cycling Team. Later in his career, he discovered mountain biking and competed on the professional circuit for eight years until finally retiring in 1998. While Bobke never claimed to be the fastest cyclist, his unmatched story-telling ability made him a hit with the fans and led him to a spot on television, commentating on professional cycling events, including the Tour de France, throughout the world.

  Bobke is a larger than life personality. Speaking of his experiences, whether it be at the Tour de France or in the Appalachians of North Carolina on a monsoon-like training ride, Bobke uses his humor, wit and downright outlandish style to capture any audience.

  Bobke's attendance at the SoCal League's CycleFest 2009 will help the League reach its fundraising goal of US$30,000.

  The event will feature several internationally known Southern California-based cyclists including multi-time world champion Brian Lopes, ultra-endurance champion Pua Sawicki, and Olympian Sid Taberlay.

  Team Mata's Sawicki finished seventh at the marathon World Championships in August and won the US 24-hour solo national championships in 2005, 2007 and 2008. Lopes has been inducted into both the Mountain Biking and BMX Halls of Fame, has four world titles, nine national titles and six World Cups. From Australia, Taberlay of Team Sho-Air / Specialized finished second in the 2009 US ProXCT series this year. He's also won the Australian national cross country championships five times.

  The fundraiser will also feature a silent auction and a catered dinner. All proceeds from the tickets sales and the silent auction will go toward supporting the SoCal Interscholastic Cycling League.

  Tickets are on sale and cost $150. Patron tickets, which include preferred seating and special gifts, are $195.

  For tickets and additional information, visit www.socaldirt.org.

  Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed.

• Ride Calendar supports brain and spinal injury research

  

  Article published:

  October 5, 2009, 20:13

  By:

  BikeRadar.com

  2010 edition now available

  The 2010 edition of the Ride Calendar is now available. Designed by Australian mountain biker Niki Fisher and supported by mountain bike world champions Steve Peat and Irina Kalentieva, the calendar consists of 12 striking illustrations of riders who have been seriously injured while doing their sport. Each image is associated with a short story by the rider pictured, whether it's living with their disability or their hopes of returning to full health.

  Steve Peat, who features in the calendar, said, "I've had a few friends hurt over the years. Ride Calendar is a great way to let people know about the risks in the sport; these people are dealing with their injuries in whatever way they can and as best they can. I think it's cool that we can all support them and help them deal with what lies ahead."

  All profits from the sales of Ride Calendar 2010 will go towards two charities – Wings for Life and Brain Foundation. These charities provide funding for research into brain and spinal injury.

  The calendar will be available from selected newsagents in Australia but can also be bought online internationally. For more information, visit www.ride-calendar.com.

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• Stage racers head to Guatemala

  

  Article published:

  October 2, 2009, 17:05

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  One week until El Reto del Quetzal

  Coming up next weekend, from October 9 to 11, the El Reto del Quetzal stage race will feature more singletrack than in previous years. The mountain bike stage race is run over three days in Guatemala.

  As in previous years, stage one will be the longest at about 90km. About 25 percent will be singletrack with a historic flavor, including a portion new the event. Some of the trails have been used for over 400 years ago by Mayans for communication, commerce and water transport between villages.

  Stage two will cover 66km and be shorter than last year with some swapping of paved sections for more gravel roads and singletrack.

  The final 63km stage three remains unchanged from last year with plenty of downhills and views of the Guatamalan countryside.

  Racers from Portugal, Italy, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Mexico, Canada, United States, Spain, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala are registered.

  For more information, visit www.elretodelquetzal.com.

  Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed.

• Mount Snow hosting next Gravity East Series on brand new "Trail 13"

  

  Article published:

  October 1, 2009, 20:03

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Ortiz, Gubernat lead downhill standings with two events to go

  In what has become a regular occurrence in the 2009 season, Gravity East downhillers will once again charge down a brand-new trail when they visit Mount Snow in Vermont on October 3-4. Dubbed "Trail 13", the new trail will add additional variety to the mountain's trail system.

  "We've held off opening the trail until race weekend because we wanted to unveil it with the Gravity East," said Vinnie Lewis, Event and Public Relations Manager for the resort. "This will be our fourth downhill this year, and on the fourth different course."

  Lewis added that bike set-ups for the new, mostly-wooded, course should be very similar to that used for previous downhills at Mount Snow. "It's the same surface, just a different flow down the mountain."

  Following his wins at Vertical Earth Mountain Bike Park at Blue Mountain last weekend, Neko Mulally is closing in on a possible double championship. Though still trailing Alejandro Ortiz, Jason Memmelaar, Ben Hulse, and Jeff Cayley in the standings, Mulally moved up two positions with his win in Pennsylvania; and he has at least one more "no score" to drop from his final points tally than any of the competitors currently above him in the standings. In the dual slalom Standings, Mulallay has a comfortable lead over Brian Piper and Kyle Ebbett.

  On the women's side, the downhill title chase is a virtual tie with the points gap between current points leader Stephanie Gubernat, Dawn Bourque and last week's winner Karen Eagan being so small as to be meaningless. With just two race weekends left, it looks like the chase for the women's title could come down to the final run by the final competitor. The women's dual slalom standings are even murkier, with Eagan and Bourque again in the mix, along with Lauren Daney and Kate Parhiala. With the unpredictable nature of dual slalom, coupled with the double points on tap at the final race at Plattekill, any of these four could be this year's "Queen of Dual".

  The weekend will also include the a Gravity East dual slalom series event plus a non-series super D race.
  
  The Gravity East Series final will occur next weekend, October 10-11 at Plattekill Mountain in Roxbury, New York.

  For more information, visit www.GravityEastSeries.com.

  Results

  Elite men

  #	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
  1	Alejandro Ortiz	6093	pts
  2	Jason Memmelaar	5465
  3	Ben Hulse	5197
  4	Jeff Cayley	5035
  5	Neko Mulally	4960
  6	Erik Gosselin	4863
  7	Zach Faulkner	4389
  8	Ben Moody	4005
  9	Bj Treglia	3556
  10	Chris Higgerson	3049
  11	Tim Howland	3008
  12	Gavin Vaughan	2998
  13	Jason Beckley	2914
  14	Justin Gregory	2889
  15	Conor Rowan	2810
  16	Marvin Scanland	2810
  17	David Haas	2792
  18	Geritt Beytagh	2352
  19	Luke Snyder	2255
  20	Geoffrey Ulmer	2193
  21	Tyler Wilson	2154
  22	Patrick Noonan	2148
  23	Brian Yannuzzi	2107
  24	Dan Whitehead	2101
  25	Andrew Bressem	2033
  26	Jergen Beneke	1650
  27	Chris Heath	1605
  28	Sean Mcclendon	1600
  29	Trevyn Newpher	1515
  30	Dan Sim	1501
  31	Jonthan Gaber	1500
  32	Ethan Quehl	1495
  33	David Flynn	1490
  34	Lars Tribus	1483
  35	Tim Price	1455
  36	Kyle Sanger	1452
  37	Michael Thomas	1441
  38	Christopher Talotta	1432
  39	Kevin Green	1416
  40	Bert Boyce	1408
  41	Josh Misevcis	1398
  42	Avery Busch	1392
  43	Tom Bubier	1385
  44	Willem Cooper	1381
  45	Matty Komar	1377
  46	Justin Beers	1361
  47	Tim White	1359
  48	Paul Adams	1358
  49	Beniot Mioux	815
  50	Shaums March	795
  51	Adam Morse	795
  52	Szymon Kowalski	780
  53	George Ryan	780
  54	Heikki Hall	765
  55	Trevor Hallenbeck	750
  56	Dan Ferreira	745
  57	Yann Gauvin	730
  58	James Rennie	726
  59	Logan Binggeli	726
  60	John-Ryan Quick	722
  61	Pete Fougere	722
  62	Steve Avery	722
  63	Naish Ulmer	722
  64	John Leslie	714
  65	James Pattertson	714
  66	Jenny Jade	710
  67	Billy Melone	710
  68	Sam Mellen	710
  69	Chris Scannell	702
  70	Vincent Paliseno	698
  71	Daniel Hultgen	698
  72	Jon Gabon	694
  73	Paul Mcneil	694
  74	Vincent Tremblay	694
  75	James Jeannet	687
  76	Dave Trumpure	681
  77	Ken Walter	678
  78	Bryan Willis	678
  79	Brian Piper	675
  80	Sam Adams	673
  81	Taylor Rowlands	669
  82	Tom Kakamousias	665

  Elite women

  #	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
  1	Stephanie Gubernat	5620	pts
  2	Dawn Bourque	5090
  3	Karen Eagan	4930
  4	Hillary Elgert	3225
  5	Alexis Wruble	2370
  6	Gandolf Rae	2038
  7	Allegra Burch	1635
  8	Lauren Petersen	795
  9	Alexandra Lacroix	795
  9	Jennifer Wolf	780
  9	Ellen Adams	765
  10	Alicia Jakomait	750

  Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed.

• New Zealand organizers build a bridge for their race

  

  Article published:

  October 1, 2009, 15:59

  By:

  Sue George, Mountain Bike Editor

  Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge set for November

  When safety of mountain bike riders crossing State Highway 1 became a concern for the organisers of the Wattyl Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge in New Zealand, they decided to build a bridge to take racers over it.

  "The safety of the 600 riders expected in this year's Contact Huka Mountain Bike Challenge is of utmost concern to us," said Mike Langley, Mountain Bike Director of the off-road challenge which is part of the annual Cycle Challenge on November 28 in Taupo.

  "After the popularity of last year's inaugural off-road event, we quickly identified that it was not ideal to have the riders combat the traffic on State Highway 1 so we will be building a bridge to get riders over the road."

  The Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge is New Zealand's largest one day cycling event - 11,000 entrants from around New Zealand are expected to take part in 12 different challenges.

  The mountain bike course takes in 80 km of Taupo's most popular mountain bike tracks, most of which is flowing singletrack.
  "Entrants start with the rest of the Cycle Challenge riders and then head off-road. They will follow the Waikato River before riding through a tunnel under SH1 into the Wairakei Crown Forest Park (next to Craters of the Moon) where all 45km of mountain bike tracks are used before heading back out through the tunnel."

  After riding an event-only section down to Aratiatia Dam, they cross the dam and then come back to the Huka Falls trail, through the Rotary Ride before completing a brand new section of the trail. Riders will then cross State Highway 1 on the temporary bridge finishing their 80km mountain bike challenge.

  Building bridges over State Highways is nothing new to Taupo - the self-proclaimed "events capital" of New Zealand also has a bridge built over the country's main trunkline for entrants during the annual Ironman race.

  For more information, visit www.cyclechallenge.com.

  Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed.