JoeOxfordCT

Like the Jay Challenge in VT ?
https://www.jaychallenge.com/
or the Vermont 50 ? or Vermont 100 for that matter ?
https://www.vermont50.com/html/race_description.html
https://www.vermont100.com/html/vt100...ance_ride.html

I am just getting into mountain biking and have no interest in free riding or hucking... (what is hucking anyways ? ) Athough I still ride my mtb on the roads on weekday mornings for exercise, I have put the knobbies back on and begun to explore some local trails here in CT. I have been reading about some of this distance races/rides, the Great Divide Race would be an extreme example, (https://www.greatdividerace.com/) and am interested to here if anyone here has done some of these organized longer events.

I think perhaps I will try the Vermont 50 next year which will give me some time to sharpen my off road skills

C Law

Isn't the VT 100 a horse race?

Never have done it

I tried to sign up for the VT 50 this year and was late.

You have to sign up the morning registration starts

The Jay mtb race sounds a bit brutal. A singlespeed division? ouch!

the GDR is insane. You need some serious time off for that one

JoeOxfordCT

Well I caught the link originally from Mountain Biking (I think) magazine...
The 100 does look like it's for horses only though....
Yes, I also noticed that registration is as brutal as the race itself....
How did you hear about the VT50 ?
Have you done much distance riding ?

a2psyklnut

I've done some 50 mile events. They weren't "races" per se, but more of "challenges".

Not my cup-o-tea, but I had a blast regardless.

Nutrition and eating properly is the key.

If you can find the latest isssue of DIRT RAG, there is an interesting article on just this subject.

or

www.dirtragmag.com

JoeOxfordCT

I followed the link but I'm not sure which article you're referring to ??

a2psyklnut

Sorry, I guess it's not on their WebRag section. But, they do show a picture of the cover. Try to find a magazine at your local shop or sometimes at better book stores (Barnes and Nobel) and the like.

You're in the NE, you'll have a much better chance of finding one locally than I would!

BErad

I would tell you what Hucking is, but I'll let Raiyn handle that one. I will say that you should have a TON of confidence and large stones.

Most races I've entered have 3 classes (Beginner, Sport and Pro / Expert). The distance depends on the class you enter (Beginner races one lap, Sport two and Pro's three). My experience has been that racers are pretty hardcore. 50 miles seems like a long way to race and The Jay Challenge sounds tough as nails (10K feet of climbing?!)
I agree with a2psyklnut in describing these as "challenges" rather than races.

JoeOxfordCT

Well I'm really not looking to race and at that distance I would imagine only a few riders would actually be riding for a place on the podium.....I think it would be more like doing a century on the road....only dirtier .....

skunkty14

I'm racing the VT 50 this fall. This will be my first endurance event, as well as my first race since I was about 15 (I'm 22 now). I just heard about the event online and through word of mouth and decided it would be a good goal to have for the summer riding season.

I don't know anyone personally who has done the VT 50, but from what I've read and heard on various forums is that it's a very well run event and fairly challenging with ~8000 vertical feet of climbing . I'm hoping this will keep me motivated to push my riding hard through the summer; right now I'm doing about 80 miles a week on the road plus trying to get at least 1 or 2 trail rides in the mix. I will definetly have to increase mileage as I go on, but that is part of my weight loss plan anyway.

BErad

I've never done a century ride but I know people that do. If you can handle that you should be ok.

JoeOxfordCT

How tough was it to register ???

khuon

The longest XC race I ever did was 35 miles. However, I have done 50 and 100 mile offroad rides in the past. As others have put it, they weren't really races but more of challenges. I've also done a few offroad touring type rides that exceeded 200 miles of biking and camping. That required a lot of gear... more gear than what many of the road-touring folks usually carry.

telenick

Firecracker 50
Leadville 100
Vail 100
Durango 100
Montezumas Revenge
24 Hours of Moab. Solo division.

They're all brutal races. I did my first 100 (Leadville) on a hard tail. Never again will I subject my body to racing for 9 hours on a hard tail. Although they are faster.

JoeOxfordCT

So what were the 50/100 miler one day events like ?
Which ones ? How many people ? Terrain ??? What were the last 20 miles like ?
I'm not interested in touring off road at this point...too little time & money but the one day events (albeit a long day) sound possible down the road some...
Here's my thought though...on these longer courses, are they as technical as the shorter and/or race courses ? I don't mean like how much climbing, I don't care about that per se but are the courses laid out differently than the shorter/racing type courses ?

telenick

Yes, just as technical. Long and technical.

khuon

The 50 and 100 mile rides I did were basically longer versions of race courses but they were less technical. The 100 miler was pretty much as XC as you can get without riding on pavement. It was a lot of fast rolling smooth terrain with some steep climbing. Many of them are just more laps.

JoeOxfordCT

Which specific rides have you done ?
I live in New England so I am going to be partial to the rides closest by but I'm interested in learning about others too.

Drunken Chicken

Longest "challenge" I've ever done was 22kilometres long, uphills and downhills. I had a lot of fun, it was great, but I can't imagine doing 50 mile endurance races.

skunkty14

Pretty hard. I registered in the first 10 or 15 mins registration was opened. I had just pysched myself up enough that I needed to do this, and I knew it would fill quickly after hearing from past riders.

From what I read on the events site, all 800 MTB spots were filled in roughly 2 hours.

GreenFix

Hey Joe,

You got some good advice.

I have ridden part of the VT 50 the past two years as a sweep crew. It is a gorgeous course and it is very well run. Skunk you will have a blast. You probably already know this, but just keep increasing your mileage/time in the saddle. It is nice because it is late in the season, so it gives you plenty of training time. Last year the guy who won the race was on a single speed, though a lot of people are not out there to race, they are just enjoying the ride. Be sure to pause and take a look around when you get tot he top of Garvin hill. You will know the hill when you ride up it because you will be passing through some gorgeous maple groves, then you will ride off the backside of the hill, back to the top, jump a fence (on foot), and have one of the most beautiful sag stops I have ever seen. It is by far the nicest view in our area. The only draw back to the course is that if it is raining the course can get very sloppy.

A 50 mile off road ride (at least the VT50 version of it) is not really equivalent to a road century. It feels longer. I was chatting with another guy that has ridden the VT50 for many years, and we decided that it feels more like a century anda half, whatever that means. It is really apples and oranges.

As the slogan says long live long rides. Try a couple, you will not regret it.

GF

JoeOxfordCT

GreenFix,

Thanks for the feedback !! A couple of questions...is the Vermont100 open to mtbs or just horses ?
...and is there a pattern to the type of equipment failures you see at this event ? Drivetrains ? Suspensions ? etc. ?

If I were to do the event it would be purely to just finish....I have no desire to race, just to enjoy the scenery....haven't been to VT since I was kid so this will be a good excuse next year

GreenFix

The only VT100 event I know of is the ultramarathon. I am not familiar with any 100 mile mountain bike race around here (maybe 24hours of great glen comes the closest). Most horse people do not want bikes around while they are riding, so I doubt that they allow bikes on the course.

The year it rained a lot, most of the failures (and there were a lot of them) were brakes. I was running a front disk, and even that faded away. I know of three people that wore completely through new sets of pads during that race, and one guy destroyed his rims. That was an unusually wet year. Drivetrains also suffer in the grit and slop, but that is just a great excuse to go single speed .

If you have suspension in good working order, I doubt that would fail on the course, unless you had a big time crash.

If you want to see some of VT and the trails around here there are plenty of places to go. The Kingdom trails is worth the trip, and there is some local stuff around here (I-89 I-91 intersection) that is really nice. The views from the kingdom trails do not compare to Garvin hill, but if you want 100+ miles of can't remove the smile from your face single track, the riding can't be beat. There is not a lot up there for the freerider, but you wrote you were not interested in that.

Cheers,
GF

GreenFix

Joe,

Check your PM.

GF

JoeOxfordCT

GreenFix.

Thanks for the info on the 24 Hours of Great Glen.
Can you recommend any other distance type rides in the New England area ???

apclassic9

Sounds like you're looking for XC marathons - usually at least 40 miles up to 80 or 100. Some NORBA races have these - check thier listings.

August 13th at Slayfork, WV is the Wild 100 backcountry race - no set trail - you get a map and checkpoint positions. Some folks complete it in about 9-10 hours, some take a few days... Contact Gil@ertc.com

Also, the Massanutten HOO HA, Massanutten VA, (8-14) usually has a marathon category (snowinfor@massresort).