Details Announced for the First eMTB Western XC Regional Championships
Press Release: Bootleg Canyon Gravity Racing
USA Cycling has just awarded Bootleg Canyon Gravity Racing and DVO Suspension with the very first ever E-Bike Western Regional XC Championships at Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City, Nevada. With the regional event including all western states, please think of this as a multi-state championship event. There will also be a Coyote Classic XC series for conventional mountain bikes.
The Coyote XC races will all start at 9:00 am and the Coyote E-Bike races will start at 1:00 pm. There will be separate courses for both the E-Bike and the conventional XC races for these three DVO Coyote race weekends. This series will determine who are the fastest and fittest E-Bikers and Cross-Country racers in the west.
Early E-Bike races at Bootleg had no age brackets or even categories as they went with an Open Men and an Open Women choice only. This championship series has combined the Pro with Open and also has a Category 1 and a combined Category 2 & 3 with age brackets. For Category 1, a 60+ age bracket has been added by popular demand.
GT Bicycles and DVO's Joey Foresta/Photo by Bryson Martin Jr.
Event organizers have made this historical event into a fall series with the races happening on September 25, October 23, and the finals on November 20, 2021. All points will count towards the overall awards and winners from each category and age bracket will win a custom winners' jersey designed by Bryson Martin Jr. All that place in the top 3 at each race and the finals will also be awarded medals on November 20. In order to win the overall, you must have the most points and be present at the finals.
Rider is All Mountain Cyclery and DVO's Austin Hentsch/Photo by Bryson Martin Jr.
Each E-Bike race will feature a new course hand-picked and designed by Brian Lopes. Expect a super fun Pro/Open and Category 1 course with multiple laps and the same course for Category 2 & 3 with fewer laps. Organizers are hoping that Lopes will take advantage of the gravel pit with some Super-Cross-like features that will be highly visible for all spectators in attendance. With Lopes onboard and an event of such importance, rumors have quickly spread throughout the Moto-Cross world and some of the moto stars just may be participating in this inaugural event.
Rider is Yamaha/DVO Brian Lopes on his way to a 1st place finish at the last Bootleg race/Photo by Bryson Martin Jr.
The conventional XC racecourse will be chosen by local XC racers and have a challenging course for Pro/Open and Category 1 with 3 laps and 2 laps for Category 2 racers. For Category 3 racers, there will be a separate and easier course with just 1 lap. With all of the categories, course choices, and age brackets, there will be fun competition for everyone.
Rider is All Mountain Cyclery and DVO's Teagan Heap/Photo by Bryson Martin Jr.
Bootleg Canyon has a nice mix of DH and XC trails. For this XC series, only the XC trails will be used so please do not let the stories from the Bootleg downhillers frighten you away from these fun-for-all racecourses. Trails like Lakeview, POW, Bladerunner, Par None, and Girlscout will be used. There is a field limit of 250 (250 for each race) for this event and it is expected to sell out.
Brian Lopes (Yamaha/DVO) and Joey Foresta (GT/DVO) Photo by Bryson Martin Jr.
Registration will be online only and opens on Tuesday, June 1st at 12 noon pst. Register for the entire series for only $150 or for an individual race for $60 each. Signing up for the series saves you $30 and you are all set with registration for the entire series!
Event website HERE
Facebook event page HERE
Photo by Bryson Martin Jr.
A huge thanks go out to the late Brent Thomson for having the vision, passion, strength, and friends for making these mountain bike trails. Also, not possible without the Boulder City Parks Department, DVO Suspension, All Mountain Cyclery, ODI Grips, Trucker Co, Intense Cycles, MJT Designs, and Box Components.
Official Event poster by Bryson Martin Jr.
Author Info:
Member since Jun 7, 2005
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we had a post ride conversation from a couple weeks ago almost turn into a fist fight, the topic was "buying an ebike is stupid, buy a motorbike instead".
Regarding your interaction with nature being disrupted by ebikers, you are probably looking at it the wrong way, if you had an eBike you could go to places you havent gone before, further away from being disrupted, but yet again, buying an eBike is not that cheap, hahaha.
I am honestly ok, with more people riding everywhere, there is lots psicological BS on people minds, that going out to nature somehow is gotta help.
(Doping not withstanding, that is an issue for normal XC racing...but it does apply to e-bikes competition too.)
Leave room for 100 km or 150 km races for 24hr events or multiday events, in which people have the option to camp overnight or something.
eMTB on XC tracks is just a cashgrab tbh.
dont ditch the transmountainrange idea though.
you read it here first
Used in a sentence... "there is no more downhill, I guess I'm gonna XC my bike over to the lift"
I have raced all 3 disciplines and there is a big different in riding technique for each one.
Last time I looked at my eMTB it is pedal-assist, so not a MotoX or MTB, it is it's own racing discipline.
And you’re aware that many XC races already have so many brackets that most fields have single digit riders right? Did you post a “everyone gets a trophy” rant about that?