Daytripper3,
Brandy Creek RV Campground is right at the start of the race and close to a lot of trails. I believe it is a first come basis. You might want to call the park to make sure. (530) 246-1225
Ron
Good to know, Ron–thanks. Are you going to be in the race? Let me know if you ever want to come to Chico to ride!
Hey Peter,
Thanks for the Chico invite. I am going to enter. I’ll drop off my registration tomorrow at the bike shop.
If anyone is interested in riding any other time race weekend, let me know, there are a lot of trails around to choose from.
Ron
Bump
Registration closes on Aril 26th, according to an email I got yesterday. If you’re interested, register now! I’m psyched about the race–one week from today! Woo-hoo!
And the winner is …
Kevin (screen name: Phlegm) kicked some serious butt today at the Lemurian, finishing the 8-mile course in 1:06 and capturing the first-ever Muni category title. Ron took second, a few minutes behind Kevin (I don’t know his official time). Then, after a whopping gap of around 40 minutes, the Chico contingent crossed the finish line (Gary took third, Drew fourth, and I was in last place, but we were all within 30 seconds of each other). The top three received nice medals (hand-made by Kevin Risse, of Risse Racing).
I could easily say that the obvious advantage of Kevin and Ron having 29ers was the deciding factor, but that would be a complete and utter lie. Both of them are in incredibly good shape and are accomplished riders, whereas (speaking only for myself) I’m 30 pounds over my fighting weight and not terribly competitive at the best of times.
Kevin was third place in his age group for all riders (so he beat all but two of the 30-39 year olds on bikes!)–Way to go, Kevin! I’m sure Ron was in a similar position. I doubt that the two of them endeared themselves to the mountain bikers they whupped, but they sure showed everyone what’s possible on a muni.
It was fun for us Chico riders to at least see other riders (if only their backs, and only at the very start of the race!) at the Lemurian. I was quite pleased with my performance, shameful as it may seem to others, as I rode probably 90% of the uphill this year (a huge improvement) and rode (or attempted) the entire downhill. Oh, and we Chico riders cut 18 minutes off our time from last year’s race (we don’t really race–we just ride together and have a blast). If nothing else, the race gave us a sense of our improvement over the past year.
Congratulations all of you, especially Kevin. That is awesome! You just killed those bikers. I’m glad the 29er worked out so well - it is the perfect machine for races like that. We ended up deciding the drive was just too much so couldn’t join you. We did an all-day ride with Mike in the East Bay instead: http://nhoover.smugmug.com/gallery/2776651
—Nathan
Nathan, your ride was very scenic, not to mention 44 miles. Maybe you can race with us next year.
-Gary
That was a fun course for a race!
To set the record straight, Ron was a monster on the climbs–he rode the whole first half that was all uphill. I ended up walking (quickly) up the last few steeper sections to try to keep up. Once he gets more experience with the downhills, he’ll be a force to reckon with.
Also, I beat all but two of the guys in my age group on bikes. I’m not sure how the gals in my age group did. The 2007 results don’t appear to be up on the site yet.
I’m thinking I should shoot for doing one of the longer courses (20 or 26 miles) next year, altho the profile does scare me a bit for a muni course.
2007 Results are up now. Turns out there were only 4 bikes in the men’s short course 30-39 but Keven and (& Ron) beat half of them. Overall, Kevin was 31st out of 46 and Ron came in 35th. I’ve done several of these bike races and beating more than a couple of the slow bikers is really great. You guys were hammering!
Oh, yeah! The results show that there was one disqualification and another “did not finish” so I guess that I can at least claim that I beat someone!
Again, congrats to Kevin and Ron for hammering so hard. Kevin, I think you and Ron could rock that intermediate course. But the profile does look pretty intimidating! I now have a KH29 sitting in a box in my garage (just got back from a Sunday-Monday meeting in LA), and hope to be able to ride it the whole short course by next year.
Bump!
This race is coming up this weekend (Saturday, April 26th). I’ve been meaning to bump this thread. My riding buddy, Gary, my son, Drew (about to turn 17), and I will be hitting this for the third year in a row; and my son Tyler, 13, is going to be joining us for the first time. I suspect that this will mean that I’ll have a bit slower ride this year, as I don’t want to leave Tyler behind in his first race. Of course, he may just kick my a$$ and I’ll be working to keep up with him, too. We’ll see.
Any other NorCal muni riders are encouraged to come up and ride! The weather is supposed to be warm (around 80 f), and the bit of rain we’re having now should knock the dust down on the trails.
Are you guys doing the 26 mile loop?
Someone needs to beat my time! I’m pretty sure I could, but I have to work this weekend. Good luck all!
steveyo-I don’t think so.
One of my long term goals is to enter a race like this and beat some of the b*kers.
No. Ron, the organizer, only will let unis on the 8 mile short course. I’m not sure why that’s the case, but there you have it. Maybe he figures that if someone like me (ie, not in the best of shape) went for the 20 or 26 mile course, he’d have to wait around all day for the finish. I doubt he understands the animals that some muni-riders are!
But it’s a pretty butt-kicking long course. Last fall, Gary and I rode in the Whiskeytown 9-5, an 8-hour endurance race, that covers a 10-mile loop with much of the Lemurian’s long course. There’s a lot of really, really steep climbing, but some amazingly great singletrack descents, too. The Redding area riders are lucky to have such great trails near them. It would make a good site for a CA Muni Weekend some year.
They could have a cut-off time that you must meet in order to be counted as an official finisher, say the last time that road in the SE corner is crossed or one of the two rest stops.
If potential competitors were made aware of this cut off, those that would be borderline would prob not enter. And counsequently they would likely eliminate some really slow riders and people who were horibly out of shape, making it a bit easier for the race managers.
This happened to me. I once entered the Dipsea race but from my practice, I would have been really close to the cut-off and didn’t want to do the race unless I’d be allowed to finish. Plus the actual course had a lot more vert than my practice trails. Someday I want to run the entire thing as well as do the Double Dipsea. (I’m not crazy enough to do the quadruple.)
2008 Results
So the race was this morning, and Gary, my sons Drew (16) and Tyler (13), and I rode the short course. We thought we’d be the only muniers, but there was a group of 5 from Weaverville, none of whom we’d met before. Chris Kennedy leads an after-school uni program in Weaverville, and he brought along 4 students (not sure their ages–about 11-14, at a guess) for the race.
Well, the course starts with a 4 mile fire-road climb, and it just kicked my butt today. Last year I rode my 24"/165 cranks, and was able to ride most of the uphill. This year, on my 29er/150s, I walked more than half. I wasn’t too pleased with my performance. Gary and I hiked together, while Chris and his crew, and my two sons, quickly disappeared into the distance. But the downhill was a lot of fun!
Chris ended up winning the Muni class, with a time of 1:07. Just a few minutes off of Phlegm’s time last year! My son Tyler took 5th, somewhere in the 1:30s, and Drew came in 6th at around 1:40. Gary and I crossed at the same time, 1:42 and change. Not a stellar performance, but we at least cut six minutes off last year’s time, so we can’t complain too much.
It was a lot of fun, and that’s what we were out there for, after all.
Cool! I wish it was closer; I would have been there.
corbin