NYS Mountain Bike Race Series

The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup is coming to the US this year, which has cranked up biker energy level all across the country. We saw a sample of this right here at Belleayre with the third race in the New York State Championship series.

Racer categories, or CATS, separate mountain bikers into Beginners (Cat3), Sport (Cat 2), and Expert (Cat 1). Each cat is further broken down into age brackets. Pro racers have their own division. This ensures a level playing field and plenty of awards. The Cat 2 and 3 races started in that 10 AM.

The Belleayre course was laid out with 4.7 miles laps. There was 700 feet of of altitude gain on each lap, not surprising for a ski area. The section through the woods featured single and double track and, even in the middle of a hot and dry summer, a surprise mud puddle.

The Cat 3 beginner races had 2 laps, Cat 2 sports raced 3, experts four and the pro races went five laps or 23 ½ miles.

NORBA and USA Cycling sanctioned the event, provided the time keepers and officially declared the winners.

The afternoon starts were for the experts and pros divisions. The New York State Cup is an amateur series. The pros who show up are training, using this race aas a tune up for the upcoming World Cup at nearby Windham Mountain.

Three pro men took off first. 20 year Old Seamus Powell in bl;ue and white took a quick lead over Scott Feltmate and Gregg Waggoner.

By the time they finished the first section of the first lap Powell was more than 10 seconds in front.

Powell kept pressing and pushing, opening an insurmountable lead before the first lap was complete and lapping riders from the other categories.

Women, single gear and the underpopulated expert age brackets formed the last heat.

Sporting plate #1, Bryna (Byr as in Cry) Blanchard was the only woman pro in the race. She gave the expert men a run for their money.

American women are a force in cross country mountain biking, holding down two of the top four team rankings. Blanchard has tradition and the support of a strong program riding with her. Her time for the five laps was under two hours.

The single gear race took much longer to complete, but the competition was no less intense.

Another RadXSports video with Tony Lanza and Dawn Church.

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[taverned]

Nice video, thanks for putting it on youtube