I've witnessed a handful of mountain bike races this year but got to come face to face with (and patrol) the race experience like none other yesterday; the Tree Farm Relay in Novi. Each team has four riders (some co-ed divisions) and each rider has to do roughly a 10 mile loop. The race starts with the riders atop a 40 or so yard hill with their bicycles at the bottom. The race starts and the riders run down the hill to their bicycles and as noted below, not all the riders make the run down the hill clean; rider down!!!! The 10 mile loop yesterday was unfortunately completed with a bit of rain and some heat in the area so yours truly lost some serious poundage looking for down riders (a few injuries reported but nothing major). The post event jump in the lake was quite refreshing.
Seems like your normal race, however, there is a costume contest with said costume wearers (pictures below) riding in the race. There is nothing like seeing Wonder Woman on a fat tire through the woods!
Another nugget to the festivities is an area of the trail called "The Crater." It literally is a big hole and can be quite a challenge to ride down for inexperienced riders. Needless to say, we patrolled that area quite a bit during the day. Manning the crater and cheering (read: heckling) the riders was what looked like the reincarnation of wrestler George "The Animal" Steele. You have to see the picture at the bottom to see and I'm not sure that does the scene justice.
A great event by the MCMBA; happy to be a part of it.
Trail Head
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| start is a downhill run to your bicycles at the bottom of the hill |
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| rider down on the hill!!! |
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| team Don Cherry |
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| chairman of "The Crater" |
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| The Crater |
I've witnessed a handful of mountain bike races this year but got to come face to face with (and patrol) the race experience like none other yesterday; the Tree Farm Relay in Novi. Each team has four riders (some co-ed divisions) and each rider has to do roughly a 10 mile loop. The race starts with the riders atop a 40 or so yard hill with their bicycles at the bottom. The race starts and the riders run down the hill to their bicycles and as noted below, not all the riders make the run down the hill clean; rider down!!!! The 10 mile loop yesterday was unfortunately completed with a bit of rain and some heat in the area so yours truly lost some serious poundage looking for down riders (a few injuries reported but nothing major). The post event jump in the lake was quite refreshing.
