Whiskeytown Lake and Weaversville hosting final rounds
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The Lagrange Fall Classic cross country course is not only fun and challenging; it’s also awash in beautiful autumn color.(Image credit: Vic and Kathy Armijo)
The water-crossing at East Weaver Creek is a popular spectator spot on the Lagrange Fall Classic Downhill.(Image credit: Vic and Kathy Armijo)
Two more races remain in the Giant Northern California Mountain Bike Championship. The penultimate round, the Whiskeytown Classic, at Whiskeytown Lake will happen over the weekend of September 25-27. The series finals will be the famed Lagrange Fall Classic in Weaverville on October 16-18, when the category championships will be awarded in cross country, downhill and super D.
The Whiskeytown Classic will kick off on the afternoon of Friday, September 25 with a short track on a three-tenths of a mile course with a fireroad climb and a flowy singletrack descent. Saturday's cross country will be on a 10-mile, 80% singletrack course. Beginners will do one lap, sport riders will do two and experts and pros will do three.
"Whiskeytown Lake has become a favorite destination for Northern California mountain bikers," said organizer Vic Armijo. "This is some of the best mountain bike riding in the state. The trails and ditches built during the gold mining era are so much fun to ride."
The Whiskeytown Classic will conclude with the super D on Sunday afternoon on a course that's almost entirely singletrack, has some great flowing sections, a rock garden and only a couple of short climbs. It's well suited for riders on an all-mountain set up.
The series will wrap up three weeks later at the Lagrange Fall Classic. That weekend will start Friday, October 16 with a super D that's mostly singletrack and comes with long winning times of around 28 minutes. Saturday's cross country is on mostly singletrack trails that were dug by hand during the gold rush days of the 1850s. The beginners will race a 14-mile loop, all others get 22 miles. The short track will happen on Sunday morning, and the series will conclude that afternoon with the famed Lagrange Downhill with a long course that starts way up near the top of Weaver Bolly Mountain and runs for about eight minutes. There's a bit of everything on this one, steep and loose, fast and smooth, twisty and technical, and a creek jump.
For more information, visit www.teambigfoot.net or call Team Bigfoot at (707) 845-3095.
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Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews. She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.
