Nine weekends of racing for Colorado and New Mexico
Mike Broderick in Granby, Colorado (Image credit: Mary McConneloug & Mike Broderick)
The Mountain States Cup will kick off in just under a month. The 2011 calendar has been set with nine weekends of racing in a variety of disciplines including time trial, short track, cross country, downhill, dual slalom and four cross.
The first race at Cheyenne Mountain State Park in Colorado Springs on April 8-10 will offer an early season tune-up for racers. Rabbit Valley follows in Fruita, Colorado, on April 29-May 1, and it will be the exact same as 2010 in terms of courses, featuring plenty of singletrack. Salida will host a new event for the series with round three on May 20-22.
The gravity part of the series will get going in Angel Fire, New Mexico on June 3-5, and the venue is also hosting a short track, cross country and super d. There, the downhill will possibly be run on a new course if it is done being constructed in time.
At the Crested Butte round in Colorado on Jun 24-26, pro and category 1 cross country racers will get to do a 40-mile loop while the pro downhillers can participate in the Wildflower Rush race as part of the US Pro GRT.
The round in Telluride, Colorado, on July 8-10 will use last year's courses and will double as the Colorado State Championships for all disciplines.
Keystone's racing, to be held in Colorado on July 22-24, will likely get a dual slalom added to the calendar and a shorter downhill course so the finish time is closer to five minutes.
The penultimate event, the Blast the Mass, will feature a new Mega Super D, with over 3,000 feet of drop from start to finish in Snowmass, Colorado.
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The series will wrap up at Sol Vista in Granby Ranch, Colorado - the same venue that hosted the mountain bike national championships for the past two years.
All Mountain States Cup events in cross country, downhill and four cross are qualifiers for the USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships. The Mountain States Cup is a "Regional Championship Series", so it qualifies riders 15-deep.
