When Evan asked if I wanted to carpool down to Jacksonville for the OBRA State XC MTB race I was pretty stoked. It was a new race to try out so we packed up my Subaru and drove to Medford where we stayed the night before the race. Trying to get enough sleep, we woke up last minute and showed up to the venue just about 10 minutes before the race started. I didn’t manage to get much of a warm-up in, but felt great as we took off on the steep gravel road which spread all of the racers out by at least 20 seconds. I had studied the course map online and remembered seeing that my race was supposed to be about 20 miles with over 3,000ft of elevation gain so I made sure to save enough energy so the climbing wouldn’t wipe me out. I ended up missing one of the first turns and didn’t realize it until I was over a mile past it and had climbed an extra 500ft. After turning around and getting back to the race course, I rode about four miles of downhill singletrack along a steep hillside and was real shocked when I heard bells and saw the finish line, as my Garmin only showed 12 miles, two of those being off the course! I asked the promoter about the mileage and he explained that he wanted it to be suitable to all ages and levels which is why he chose to the truncate the course. I was a little disappointed since I would have stepped up my pace substantially if I had known this ahead of time. Evan won the Pro category capturing his fourth OBRA XC title, and I finished 2nd in Juniors. I’m not sure yet if I’ll plan to race next year in Jacksonville again or not.

Ian Mastenbrook

Yeah, I just raced up and around that mountain!

One of last season’s most disappointing races for me was the Single Speed XC Nationals in Sun Valley. With the two year venue cycle, I got another stab at it this year and finished a big geography loop of racing/riding with a stop at Mt. Baldy. The course had been altered significantly (thank goodness) and we rode one big loop circumnavigating the mountain climbing Cold Springs and descending Warm Springs before returning to the venue via the River Run Trail. As we began the long climb to the top of Baldy, Cameron Chambers put the hammer down and never looked back riding his fully suspended SS weapon away from us like a billy goat. I didn’t have the best legs but managed to begin the descent in fourth and moved up from there to finish second. While it wasn’t the win I had dreamed about it was the best I could do. I had been bested by a better man that day and that was still a much better outcome than last year!

After Furious3 Fernie, I headed south and stopped in Whitefish, MT for a sweet ride with Clint Muhlfeld and Tim Noonan. After a brief stop to see my old friends at Hammer Nutrition I continued on to Missoula. It was Fourth of July and I had heard about a sweet little weeknight MTB series on the PROXCT course at Marshall Mountain so I decided to give it a go. Despite being tired from the stage race and having the SSXC Nationals in Sun Valley just a few days away, it was a great time. If I was still into XC racing I would be all over that course–what a great one! Anyway, it was a good chance to dust off the single speed legs and get blown away by my old buddy Sam Shultz who is on the way to the Olympics! I still managed 3rd overall and sampled some of the sponsors goodness before hanging out with the local MTB crown and celebrating our Nation’s Independence Day!

Stage One

Howdy from the Kootenay Rockies and the second annual Furious3 mtb stage race. For those of you who haven’t checked this one out, it is a 3 day tour of some of the raddest trails imaginable! Read more »