{"id":2452197,"date":"2019-12-12T22:08:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T05:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/snowmass-to-host-first-snow-bikecross-event-this-weekend\/"},"modified":"2019-12-12T22:08:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T05:08:00","slug":"snowmass-to-host-first-snow-bikecross-event-this-weekend-during-passapalooza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/snowmass-to-host-first-snow-bikecross-event-this-weekend-during-passapalooza\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowmass to host first Snow BikeCross event this weekend during Passapalooza"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Jesse Kirchmeyer, front, and Brock Hoyer compete in the Snow BIkeCross finals at X Games Aspen 2019.<\/strong>
Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Snowmobiling is fun and all, but snow bikes are the new rage in the on-snow motorsports world. Essentially a dirt bike with snowmobile-like tracks instead of wheels, snow bikes made their X Games Aspen debut in 2017 with Brock Hoyer taking the inaugural Snow BikeCross gold at Buttermilk Ski Area.<\/p>\n

The rising sport will now make its Snowmass debut this weekend with the Snowmassive Snow BikeCross event on Assay Hill, part of Aspen Skiing Co.\u2019s Passapalooza festivities<\/a>. Just shy of 40 professionals are expected to compete in the free-to-watch races.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a perfect opportunity to come hang out and check out some great racing,\u201d said event organizer Joe Duncan, who has helped produce the motorsport races at X Games for more than 20 years. \u201cWe have a full sound system, so everyone can hear the announcers and racing. We have a really cool course that the Aspen Skico guys made us with snow and were able to get us built.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assay Hill is located near Base Village, next to Viceroy Snowmass. The top of the chairlift is near the Elk Camp Gondola\u2019s midway station. The Viceroy will be open for food and drink with racing going on only 150 feet away. Skiers and snowboarders will be able to access viewing areas along the course (a ticket will be required to access the lifts) while there also will be access for foot traffic.<\/p>\n

The Snowmass races will feature some of the best up-and-coming talent in the sport, although a win this weekend doesn\u2019t guarantee the athletes anything in regards to taking that next step to X Games. However, a good run could lead to an invite.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t call it a qualifier,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cWe kind of call it an invitational. It\u2019s where we look at the next top racers that we would want to come to X Games.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of the pro men, there are divisions for women, youth and adaptive athletes, as well as a mountain\/amateur division for some of Aspen\u2019s locals. With a strong winter storm expected to hit the area this weekend, possibly bringing a few feet of snow, there is the chance some races could be canceled. Duncan said inches wouldn\u2019t matter as much as the racers\u2019 ability to see the course.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of snow doesn\u2019t affect us,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cIt\u2019s if it\u2019s windy and the visibility of the snow, that\u2019s going to be the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pending any weather issues, there is a practice session Friday from noon to 4 p.m. that is open for viewing. Racing begins Saturday at 11 a.m. and goes until about 4 p.m. Sunday\u2019s races begin at 10 a.m. and wrap up around 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

X Games is scheduled to return to Buttermilk Jan. 23 to 26, with the snow bike events set for the weekend.<\/p>\n

acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jesse Kirchmeyer, front, and Brock Hoyer compete in the Snow BIkeCross finals at X Games Aspen 2019.Anna Stonehouse\/The Aspen Times Snowmobiling is fun and all, but snow bikes are the new rage in the on-snow motorsports world. Essentially a dirt bike with snowmobile-like tracks instead of wheels, snow bikes made their X Games Aspen debut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 02:23:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}