Matthew
05-03-2006, 11:19 AM
The steeplechase trail system is set to open this saturday (May 6th). The trails will be open from 9 to 4. For the first time ever we will have the entire 5+ miles of brand new singletrack open for riding. If you haven't ever ridden virgin singletrack, now is your chance. Also if you are planning on racing the mnscs this is a good chance to preview the course.
If you haven't ridden at Steeplechase before, here is a quick run down of the trail system. It's all brand new singletrack less than 1 year old that takes off from the top of the ski hill and heads east towards the zumbro river. This isn't typical ski hill singletrack. The entire intermediate loop is located east of the ski hill on a seperate piece of land that happens to be owned by the same person. Its all heavily wooded with short up hills, switch backs, rocks, drop offs, and three long bridges over gaps. Not to mention the occasional log pile and the stream bed crossing at the bottom. The net elevation gain during these 3.5 miles is around -300ft. The trails then head back west across the bottom of the ski hill before a singletrack climb that gets you back to the top of the ski hill with a few switch backs thrown in for good measure. If the you really want to challenge your skills you can always take the xc rig down the IMBA designed downhill course on the west side of the mountain as well. It has enough drops and tables for anyone, with a few b lines for the hard tails out there.
The trail system at Steeplechase is the result of coutless hours of work from the local rasc club and would not be possible without the support of steeplechase management and the enormous amount of time spent working on the trail by our head trail honcho Jeff Roberts. The trail is under constant development with an end goal of 15+ miles of singletrack. Trail work is every saturday morning from 8:30 until 12:30 and all trail workers ride for free after work. For more info on trail work or maps of the course at steeplechase please see www.rasc-mn.org (http://www.rasc-mn.org).
Also starting next wed (may 10) A three race time trial series will start at steeplechase. There will be an A and a B category for each race and series winners announced at the end of the 3 week series. There will be a fee of 10 dollars for all none Rasc Riders.
If you haven't ridden at Steeplechase before, here is a quick run down of the trail system. It's all brand new singletrack less than 1 year old that takes off from the top of the ski hill and heads east towards the zumbro river. This isn't typical ski hill singletrack. The entire intermediate loop is located east of the ski hill on a seperate piece of land that happens to be owned by the same person. Its all heavily wooded with short up hills, switch backs, rocks, drop offs, and three long bridges over gaps. Not to mention the occasional log pile and the stream bed crossing at the bottom. The net elevation gain during these 3.5 miles is around -300ft. The trails then head back west across the bottom of the ski hill before a singletrack climb that gets you back to the top of the ski hill with a few switch backs thrown in for good measure. If the you really want to challenge your skills you can always take the xc rig down the IMBA designed downhill course on the west side of the mountain as well. It has enough drops and tables for anyone, with a few b lines for the hard tails out there.
The trail system at Steeplechase is the result of coutless hours of work from the local rasc club and would not be possible without the support of steeplechase management and the enormous amount of time spent working on the trail by our head trail honcho Jeff Roberts. The trail is under constant development with an end goal of 15+ miles of singletrack. Trail work is every saturday morning from 8:30 until 12:30 and all trail workers ride for free after work. For more info on trail work or maps of the course at steeplechase please see www.rasc-mn.org (http://www.rasc-mn.org).
Also starting next wed (may 10) A three race time trial series will start at steeplechase. There will be an A and a B category for each race and series winners announced at the end of the 3 week series. There will be a fee of 10 dollars for all none Rasc Riders.