By Polly Mikula
Mountain biking events are growing with the popularity of the sport. But new large-scale events require a huge amount of logistic coordination and manpower — creating one that spans the town of Woodstock connecting three trail networks for hundreds of mountain bikers is certainly a big feat. But that’s exactly what the Woodstock Area Mountain Bike Association (WAMBA) is doing Sunday, Aug. 17 with the debut of the Triple Crown Throwdown.
The event will replace the Eastern States Cup, which the association supported in past years.
“The whole board was behind the idea of doing our own fundraising event, instead,” said Quinn Uva, the race director. “My dad [Todd Uva, coach of Woodstock’s varsity mtb team and an active WAMBA member] mentioned: ‘How do we work with the flow of the town without disrupting the lively atmosphere of Woodstock and put on a fun event?’ So I was like, ‘Well, why don’t we just do it as a one day stage race?’ So then I pitched that to the board and then got named race director.”
All proceeds from the Triple Crown Throwdown will fund ongoing trail work and future projects at WAMBA.
The event will be headquartered at Saskadena Six (247 Stage Road, South Pomfret). Racers will begin by riding to Mount Peg for the first stage, then to the Aqueduct Trails, then back to race Saskadena.
The total distance is about 38 miles, which includes the road transfers. About 24 miles of it will be timed riding on single track, Uva explained.
“It’s essentially three back-to-back crosscountry races,” said Uva. “Plus, it combines enduro segments.”
“There is no event like this,” said Uva. “Nobody really does mountain bike stage races anymore. They were a thing at one point and now we’re kind of (hopefully) trying to bring this back… we hope to get a good crowd, and then next year we can expand,” Uva said.
Racers will be timed from start to finish at each of the three crosscountry networks (superstages) as well as separately for a downhill portion within each of those legs (enduro substages).
“If you don’t like going fast downhill, you can just focus on the crosscounty segments,” said Uva. “But, on the other side, a lot of people may not be quite as big into crosscountry and just want to rip the Enduro portion. That’s cool, too. We’ll have a separate podium just for the three enduro segments… but all participants must ride all segments. Whatever you choose to focus on, you’re still doing 38 miles and 5,000 vertical.”
Uva estimated that the top riders will complete the event in under 4 hours. “I think it’s possible someone could do it in the low 3-hour range, but they would have to be moving, like full gas the whole time. It’s hard for me to gauge because there’s a lot of winding around so as not to cross paths with other racers. It’s an all-day adventure for sure,” Uva said, adding, “In the next couple of weeks I’m going to do it myself. Obviously, as the race director, I can’t race my own race, so I’m going to do it solo, to just see.”
Uva just finished his senior year at Woodstock High School where he was a captain of the varsity mountain bike team. In the fall, he will attend Saint Michael’s College to study mechanical engineering and physics. He will also continue to compete mountain biking as well as race on the NCAA Nordic Ski Team. In addition to preparing for the Triple Crown Throwdown this summer, Uva is racing the RaceDay XC Series. He plans to go to the crosscountry nationals in mid-July, where he will race both XCO and marathon championships as a first-year U23.
An endurance test; e-bikes welcome
Uva and the WAMBA board hope the new event will attract riders of all abilities, not just elite racers.
“Anyone who feels confident in their MTB skills could do it,” said Uva. “All features have ride-arounds. All of the trails are certainly rideable by intermediates and up.”
While the race does have a junior (under 18) category of entry, “It’s probably too long for most young kids,” Uva said. “I would guess that there are some kids in the Vermont Youth Cycling League that’ll do it. If you’re a high school ‘A’ rider you’re going to do it okay. Or even some of our 8th graders on the mountain bike team — some of those guys have done the Vermont 50 and the Overland before, which is probably just about the same amount of time on a bike,” he said referring to two long-established mountain bike events that are 50 miles and 55 miles, respectively.
For those that want to enter the event but are unsure they have the endurance, Uva strongly recommends e-biking. “We’re definitely super welcoming to e- bikes. I want to make that clear. We hope it’ll allow more people to participate, and they can use as much or as little pedal-assist as they need,” he said.
WAMBA has not set a cap on entries but might if registration gets too high. “We don’t have a particular cap per se, but I think there’s like a limit to how much we could actually handle,” Uva explained. “Like 500 would be insane. I think we’ll probably have a loose cap at around 200 to 300 riders.”
Many well-established races in Vermont, like the Vermont Overland and Vermont 50, sell out quickly.
To encourage early registration there was early bird pricing of $95 for open adult categories through June 17. After that the price increased to $135 and $70 for juniors. Registration includes food provided by Ranch Camp and beer from Long Trail Brewery.
The price for this event is less than other long-distance races like the Vermont 50 (starting at $190) or Vermont Overland ($208), but slightly more than the Slate Valley Epic ($100). But most importantly, it’s a fundraiser for the local trails.
“The average entry for a mountain bike marathon event is in the $150 to $200 range,” said Uva. “We didn’t want to make it too crazy so that we could get more participation.”
Getting a good turnout is the primary goal for the first year of the event. “We wanted to create a really fun community event that is also a fundraiser,” Uva said. “If you want to race it, it’s a race, but it’s really a fundraiser and just a really good time.”
For more information, visit: mtbwoodstock.com/triple-crown-throwdown.
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