Black Bear Rampage 40 Mile XC Race

General
1

All,

I’ve obtained permission to allow unicyclists in the Black Bear Rampage 40 Mile race this September 11th, 2011. The race utilizes the Tanasi Trail System in the Cherokee National Forest near Ducktown, Tennessee. Course consists of some mixture of pavement, gravel roads at the start and end but is mostly single track trail. For more information check out:

http://scottsbikes.com/articles/2011-black-bear-rampage-.-com-pg168.htm

The details are still being worked out at the moment, but David, the race director, is a fellow unicyclist and is very ecstatic about having unicyclists attend his event. So much so that he’s creating a whole category for us with awards and prize money! He’s going to update the registration so that you can select the unicycle category. Not sure, but there is also a 20 mile option that he could possibly add a unicycle category to as well. Right now the main race begins its wave starts at 9:00 a.m. but I think we’re going to be able to start a 7:00 a.m. to give us ample time to make it around the course. He’s going to get back to me about the approximate SAG (aid station) locations and mileages but it sounds like there are going to be 4 SAGs at least. He is very accommodating and wants to work with us, he’s giving us this early start and says he’ll keep the SAGs open longer if we need them!

So here’s your chance to do a real Epic XC MUni ride this late summer/fall!!

I’ll post some more updates and details as I get them.

2

I’m in

Looks like a great event. Just checked-out the website.
I didn’t sign-up yet, because it looks like the unicycle category still needs to be added.

I’m looking forward to riding with you there MuniSano, and any other unicyclists that can make it!

Now it’s time to hit the local Chicopee mountain bike trails…

3

Sounds like it’ll be a blast. Also, 4100 feet of climbing sounds absolutely brutal. I’ll wait and see how the finances are looking closer to the event.

4

They’ve added the MUni Category now to the registration. I’ll be registering soon myself (just need a few more brownie points! :slight_smile: ). The registration says “9:00 a.m.” start time, but the RD assured me a 7:00 a.m. start.

5

Jeez - this looks like a VERY cool event. I’m not in because of conflicts and the distance, but I’d be looking hard at this if there’s one next year.

6

Update: Looks like 7:00 a.m. start is confirmed and registration in the MUni category is open. I’ll be registering as soon as my finances allow me to.

After the Badwater 135 in a few weeks I’m going to be doing a lot more unicycle training to get me ready for this race. Can’t wait!

@steveyo: would be awesome to ride with you. This will be a tough event, but I think totally doable for many riders; we have all day! I’m sure this year will be a success and we’ll do it again next year. The event itself has been around for a while so it won’t be going away…

7

Thanks for sharing the event…

I just registered yesterday. The site (prerace.com) kept locking-up on my computer, so I registered over the phone. They were very helpful. I didn’t see my registration show up under the MUni category yet, but I’m sure it will eventually.

It would be great if there ended up being at least 5 to 10 of us for the event, but no matter how few or how many unicyclists make it, it will be cool to ride with other unicyclists.

Do you think my Nimbus 26 MUni with 137/165 Moment cranks will be suitable? I’m guessing the route would be a little rough on my 36er…

MuniSano, what set-up will you be using? Good luck on your Badwater event.

8

Damn, the race jersey is so sweet I’m tempted to register just to get it.

9

Yeah, I like the race jersey too, although I think there will be a new design for this year but I’m sure it will be just as sweet. Not sure I understand the whole leprechaun riding an angry looking black bear but hey whatever!

@TheRhino: My plan is to ride my KH24 GUni with 137mm cranks. This combination has worked really well for me in the past. I’ve ridden 50 miles at a XC 12 hour race with nearly this same setup and did just fine. Well, it’s also all I’ve got! I could put the 150s back on there but I really feel the 137s are better can spin so much faster on the flat stuff where I can’t use high-gear and then where I can use high gear, roads, I feel a lot more stable riding faster. I’d agree a 36er would probably be too much for this course though with long enough cranks I guess anything is possible! I’m hoping I can get out to the Tanasi trail system for a pre-ride before race day to scope it out, but I may not get the chance. I’m largely going by the trail beta I’ve gotten from other riders, which was all positive in making my decision to go for it. Plus we’ll have plenty of time and aid which was my main concern. I know that worst case I can run this course in 7-8 hours! ha!

So I’d say the Nimbus26 with the dual holes would be pretty good. I doubt you’ll want the 165mm but it’s good to have a back up for when you get tired. My main experience with 26ers has been with 150mm cranks which I liked a lot; actually about the same ratio as my 24er with 137mm cranks…

10

Bump.

Registration is still open. Looks like one person signed up for the full 40 mile Epic and two folks in the 20 mile version.

Unfortunately I’m out! I sustained a stress fracture to my heel about 3 weeks ago and now I’m relegated to a cam walker boot for at least 2-3 months! :astonished: While I’m allowed to ride I don’t dare risk riding MUni so I’m stuck riding easier pavement and gravel roads for a while and NO running! Damn! First injury in my 20 years of running where I couldn’t run!

So good luck everybody and I hope to ride with you next year!

11

So, I see three people registered:

Dale Smith 41 Opelika, AL
Christopher Skelton 48 Athens, GA
Bill Mueller 43 Flowery Ranch, GA

Are you guys on the Forum?

What’s your plan for eating and staying?

I think Bill (the rhino?) is the only one doing the 40 miler now that munisano is on injured reserve. Personally, since it was his idea, I think he shoudl come and provider support :wink:

So, I’m planning on doing the 20 miler, and since the ride won’t take as long, I worked out a “late start” with the RD where we can be at the end of the beginner biker group and avoid all the passing issues.

Anyone else interested in starting the 20 miler after the bikers?

Any other Southeast riders up for this race? It’s $100 with shorts/bib and swag, might get a reduced price if you don’t want the shorts. I’m going to ask about that, then I’ll post the RD’s response.

Sunday, September 11th, 2011
http://blackbearrampage.com/

12

Hey that’s great to see so many riders committed. I truly wish I could do it. I’ve been riding more miles than I ever have on my unicycle since I can’t run. But they are road miles not MUni miles! So I’m training to do a solo century ride sometime before the end of the year, why not? Anyhow I doubt I’ll be coming up for the Black Bear Rampage as I’ve since made other plans once I knew I couldn’t race. I just got the ball rolling on this, it’s you guys that are going to carry it forward! Awesome!

Good luck and hopefully I’ll see you next year if not sooner. There is a Bump & Grind XC race back in June.

13

Can’t wait…

Hey NurseBen, now that I see that the other registered riders are all doing the 20 mile version I’m tempted to switch to that too. I have a feeling the 40 miles offroad will be brutal. I’m guessing that 40 miles offroad on my 26er is going to feel similar to the 100 miles I did on my 36er on the road…

It would be fun to get to ride with other unicyclists. I’ve been riding for 30 years, and have never ridden with another unicyclist.

I suppose I will stick with attempting to do the 40 miles. I think I start at 7 AM or something, so maybe I’ll see how things are going and join the rest of you when you all do your start if that is feasible.

I plan on going up to check out the course the day before the ride, and then probably stay the night after the ride day too. If anyone on this forum that is going wants to maybe share accommodations send me a PM. I’m leaving from just north of Atlanta, so we could also potentially share a ride from here too. I have a big Suburban that could carry us, otherwise, if I’m going up solo I will probably take my Goldwing.

The closest mountain bike trails to me are only about 15 miles away. They are maintained by SORBA, and it’s called Chicopee Mountain. I hope they are adequate training for what I’m about to encounter in Tennessee!

14

You’ve never ridden with another unicyclist?

Man, that is a situation that needs to be corrected ASAP!!

The forty miler is gonna be rough, I’d consider doing it except I’m not up for having the entire pack of bikers passing me three hours into the ride, then again on lap two…

The twenty miler is plenty of riding, you’ll be tired at the end, those trails are not easy. I’ve ridden similar trails and twenty miles will take 4+ hours.

So if you decide to ride the shorter distance, it’d be great if we can ride together, but for sure I’m going to start after the pack so I don’t have to move for bikers.

Send me a pm with details on where you’re staying, maybe we can hook up before or after the race.

There’s also an eight hour race, the Reverse Ocho, at Panther Creek State Park, October 1st. I rode two laps on that course in the Spring, ~18 miles in six hours with a break in between. Nice course, great support, very relaxed environment.

So, anyone know the other two rider?

15

@NurseBen: Seriously what’s your phobia about bikers passing you? :wink: It’s really no big deal, plenty of room to pass. I’ve done several races with mtb’ers and they’ve all been very respectful going by; no biggy. Also, I don’t know where you’re getting this “two lap” information, AFAIK it’s ONE big loop, the 20 just does a shorter route (cuts out some of the back trails). Believe me, with the heat we’ve had this summer I’d much rather start as early as possible and get some time in the bank and deal with some passing riders than start later in the heat of the day. But that’s just me… Anyhow, good luck everybody. I’m busy trying to heal my heel! :smiley: Perhaps will be well enough to race a 9 hour race in Oak Mountain in November, we’ll see!

16

Nobody from the race has reported in yet, probably still too sore! Ouch!

Anyhow here are the results I found online:
http://ontracktiming.com/bbr/

Looks like there were only MUni finishers in the 20 Mile race distance, nothing reported for the 40 mile race:

  1. Jeff Ray 2:38:31
  2. Benjamin Richardson (BenNC) 3:24:32
  3. Christopher Skelton 4:09:27
  4. Eric Mintz 4:56:00
  5. Benjamin Kadas (Nurse Ben) 4:56:04
  6. Bill Mueller DNF

So wish I could have been there! Darn poor timing on my part to get a stress fracture!

Can’t wait to hear some of the stories!

17

[QUOTE=MuniSano;1478739]
Looks like there were only MUni finishers in the 20 Mile race distance, nothing reported for the 40 mile race:

  1. Jeff Ray 2:38:31
  2. Benjamin Richardson (BenNC) 3:24:32
  3. Christopher Skelton 4:09:27
  4. Eric Mintz 4:56:00
  5. Benjamin Kadas (Nurse Ben) 4:56:04
  6. Bill Mueller DNF

QUOTE]

I would like to ask a big research favor.

I really wanted to do this race. But it didn’t work out. Maybe next year. I would be very interested in everyone’s rig. Most of the time I ride MUni36 with 170 cranks and no brake. I do have a brake on the Road36 (125s produce a lot of torque) and could switch things around. I haven’t experimented yet, but I have to think that I wouldn’t be as apt to aply smooth braking if I was going down a bumpy path… I have a KH24, but it is slow like a bulldozer. I’ve never ridden these particular trails either. But I have been there to raft the Ocoee. I can only imaging the trails had some very difficult spots. But also quite a lot of gravel road type XC.

Anyway, in preparation for next year, would you please provide the details of your rigs and comments as to what worked and what you might do next time.
Reason for asking: I really wanted to do this race and I would like to know if MUni36 with 170s will work.

18

I would like to ask a big research favor.

I really wanted to do this race. But it didn’t work out. Maybe next year. I would be very interested in everyone’s rig. Most of the time I ride MUni36 with 170 cranks and no brake. I do have a brake on the Road36 (125s produce a lot of torque) and could switch things around. I haven’t experimented yet, but I have to think that I wouldn’t be as apt to aply smooth braking if I was going down a bumpy path… I have a KH24, but it is slow like a bulldozer. I’ve never ridden these particular trails either. But I have been there to raft the Ocoee. I can only imagine the trails had some very difficult spots. But also quite a lot of gravel road type XC.

Anyway, in preparation for next year, would you please provide the details of your rigs and comments as to what worked and what you might do next time.
Reason for asking: I really wanted to do this race and I would like to know if MUni36 with 170s will work.

19

Eric might not chime in, but we rode most of the race together and he was riding a 24 x 3 with 165’s, which was slower than my 29 x 2.4 with 160’s, but honestly we were both riding what we’re used to riding, so we both did fine.

Eric did mention that he’d consider bringing his 29er next time if he had more to practice with it. Bill was on a 26 x 150, it was new to him, but he seemed to do fine. Chris, Jeff and Ben were on 29ers, don’t remember crank lengths, obviously they did fine :roll_eyes:

There were eight registered, but only six started, We all started after the bikers, ~9:20am, so being passed by bikers was a non issue for the most part, maybe Jeff and Ben had more of that since they were riding much faster.

Overall it was a tough trail, harder after the first 2/3, which seemed like it took 1/2 as much effort as the last 1/3 of the trail. We had bikers riding into us starting about mile 8-9, this was ongoing until about mile 15 for Eric and I.

It wasn’t the passing that was a problem, it was the head-on riding on narrow single track against 300 bike racers. It was so bad that at the mile 13 aid station, Bill chose to drop than to continue dealing with the “dodge game”.

Great race overall, the only downside was the head-on riding, which was a significant issue, enough so that I’m not sure I’d do the race again as it’s currently configured.

Next race coming up is the Reverse Ocho Oct 1st at Panther Creek State Park in Tennessee, this is a Eight Hour Endurance Race, single loop consisting of 8.7 miles of mostly single track. This is a very laid back race, attracts at most 80-100 riders, easy passing, all rideable. Andrew Fletcher and I completed two laps last Spring on the same course in six hours with a big rest between laps.

20

Congratulations to all the riders! Looks like a fun course.

@NurseBen: Do you think the head on issue would have been mitigated by an earlier start for the unicyclists? That was the main reason when I was discussing unicycle entries into this race with the RD that an early start time might be best… I’d think being passed later on would be better than facing oncoming, speeding riders? Perhaps a route change could be made for next year to help with this issue? Anyhow, I’ll be there if at all possible next year. Looking to possible late Fall event at Oak Mountain and some events next Spring as well.