With the addition of the great new addition of “flow-type” singletrack, Erratic Rock, to our trail network last Fall, we had to get creative to determine the race course for this year. The addition of this new trail will allow us flexibility from year to year to keep the courses different. To keep things simple for everyone, we are sticking with 2 courses this year. Kid’s Comp and Citizen will race the same course. After Citizen finishes, we will make a few basic changes before the Sport/Marathon racers hit the trails.
Citizens and Kid’s Comp will not race through the West Ridge, so they will head from Start/Finish straight to Riegel Park, but they won’t ride through the Rock Gardens. Once they leave Wissahickon North (we won’t have any classes racing through Wissahickon South this year), they will ride the Gandy Dancer straight to Big Oak. (These classes will not race our new section, Erratic Rock, but it is a fun section, so feel free to check it out on your pre-ride or come back and ride later this summer.)
The Sport/Comp/Elite/Marathon classes will race a longer lap. They will ride most of the trail network. The highlight will be they get to enjoy our newest section of singletrack, Erratic Rock. These classes will not ride through the ski trails after Riegel Park or Wissahickon South this year.
When you head up to pre-ride, it would be best to park at either the trailhead (marked by the red circle with white T) or at the High School, which is where Start/Finish will be located on race day.
The trails are currently in great shape, maybe a little on the dry side. The rain in the forecast over the next week or so will actually help course conditions. Trails should be open for pre-riding for the next couple weeks. Trails are always marked and open to riding.
Later this week, we will be putting up some basic signage to identify the 2 different race courses, so figuring out the course during your pre-ride will be simple.