Welcome to the 2010 XC Series @ Blue Mountain, presented by GUATS
This blog/news section will be maintained by series organizer, Bob Miller. Watch this area for news on trail conditions, weather updates and anything new and exciting about the series.
Update: Tuesday August 24, 2010, 11:00pm
Tonight's results and the Final Series Standings are posted on the Results page. Thanks to everyone who came out in 2010. Watch for news of the 2011 XC Series next spring. Have a great fall and winter.
Update: Tuesday August 10, 2010, 12:22pm
Trails are drying out nicely, and will be in great shape for tonight's race. We'll be running the Upper-South loop.
Update: Tuesday July 20, 2010, 3:00pm
Trails are in great shape & nearly completely dry. We'll be riding the 5k Upper North Loop tonight. There are a few moist areas on some punchy climbs where it might be advantageous to have a knobbier tire. Blue has also completed a new re-route for the Kids 12 & Under turn-around on this loop, which eliminates a steeper downhill gravel section. All in all, it should be a great night for a ride.
Update: Tuesday July 6, 2010, 9:00am
The new upper trails are in great shape and have been seeing decent traffic over the past few weeks, which has them well ridden-in for tonight's race. Be sure to arrive at registration on time as we'll be using an upper loop tonight & you'll need to allow time for travel to the top of the hill for the race start.
For those rider's who are under 18, you can prepare all of your paperwork ahead of time if your parent's can't make it to registration with you. In adddition to these waiver's you must also possess an OCA Citizen Permit, or Racing License. Simply follow the instructions below:
Riders under 18 who cannot be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian:
MUST complete an event waiver (PDF) and an online waiver with a parent or legal guardian in order to participate in the race series.
Event Waiver (PDF)
- Both pages must be printed, completed with a parent or legal guardian and brought to registration
Online Waiver
- Go to https://websales.bluemountain.ca/summer_ecommerce/
- For riders under 13, select ‘Bike Park Youth Pass’
- For riders 13-17, select ‘Bike Park Teen Pass’
- Select ‘Add to cart’
- Riders will be charged a $10 fee
- Rider and parent must watch the video together
- The parent or legal guardian must agree to the waiver
Important Update: Tuesday June 29, 2010, 1:12pm
Due to wet weather and conditions the weekly XC Series, scheduled to begin this evening, will be postponed until Tuesday, July 6th.
Update: Monday June 21, 2010, 3:20pm
I was out riding the upper trails at Blue Mountain this past Friday, they're in great shape and ready for the XC Series. As mentioned previously, Blue has been building new trails on top of the hill, which we'll be able to use this summer in the XC Series. The new trails will allow us to rotate between three separate loops keeping things fresh and exciting for the 9-week series. They've also added more new trails on the lower loop, which will bring that section up to 5k for the first wave of riders, while other waves will ride shorter loops down below.
If you're under 18 years old it's very important to note you'll need to have a parent, or legal guardian fill out all of your paper-work for the series, this includes a Blue Mountain Bike Park Pass, the XC Series Waiver, as well as the OCA License/Permit.
Everyone should note we'll be moving registration into the Grand Central Lodge, next to Badlands Sports in order to make registration run more smoothly. When we're running events on the upper loops you'll still need to register down below, but your entry will include a lift up top on the gondola, or you could drive to the top, via Scenic Caves Road and park in one of the upper lots after registering.
Update: Monday March 8, 2010, 11:30am
Preparations are underway for the 2nd season of the XC Series @ Blue. This year we'll be running a 9-week series every Tueday night from June 29th to August 24th, 2010. Blue continued bulding new trails into the fall last year, and we'll be able to ride an extended section on the lower loop, as well as some completely new trails on an upper loop. Watch this site for more details in early June.
Update: Wednesday Aug 26, 2009, 1:20am
Results from tonight's race are now posted on the Results page, or can be viewed by clicking here.Keep checking the website for news of a possible weekend race at Blue Mountain in early October, plus we should have some excellent pictures from tonight's race available in the picture viewer over the next few days.
Update: Thursday Aug 20, 2009, 9:20pm
New photos from last Tuesday's event have been posted in the photo album at right.
Update: Wednesday Aug 12, 2009, 9:15am
Another great night for racing as we were spared from the thunderstorms that struck closer to the GTA. The trail still ran a bit slick in some of the treed areas, which made for difficult climbing in spots, but all in all it was running pretty fast. We received some feedback regarding the trail conditions, specifically about some slick rocky stream crossings and some bumpier ski-hill crossings. I'll pass this info. onto the trail builders at Blue who have been working hard at improving the trail.
Results from Race #2 are now posted on the results page, or can be accessed by clicking here.
Finally, another big thanks to our prizing sponsors last night. Specifically, GUATS, Blue Mountain, Rusty's at Blue, Free Spirit Tours, Inner Balance Day Spa and Skiis & Biikes. Check out our Links page for more information on these great companies.
Update: Wednesday July 29, 2009, 11:12am
Thanks to everyone for coming out & making the inaugural race a big success. I'd appreciate any feedback, or ideas on how to improve the races, simply e-mail me @ bob 'at' xcseriesatblue.com. We're already working on making the race a bit longer with some new trail for the next event, and we received feedback about possibly making a shorter loop for the Kids category, which we will implement at the next event.
I noticed a few people snapping pictures at the Start/Finish area. If you'd like me to post your pictures in our picture viewer to the right, send them my way.
The results from the first race are posted on the RESULTS page, or can be accessed by clicking here. If you notice any discrepancies, send me an e-mail and I'll get it sorted.
Finally, a big thanks to all our sponsors for providing an amazing selection of draw prizes. Last nights prizing was highlighted with; a slew of organic, bamboo t-shirts from GUATS, a summer 2010 MTB Seasons Pass at Blue Mountain, two paddling Seasons Passes from Free Spirit Tours, a $50 Gift Certificate from Rusty's @ Blue, and cool swag from Arrow Racing and Burton.
Update: Monday July 27, 2009, 12:36pm
I've received a few e-mails asking for more details about the new trails at Blue Mountain we'll be using for the XC Series, so here is some more information.
First, this is a link to Google Maps showing the new lower trail, which I GPS'd last night. You'll notice the loop came in at 3.42km, however, we'll be adding another small section for tomorrows event, which will bring the loop over 4km.
http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=44.4968,-80.312605&spn=0.014479,0.038495&z=15&msid=111805464309904992921.00046fb24d2d4de3ced4a
Next, are a few pictures of the new singletrack sections the Blue Trail Crew built. As you can see, they've done a great job cutting some excellent trails up, down and across numerous treed valleys towards the south end of the property. The trail crew is also working on an upper XC loop, which may be ready for one of our later XC series events. The upper loop would require a gondola ride to the top of the hill for the start.
 
Finally, below is an elevation profile. We'll be riding a counter-clockwise direction. As you can see, the trail slowly climbs approx. 65m over the first half, with numerous smaller ups and downs along the way. A similar undulating, but predominantly downhill course finishes the second half of the loop.
All in all, the new lower trail is riding fast & flowy. I'd guess the trail is 80% singletrack & 20% doubletrack, while approx. 50% of the singletrack is in the forest and the other 50% crosses open fields. It should make for an excellent race course with plenty of challenge in the singletrack, coupled with numerous wider sections where passing will be a breeze.
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