Some day, I'd like to be able to complete a 100 miler on dirt. As of right now, I can (barely) finish a 12 hour solo. I signed up for VQ 09 already. What are some good events in CA (or nearby states) that I can take part in to work up to a 'hundie'?
I have the same goal. My farthest 1 day mtb ride so far is 70 miles. It was part of the Bend Big Fat Tour. I've been thinking about finding a route in our local hills that would work. Bad thing is, it would be mostly fireroads. But if I could put one together, and knock it out, and not have to pay $$$ to do it, that would be a big plus in my book.
idyllwild spring challenge long course...is definitely one in my book! i think they have an open category so sport level riders can still go after the big course!
Julian The Julian Death March......lame name but it's a great race. I think mileage was around 80ish when I did it. It's a cloverleaf and you can bail after the 2nd leaf if you're not feeling the 3rd. It's a tough race....and definitely a good step between the VQ and a 100 miler. Other than that....lots of big training rides to be done in the Santa Anas.....especially if you connect into Chino Hills/Carbon Canyon(if it's not on fire). Also...Big Bear. You can map out 60-80 mile dirt routes up there without trying all that hard. Those are awesome and fun. B
Like on the road 100mi can be really hard or fairly easy depending on the terrain and your speed. To hit the 100mi mark offroad for the first time I'd look at something with more fireroad as that tends to be less physically demanding.
Too Funny, I have this route I've been looking at lately that would get you close to 80-90 miles. Basically it's Vail lake to Idyllwild and back to Hurkey Here's the points of interest: Start @Vail lake-Point X Camp-Cauhilla mountian-down to Bautista rd.-Up to Thomas mtn.-down Ramona trail-hwy 74 to Hurkey creek-upper southridge-lower southridge-finish @ Hurkey creek
I've heard if you follow Allison around the Vail lake course for 12 hours you should get pretty close. :clap:
Big difference between a mtb ride and a mtb race over 100 miles.The hardest race/ride I've ever done was the Brian Head 100. I did this once and it was really difficult. I've done over a dozen double centuries on the road, some with a lot of climbing but none of these were as hard as the BH 100. I believe 75% of the ride was over 8,000 feet though. I've done 75 and 80 miles twice in the dirt also and these are truly fun challenging rides but be prepared it can get dangerous at this distance.
