The Meltdown Mountain Bike Challenge

What: 2018 Meltdown Mountain Bike Challenge
Where: Wyandotte County Lake Park, Shelter #3
When: June 10th, 2018 - see flyer for times
Why: Cross Country Racing at its finest.  Fun and challenging course, custom awards, classes for all abilities, food, free pictures.

17th Annual God's Country Fat Tire Festival

Update 4/15/18:

Sunday's race is a GO.  See you out at the River Trails.

Saturday's race results are posted: www.cowtowncycling.com

Pictures:

Art King Photos

Back in 2000 my good friend Gerard and I came up with an idea for an event.  It is 2018 and we are still going strong.

Check out the guide here - 2018 God's Country Athlete Information Guide

Flyers below:

2017 Meltdown Mountain Bike Challenge

The countdown has begun for this years Meltdown.  Only two weeks to go until the big day - June 11, 2017.   Get all the info on www.cowtowncycling.com

We have custom awards for each class as well as USA Cycling State Championship medals for Kansas licensed riders.
 
I decided to try something new this year in regards to the Marathon class.  Increasing the distance to 4 hours.  This was done for several reasons but mainly because Steve Tilford encouraged me to increase the distance to make it more challenging and a true marathon. 

T-shirts are ready to be ordered, but I have a tough call to make.  As of this morning we only have 14 athletes registered.  Do I pull the trigger on ordering 100 t-shirts and hope we get a good turnout?   I did have one idea - order the shirts and sell them on race day with all the proceeds going to the trails.  
Flyer below:

2017 God's Country Fat Tire Festival

Join us at the 15th Annual God's Country Fat Tire Festival.  2 days of events at the Lawrence River Trails.

Details: 2017 God's Country Fat Tire Festival

Registration: https://www.bikereg.com/godscountryfattirefestival

Changes to God's Country and Bone Bender

I sit here on this Sunday morning working.  Little bit of everything.  I usually have my year all planned out by now, but this year I have really been contemplating several changes and I am behind. Most of these changes are in what I do for fun which is usually outside riding - bicycles, gravel, motorcycles, single track, snow, etc. It doesn't matter what form, I enjoy it all.  As you know one of my biggest passions has always been racing.  You need people to put on these races and this is why I have been promoting races for over 12 years now.  There are only a few that will actually step up and make an event happen.   I mostly do it to give back to the sports I love.

The first change would be to one of the first events I ever helped promote - God's Country.   Gerard and I put on the first God's Country Off-Road Duathlon in 2001.  The turnout was very low.  This was most likely due to the torrential storms the night before and that the course was very technical since it was at Clinton Lake.

 Back then I knew a change in location was required for this event to succeed.  We moved the event to its current home of the Lawrence River Trails.  Long and Short course options were also added.  These changes proved to be very successful with nearly 225 participants in 2002. To this day Anita will still not help with race day registration due to all the people we had signup on race morning.

A couple of years ago we changed the name of our event to God's Country Fat Tire Festival.  The plan was a weekend of fun with several events.  Last years duathlon was again a success, but the cross country race was not very well attended as in previous years.   Was it due to lack of demand for those type of events?  Is March too early for a traditional cross country race?  One very important thing that must be present for an event to succeed is passion for that type of racing.  Luckily there were riders with passion that did come out last year and this is the only reason I am continuing on with this event with a little change this year.  The festival will be reduced to one day.  Our two main events will be the off-road duathlon in the morning and a mountain bike time trial in the afternoon. We also have plans for a short track mountain bike race to be added in the future if demand for early season mountain bike racing increases.  There are a lot of people in this region that enjoy off-road running and cycling.  We just need more of them to come out and try racing.  Hopefully these format changes will encourage more participation.

The second change will be the format of the Bone Bender mountain bike race.  Traditionally this event has been a 3/6 hour mountain bike race with solo and relay teams. The demand years ago for these timed events was high, but over the last couple of years timed distance events have fallen in favor of distance events.   This was actually my original idea when this event was created anyway.

The 6th Annual Bone Bender Mountain Bike Challenge will be a 50 to 60 Kilometer race (depending on final course).  Heather and I decided on this distance based on past demand and how long it would take the typical mountain bike athlete to complete this distance on the North Shore Trails of Clinton Lake State Park.  We will have a shorter course option available for beginners.  I believe this change will be positive and allow participants to set a personal challenge to meet. Complete details with be coming out later this month. 

Wyco's Revenge Night Rides

Last night was our first official night pre-ride for this years Wyco's Revenge MTB Race.  Below is a shorter video.  Still working on the full lap video.  The file was very large and failed on the first attempt to upload. 

First few miles of lap two in total darkness.The video looks good when everyone is together.  Low light when I am by myself.  Will try to add a second light next week and/or ride along side Tim Greene :-)

For those who do not like to ride at night do not forget we have the Sprint division at Wyco's Revenge and no lights are required.

Wyco's Revenge Returns

 The 2nd Annual Wyco's Revenge is less than a month away.  Last years event was well attended considering it was a first year event.  Our goal was to raise money, but with expenses it turned out to be a wash.  This years will be the make or break year for the Wyco's Revenge.  Hopefully there is enough demand for a fall mountain bike race.  As you can see by the list of events on the calendar, fall mountain bike racing is making a return.

We designed the WR to be a fun and challenging event. Cliff came up with the idea of a Chili Cook-off and costume contest.  Carolynn makes a mean chili so my money is on her. I have an idea for a costume that just might take the top prize or if I am unable to participate I might just hide in the woods in sneaky place and try and scare riders.  Of course we already have Roger for that so that might be over kill...

Plenty of mountain bike races this fall:

•  9/22/13 - Rhett's Run
•  9/28/13 - Double Ogg Dare Dirty Time Trial
• 10/5/13 - Wyco's Revenge Mountain Bike Race
• 10/6/13 - Mountain Madness
• 10/12/13 - Burning at the Bluff
• 10/13/13 - Hell Creek on Wheels
• 10/26/13 - Berryman Epic

Building the Dream

National Public Lands Day was yesterday.  NPLD is the largest single-day volunteer effort for public lands in the United States.  One of the traits that I have been trying to instill in Christopher is volunteering and that things just do not happen.  Trails do not magically appear.  It takes hard work and citizens like us to create them.

 
The Trail Masons Association hosted a work day at the Wyandotte County Lake Park.  This is one of our favorite trails to ride and Wyco just keep getting better.  About 30 hard working folk showed up to make the dream of 20 to 30 miles of single track at Wyco a reality. 

Another dream is to have a endurance mountain bike event right here in the metro.  Besides Bone Bender 3/6 Hour, there is no other off-road endurance mountain bike events close to the metro.  That will change on October 20, 2012.  The Wyco's Revenge Mountain Bike Race will be hosted at Wyandotte Country Lake Park.  Christopher thought it would be great if there was an event that would grow along with the trails at Wyco.  Together with Cliff Jones and the Trail Masons that dream will happen.   As the trail system at Wyco is grown so will the Wyco's Revenge.  The full Wyco Revenge will eventually grow to a 50 miler.

Wyco's Revenge

Christopher has decided to try his hand a event promotion.  He needed a volunteer project for school and after some brain storming and talking with Cliff Jones it was decided he would create an event to help raise money for a Junior Cycling Team he would like to start and help continue to build those wonderful trails over at Wyandotte County Lake Park. 

So far this is what they have.

http://wycosrevenge.blogspot.com/

Last God's Country?

It is hard to believe that 11 years ago Gerard, Carolynn and I started this little event called the God's Country Off-Road Duathlon. This years edition was the 10th Annual as we took a year off due to total exhaustion. Does anyone remember where that first event was held?

I had some big goals for this years event and decided we should make a weekend festival of it - God's Country Fat Tire Festival. The plan was to hold a traditional mountain bike race (UFD round #1) on Saturday and then our big duathlon on Sunday. A weeks worth of rain put a damper on our plans a little and hit us big with final registration numbers. We still had some good numbers, but we did not reach my goal which I will talk about later. The LRT dried out so quickly that it ended up that we could have raced on Saturday after all. But I guess better safe that sorry. Sunday's course conditions were the best I have ever seen. Our MTB race well be held on April 7, 2012 at the same great location.

This past week was very, very stressful and tiring. Adding event promotion to a full time job is bad enough, but with all the weather issues and big decisions that had to be made I was at my ends wit come Friday. Maybe it was a good thing we postponed the MTB race because I really do not know if we could have pulled off a two event weekend. Luckily we had some great volunteers that turned up and lent us a helping hand. Thanks to everyone who helped out on Saturday and Sunday. I have said this before, but without volunteers events just would not happen. It takes a good leader and a great team to make things happen.

My legs felt like crap Sunday morning and when it came time to finish loading up the trailer Sunday morning at 4:30 am I looked at the final piece of equipment (my Anthem X) I decided to go ahead and bring it just in case I need to do any final trail marking. Race morning went smoothly again thanks to the volunteers and everything being somewhat organized on my part. As the racers started to arrive I got the "racing bug" and started mulling participating. About 30 minutes before the start I got dressed and went out to make sure the course was marked well enough and that the Patrol was in place. Everything was fine so I decided to just go ahead and line up and at least start the event. A quick run to the packet pickup to get my bib number and timing chip and I was officially in the event - Short Course option.

I briefly went over race instructions and lined up with the rest of the field. All the fast guys were lined up front including two time winner Tige Lamb. I opted to get about mid-pack. With tired legs you never want to start out to quickly. Christopher sounded the air horn and we were off.
The first run which is ~ 2 miles long (many stated the run was long at about 2.3 miles and I think they are correct :-)) starts on the Levee and then heads down to the single track. I always seem to run quicker in the woods than on roads be them gravel or pavement. I was way back in the field at the start but once we hit the single track I started making up ground quickly. My final mile was a good one as I finally got this old body of mine warmed up and rolling. After a quick transition I was off on the bike. The first several miles were filled with riders. Passing was a slow process. At least for me it was. I am usually a little aggressive with passing, but being the event promoter you really have to be nice :-) A little after the big log section I finally was able to bring the pace up to race speed. Most of the fast guys like Tige and JP were gone by this point, but I still put in a solid effort on the bike. I knew Eric was close behind me but felt like I was close to the overall lead on the Short course. Heather asked if anyone would finish under an hour and I said I would finish in around 55 min. Check out the photo on the right. One thing I do know is my body and the effort I can put out on a given day. Some days it's not much of an effort, but sometimes .... End result was 1st in the Male 40 - 49 division and 2nd overall short course.

My form is coming along. The past two weeks I have actually regressed some due to all the additional work I have done and the missed training due to said work. I still have a lot of ground to cover if I want to do well at this years Xterra events including the UCI Cross World Championships in May. This is one of the main reasons that this just may be my last God's Country Off-Road Duathlon. It takes a lot of time and commitment to promote events. There is only so much time available in ones life. Luckily my wife and son support me and whatever I decide. Maybe it is time to give more to them? The other reason is this may be the last one is participation numbers. I am very goal oriented if you haven't not noticed. Some objectives you have control over, others you do not. As a promoter my goals were not reached at this years event. Was that my fault? The weather? Lack of demand for the product? I feel like I have come up short this year but was it because I created unrealistic goals?

Color Blind

11 is the number of years that I have promoted events locally here in Kansas & Missouri. Even with that many years, it does not get any easier. Mostly because I am a detailed orientated person (I think I might have OCD). You would think that deciding on t-shirt colors would be a simple choice, but it is the little decisions like color choice that cause me stress.

God's Country is two weeks away and it is time to pick the t-shirt color. Any suggestions?

Hungry for some Mexican Food.

Christopher loves Mexican food also so maybe we will both do this event this fall.....

The Whole Enchilada: Top to Bottom - Moab, Utah from Phil Shep on Vimeo.

2012 UFD Poster

2012 Mountain Biking Events

Finally, we are one big happy family - Unified Federation of Dirt.

I have always been an advocate of having one organization/series. I am also excited that we are all finally using USA Cycling to permit/insure events. In my opinion, having different organizations/series (Midwest Fat Tire Championship Series, Heartland, St. Louis, Individual) wasn't good for our sport, nor did it support our national governing body. We are a niche sport as it is, and working against each other simply wasn't good. I would like to see us become a local chapter with USA Cycling or develop into something like WORS. Of course this would take a lot of work and a group of dedicated people to organize it. I believe we are on great path now and I see good things ahead for mountain biking, especially seeing the tremendous growth on the endurance side and gravel adventures.

The 2012 Unified Federation of Dirt Mountain Bike Series:

East Series

March 25: (Sun) Mesa Lost Valley Luau (Mesa/Matt James) XC (Maybe even push back into April? )
May 12: (Sat) Greensfelder (DRJ Racing/Bob Arnold) XC
May 20: (Sun) Broemmelsiek Challenge (Mitch Johnson) XC
June 17 (Sun) Leadbelt XC. St. Joe Park (Mark Grumke) XC
July Dirt Crits Castlewood (Every Thursday) Dirt Crits
July 14: (Sat) Castlewood (Ballwin Cycles/Pfoodman) XC
Aug 19: (Sun) Cyclewerx Crankfest. Cape Girardeau, MO (Cyclewerx/John Dodd) XC
Aug 26 (Sun) Matson Hill - St. Charles (Walter Davis/Mike Barro - Momentum) XC
September 30: (Sun) Rhetts Run (Andy Shuette/CBC) XC
October 6 (Sat): Castlewood Race - St. Louis (Rich Pierce/ICCC) XC

West Series
March 24 & 25 - God's Country Fat Tire Festival @ Lawrence River Trail (Chris Locke)
April 7 - Team Colavita Mountain Bike Races @ Perry Lake Trails (Brett Shoffner)
April 22 - OMBA Caramba- Springfield, MO (Ryan Meschke)
May 5 and 6 - Kansas Fat Tire Festival @ Wilson Lake (Doug Chambers)
May 20 - Dirty Little Secret @ Fancy Creek State Park (Aaron Apel)
May 26 - Robidoux Roundup @ Krug Park (Randy Tracy)
June 10 - Down and Dirty @ Warsaw, MO (Mac Vorce)
July 29 - Show Me State Games @ Rock Island State Park (Sarah Ashman)
September 9 - Tour de Lizard @ Camp Horizon (Bobby Smith)
September 30 - Rhett's Run @ Cosmo Park (Andy Schuette)

Endurance Series
April 15 Bone Bender 3/6 Hour MTB Odyssey @Lawrence, Kansas (Cow Town/Chris Locke)
June 2 - Dirty Kanza (Jim Cummings)
June 23: (Sat) Indian Camp Creek 3/6/12 @ St.Charles (Off the Front/Todd Holtman)
July 21 - Rapture in the Midwest @ Perry Lake (Colavita/Ethos)
August 25 - Cruise the Blues @ the Farm (Doug Palen)
September 8 - Sac River 6/12 hour (Jason Feagans)
September 23 - Tall Oak Challenge @ Binder Lake (Jeff City, MO)
Oct 13 (Sat) Burnin at the Bluff 2011 Endurance @ Potosi, MO (Mesa Cycles/John Farinella)
Oct 20 (Sat) BT EPIC (Springfield Bikes / Scott Davis)

Paraskevidekatriaphobia Night Ride

What: Friday the 13th Night Ride
When: Friday, January 13, 2012, 6:00 pm
Where: Smithville, MO
Why: To ride at night and to cure yourself of the dreaded aliment known as paraskevidekatriaphobia

Ride starts at Smoke N Davey Trailhead off of W Highway. All skill levels welcome. Lights needed. Helmets required.

Route depends on trail conditions. MTB trails if dry/frozen, gravel/paved trail if not. Maybe a nice night time snow ride?

Report:

Thanks for coming out Steve and Tim. Small turnout, but a great ride. I guess everyone else that said they were coming was either afraid or is a candy ass.....Temps were great and the trails were in awesome condition. Just a small amount of snow to keep things interesting. We got in 1 1/2 laps and hit every trail the Smithville has to offer.

Tip of the day: I reduced the pressure in my Kenda Nevagals (26 x 2.1 UST) to 20 psi for added traction. I usually run about 28 to 30 psi in them. I was very impressed with the feel and traction that they provided in some of the slick spots. I am liking less pressure more and more as I try to find the optimal psi.

Upcoming events: God's Country & BB36

During my self imposed break from training, I have been keeping myself busy with my teams 3 events that we will produce in the Spring. Our first event will be the God's Country Fat Tire Festival - a two day affair featuring a cross country race on Saturday and the 10th Annual God's Country Off-road Duathlon on Sunday. I have decided to bring back the long course for the duathlon. Long course will be 2 mile run/18 Mile MTB/2 or 3 mile final run. Short course will be 2 mile run and 9 mile bike. Final course distances will be announced after I get an accurate measurement of one lap at the River Trials. Info: www.fattireduathlon.com

The other event is a little event called the Bone Bender 3/6 Hour MTB Odyssey. My goal when creating this event was to develop a premier endurance off-road race that the community could use to help raise money for local trails. Success is measured in many ways. One could be attendance, one could be community awareness and still another could be proceeds raised. I would really like to reach the $10,000.00 raised mark this year and feel very confident that we will. It will take another well attended event and of course your support. Keeping expenses in check is also important, but my first goal is to produce a top notch event. This year we will again have some sweet custom awards, new classes, t-shirts, a large cash payout and food. Info: www.bonebendermtb.com

Registration will open in January for both events. We plan to offer a nice sized discount if you register early so stay tuned.

Festivus of Nights

Xterra, Tapering and Gravel

One of my focuses next year is the Xterra series. It appears I am not the only one attracted to them. None other than Lance Armstrong is taking the series by storm - A Whole New World for Xterra

I will not be a the World Championships this year. I doubt I could ever quality, but you never know. Instead I am heading south to the compete in my first long distance off-road triathlon. Better know as the Xterra Iron Mountain. This new bred of Xterra that is gaining steam. I think the distances equate to a half Ironman distance triathlon on the road. Look to see a few more on the calendar next year for those of us who just don't have that speed anymore and enjoy a longer distance challenge.

Two weeks to go so it is taper time. After many years of competing in events the "Art of Tapering" has never been a forte' of mine. I am usually a coaches worst nightmare when it come to putting the final touches on hard months of training. I know better now and hopefully will listen to myself over the next two weeks and will have a peak performance.

Backing down your training is always hard to do. You know you need to, but you feel compelled to get your butt out there and continue to train so you do not lose any fitness. You feel like you need that one more hard workout to be truly ready. I am got that feeling last night when I went over the course details for next weekends Iron Mountain. This will be my first long course off-road triathlon. My last Xterra was the Red River event which was about 1/3 the distance of the Iron Mountain. So basically I am doing 3 Xterra events in a row. When you think of it like that it seems kind of hard. It makes me feel not ready. Like I need to do a couple more hard runs to harden up my legs.

The next 10 days I plan to cut my training in 1/2 but keep the intensity. Not that it was all that hard to begin with. My only distance I have planned is Sunday's Gunn City Gravelrie The pace will be moderate and the weather is looking fabulous. Cue sheet for Sunday's ride. I hope to see many of you out there to kick off the Gravel Grinding season. The list of attendees is growing daily. Should be fun.

Gunn City Gravelrie

Complete info at http://gravelgrinders.blogspot.com/

UltraCross

This past weekend I was working on a fall race schedule. Still trying to finalize one based on my current fitness level, recovery rate and motivation level (it is hard to get motivated when your form sucks :-(). I came across an interesting series call the American Ultracross Championship Series. Basically a long distance mix of cyclocross, gravel grinding and mountain biking. I have always wanted to do the Iron Cross. Maybe this is the year.

I have an idea for a unique event that would fit in line with this Ultracross series. Who knows, maybe we can get a round of the series here in KC.