It is a snow job — the Epic Rides Carson City Off Road mountain bike series event is being pushed back to the end of June this year.
The event will be held two weeks later than originally schedule and this year’s races will be held June 28-30. With the large amount of snow that has fallen this winter, event director Kurt Meyer said it’s hoped the extra two weeks of warm summer weather will all riders to attack the back country as planned.
“We’re just hoping we’ll get some warm weather and that after a little longer wait we’ll be ready to get everybody up in the back country,” Meyer said.
In 2017, the back country course had to be scaled back and riders were relegated to lower elevations. Despite the March Miracle of large snowfall in 2018, riders were able to return to the higher elevations.
But Meyer said he and a crew of three other men spent three days before the 2018 event cutting the trail to make that happen. Asked if something similar will have to be done this year, Meyer said, “I suspect that.”
The event will again provide options of 15-, 35- and 50-mile courses (the 50-mile course is actually 52 miles). The planned course to be used includes the Ash Canyon to Kings Canyon Trail and the Marlette Flume Trail.
In a perfect scenario, there will be just enough snow at the highest levels so riders will have to get off their bikes while trying to ride through that portion of the course as they have had to do in the past. “They loved it,” said Meyer about that part of the course. “That’s all part of the experience.”
As far as what the weather is going to be like between now and the event, Meyer said organizers will adapt. “We’ll see what mother nature hands us and what kind of cards we’re dealt.”
There were 900 riders in last year’s event and Meyer said it’s planned for 1,200 riders to participate in this year’s event. “Last year was an amazing success,” he said.
Meyer said he expects a large number of professional riders to again participate this year. He said with the buzz from last year “I can only imagine they all want to come back.”
Meyer said he hopes moving the event back will remove some of the uncertainty of the event. “They may not be registering because of this,” said Meyer about riders not knowing the status of the event because of the weather.
“This might spur registration,” added Meyer about moving the event back.
But he also understands the problem for riders who have already registered and may not be able to make it on June 28-30. “We’ll definitely give them a full refund,” he said.
The schedule includes the Pro Fat Tire Criteriums which will be held through downtown Carson City on Friday, June 28. The Capitol 50 back country ride will be held Saturday, June 29 and the Pro back country races and the Kids Fun Ride will be held Sunday morning, June 30.
For all the information on the event, including the schedule, information on the course and registration information, visit https://epicrides.com/events/carson-city-off-road/event-guide/.
