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Cobra Racing is a Bicycle Motocross inspired bandit race in Portland, Oregon. Paying homage to BMX, Alley Cats, Cyclocross and all those who create something rad for their community.
Each racer is assigned a number plate and group number. Racers have three opportunities to qualify for the main event. These qualifying races are called motos. Motos are one lap. Pedal hard! Top 2 from each moto make it into the main event.
COBRA Racing provides equal payout for WTF and Men categories.
A large group of cyclists partook in the first race of the LA Tourist Race series. This 70 mile self-guided race took participants up Mount Lowe into the snow, down the Gabrielino Trail in the rain, across to the Verdugo Mountains before ending in Griffith Park. Totaling over 9,000′ in elevation, it was a long day for many. You can follow along at @LA_Tourist_Race, and follow the #TouristRace for rider’s perspectives. Stay tuned, as two more races follow!
The first race is this Saturday! Don’t miss out, it’ll be a good one!
Los Angeles has some iconic dirt climbs and this January, Golden Saddle Cyclery is hosting a race series dubbed the LA Tourist Race. There will be three events, with the first beginning January 12th. Bring your all-road, chubby road, ‘cross, gravel, hybrid, or XC race bike out and have fun. This is a self-supported and self-guided event from the city to the mountains and back. So come prepared!
Follow LA Tourist Race on Instagram for updates. Thanks for the flier, Barry MCW!
Registration opens tomorrow at 9am MT at Bike Reg!
The Ruta del Jefe is a race in Elgin, Arizona, thrown by Sarah Swallow and it lands in Elgin, Arizona on February 16th. Here are the details:
“Happy 2019 Everybody! Let’s start this year off by kickin’ our butts in gear with a healthy dose of challenge and friendly competition. Ruta del Jefe is on February 16 and registration opens January 9 a.m. MT.
Ruta del Jefe is a 125-mile self-supported adventure race following a variety of dirt, rocky, and sandy surfaces around the Santa Rita Mountains, the lair of El Jefe, one of only three North American Jaguars to remain in the U.S.
The ‘fun’ doesn’t stop there. We’ll be having a camp out the night before and the night after the race/ride and word on the street is @ultraromance will be cooking everyone a very special post-race dinner.
The Sky Islands region of Arizona is one of the most biodiverse regions in the WORLD and remains one of the most spectacular places I’ve ridden a bicycle, yet the region is plagued with many environmental threats and a humanitarian crisis. To read more about the route and the issues at play, click the link in my profile.
Now go get training!”
Flyer artwork by the amazing Mary Rose Lytle Art.
We’ll see everyone there!
If you’re in the Olympia, Washington-area, check out the Evergreen Gravel Race:
“Mark your calendar, the date for the 2018 Evergreen Grinder is Saturday December 8, 2018. The race begins at 5:45am, but there is a mandatory riders meeting at 5:30.
This year’s race will have two options: The original long course (93.3 miles), and another shorter, but still challenging course (61 miles). The starting location is the Safeway parking lot at the intersection of Cooper Point Rd and Harrison Ave in West Olympia. Both courses will follow the same route for the first 38 miles until the longer course splits off to head south on the the D-1000 towards Bordeaux while the shorter course continues east on the C-Line, skirting the edge of Capitol Peak. The courses will again merge on Sherman Valley Rd, therefrom all riders will take on one last gravel stretch on the C-9200, capped off by a scramble down some neighborhood dog-walking trails that lead to Alpine Dr. and the rolling paved hills back to West Olympia. Keep an eye out for pre-ride write ups.”
See more information at the race’s website.
Big Pedal at the Trans Cascadia 2018
Words by Jeremy Dunn, photos from Chris Hornbecker, Daniel Sharp, Dylan VanWeelden, Joshua Lawton as noted.
Trans Cascadia starts off just how one might think. Like, any other bike race really. An unloading and loading up of vans. A makeshift parking lot or an empty field filled with characters and their bicycles. There is the usual building of bikes and swapping of tires all while eating gas station egg sandwiches and drinking the dregs of coffee on the go. From an uninitiated perspective everything seems to be going as planned, it is a controlled chaos sure, but everyone is working towards the same goal. Making it to camp. “That’s going to mean we’re going to need everyone to take their one bag and load up into the vans lined up alongside the road.” Alex Gardner is simultaneously pointing out vans for people to get into and handing out donuts from a stack of blue and yellow Heavenly Donuts boxes.
“These are the legit donuts in Portland, just FYI” Nick Gibson says to someone over his shoulder before grabbing two maple bars and helping someone load their bike into the back of a rental van. Nick and Alex are two thirds of the crew behind all this and they will be involved in nearly ever single thing that happens over the course of the weekend. From donut logistics to running point on a tricky medic situation on the mountain. Tommy rounds out the trio, but we’ll meet him, and his mom Becky a bit later.
If you’re looking for a challenging ride, in a beautiful landscape, thrown by an Independently-owned bike shop, run by some of the nicest dang people ever, then don’t sleep on the Land Run 100 registration, which opens tomorrow at 8am CST! Head to Bike Reg to sign up! Don’t sleep, this event sells out fast! Available spots for each distance are:
100 mile – 1000
50 mile – 400
50k – 150
DOUBLE – 50
Want to go to the Surf City CX Halloween race? Check out the details below, including registration links!
For over 18 years, the Dakota Five-O has been an enticing and challenging MTB race. With pristine singletrack and lovely views of Spearfish, South Dakota, the event is sure to not disappoint!
Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz absolutely killed it with this event. The 2018 Old Growth Classic was the first ever bike race in Big Basin Redwoods State Park, resulting in a truly memorable weekend. The race took entrants through redwoods and meandering roads to the finish where a true party awaited at camp…
Remember that story about Lael racing across Switzerland? Well, here it is in video format! Check out the full press-release below and don’t miss our gallery from this brutal event!
Inaugural Silk Road Mountain Race: Ultra-endurance in Kyrgyzstan
Words by Lian van Leeuwen, photos by TH Photos, Gianmarco Dodesini Valsecchi, and Giovanni Maria Pizzato.
There’s always a first. Last Saturday, ninety-eight riders embarked on the inaugural PEdAL ED Silk Road Mountain Race. It might be the new kid on the block in the field of ultra-endurance bike races, but it’s definitely not the one trying to quietly blend in. Set in the vast landscapes of Kyrgyzstan, this unsupported single-stage race covers over 1700 km and 26,000 m of climbing, following decrepit Soviet roads and alpine horse trails, with very limited options to resupply along the route. All of this to be tackled within a fourteen-day time cut.
Who to watch and what to expect?
As the riders are moving into Day 4, the contours of the race are starting to take shape.
The unpredictable conditions of Kyrgyzstan’s alpine landscape already left their mark on this adventurous race. A sudden and severe snowstorm on Day 1 stopped many of the contestants on their way to the first high peak of the parcours: the 3,780 m Kegety pass. While part of the riders in the front managed to get through, many decided to camp at the bottom to wait out the storm.
The Rose Mountain Rumble is back this year, with a few distance options: 100k, 50 miler, 40 miler, and 20 miler. The event is Saturday, August 25, 2018, with 8 am sign in and rolling start at 9 am. Visit and sign up via http://www.rosemountainrumble.com
The Downieville Classic has been a work in progress since its inception in 1995, yet most recently the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship – the trail organization that throws the race and maintains hundreds of miles of trail in the Lost Sierra – made a massive leap in progress, but not without a lot of persistence, a little luck, and yes, tons of practice. Whatever mountain biking is to you, be it sport, hobby, lifestyle, or all of the above, it requires practice. The SBTS has logged over 25 years of practice working with various Forestry departments: learning the ins and outs of trail stewardship, including but not limited to the politics and practices of making and maintaining mountain bike trails.
Tracklocross with Resistance Racing in the Bay Area
Photos and words by RJ Rabe
The Bay Area has long been a mecca for cycling. Road, trail, whatever. It’s here. Out your door, in any direction, and for as long as your legs can carry you. There’s a niche for everyone. A few niches probably. Enter Resistance Racing. A niche within a niche. Nick Keane and Jean Padilla, the founders of Resistance, combine their love for track bikes and the abundance of trails our city has to offer. Bummed on race fees, the travel time required for races, and the rarity of events, they decided to start hosting a series of their own in their backyard. Races take place in local parks and entry is donation-based. Courses are marked with lines drawn from bags of flour, fallen tree branches, and maybe a piece of trash or two.
Into the Woods for a Dungeons and Dragons Themed Wildcat
Photos by David Smith, words by Hans Van Housen
On the 1st of July 30-some people showed up for the Dungeons and Dragons-themed Wildcat. Wildcats are alleycat-style checkpoint races, but on dirt, and with no experience necessary. These champions came to the Santa Cruz Forest above UCSC to prove that the Sharpie was indeed mightier than the sword. Four checkpoints scattered about the woods stationed with wizards and space wolves. Each racer had to throw a 20-sided dice and if they threw an 11 or lower they would have to spin in a circle 20 times. If they threw higher then a 12, they’d get their manifest signed and head to the next checkpoint. It was madness.
The yearly part party, part race, and all good times return this year to Quincy, California. Grinduro‘s registration opens April, 22nd, so expect to jump on quick because like last year, it’ll book up fast. Mark your calendars, save some of that paycheck and remember, all proceeds from Grinduro go to support the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship.
Mud. It’s hell. A catalyst for catastrophe and the end game for any bike event. Honestly, it’s been the one thing grating at my conscious since first accepting the invitation to the Land Run 100 late last year. For six years now, Land Run 100 has been put together by Bobby Wintle and the team at District Bicycles in Stillwater, Oklahoma. It’s a challenging race on a challenging course, yet the entrants must adjust their own psyche to determine what mental state they will choose to enter these dirt roads. Be it personal grit, the desire to complete the course in its entirety, glory, or to be the fastest group of racers in one of many categories. Racers register for the event to conquer their own goals.
The story of competition is as old as the ages, yet the history of the Land Run was one formed long before the existence of dirt roads as we know them today.
