New race divisions, eye on trail conditions as Summit Mountain Challenge mountain bike series begins Wednesday

The peaks are still heavily snowcapped, but below tree line it’s officially mountain bike season in Summit County.

The annual Summit Mountain Challenge summer-long series begins this evening on the Frisco Peninsula trails, the first of seven events scheduled throughout the summer across the county.

Race director Jeff Westcott said there are a couple of new developments this year for the Mountain Challenge, which the longtime Breckenridge local inherited and has operated since 2001.

First, Westcott made the executive decision to add a second junior racing category for boys and girls between the ages of 16-18. This year, rather than one division, riders 16-18 can choose between an expert and sport division.

Westcott said the new division will make the 16-18 division similar to adult divisions, where riders have the option of racing in an expert division or a more novice, or sport, division.

Westcott is adding the division because in the past few years he’s designed more expert-length courses for those in the 16- to 18-year-old range to meet their riding standard, as Westcott said there is a very strong group of riders in the county in that age range. At the same time, though, Westcott said he’s given it thought that there might be riders out there who would prefer a less-intense competition, or that there may even be riders not partaking in Mountain Challenge event because the race level for 16-18-year-old athletes was out of their perceived preferred ability level.

“It’s a nice little niche,” Westcott said. “I’m also hoping that maybe we can attract some kids that used to be part of the series that have gone on to other activities for a year or two and maybe this will entice them to come back.”

Also this year, Westcott will launch a new racing category without age restrictions: big bike open.

Westcott said the inspiration for the new division is to provide a specific race for locals who are riding mountain bikes substantially bigger than many of the lighter, cross-country bikes top Mountain Challenge racers ride on.

Westcott expects many entrants in the division to ride bigger trail bikes, such as enduro bikes. The race director also said, similar to the new 16-18 boys and girls sport divisions, he’s hopeful creating this big bike division will fit a demand from riders who are either already racing in other Mountain Challenge divisions against cross-country bikes, or not partaking in Summit Mountain Challenge events all together. Westcott said he thinks that demographic of riders is out there because each year at the Breck Mountain Enduro, the race receives many local participants who don’t come out for other Summit Mountain Challenge events.

“And, frankly,” Wescott said, “they are at a disadvantage when they are racing against somebody who is on a pure cross-country bike, because how I am defining an enduro or trail bike is minimum 5 inches of travel and weighs at least 28 pounds. So anybody who is on that type of bike is welcome to race in the big bike open category. And there are no age breakdowns — this is just one open category.”

Speaking to any alternate plans for Mountain Challenge events considering the lingering snowpack up high and, in some locations, wet, mud-season-like conditions, Westcott said, as of Monday, the only change made to this summer’s schedule thus far was to reschedule the Breck Mountain Enduro from June 22 to July 20.

“That course takes place at the Breckenridge Ski Resort and they have quite a bit of snow still,” Westcott said.

Westcott has been in contact with the Mountain Challenge’s land managers, namely the U.S. Forest Service, Summit County Open Space and Trails and the town of Breckenridge’s Open Space and Trails department, regarding any potential race course reroutes due to wet conditions. As of Monday, Westcott wass aware of a few potential wet spots and was ready to reroute the course if need be.

As for the rest of summer, Westcott said the land management partners have been understanding and willing to work with him on any more potential adjustments.

“We have the option to postpone, the option to cancel,” Westcott said. “We are always weighing all of the options. Number one is the protection of the resource. To avoid wet trails come hell or high water. That’s just not cool.”

On his own end, Westcott said he will continue to monitor conditions, as the longtime winter-, spring- and summer-time sporting event director knows as well as anyone how quickly weather and conditions can change.

“It’s too early to tell, frankly,” Westcott said. “We’re going to get summer. Summer is going to come, it might be a little bit later, but we are going to be fine. And we’ll just not use any trails that aren’t ready to be raced on.”

via:: Summit Daily