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.

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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.