The date is September 30, 2017. The distance will be one hundred miles. The mode of conveyance will be your mountain bike. The place?
Red River Gorge, Kentucky
That’s right, long distance mountain biking is coming to Kentucky, and it’s landing in the Gorge this year.
The first questions you might ask: is there really that many miles of trails in the Red River Gorge? The answer is ‘no.’ There is very little purpose-built bike-optimized legal singletrack in the Gorge region. What we have are lots of roughed up and sometimes forgotten dirt and gravel roads. Many are more technical than rocky singletrack. Many are downright tougher than whatever you’ve been used to riding.
There is a little bit of singletrack. Next year there will be more. The year after even more. A group of us have recently formed the Cave Run – Red River Gorge Mountain Bike Alliance (CRRRGMBA) and we’re applying for status as an IMBA chapter. We have trail projects being built. We have more projects being planned. For now we’re relying on the existing network of dirt and gravel roads, the Daniel Boone Backcountry Byway, and some of the new trails we’ve built. In the months between now and the race there will be a couple or three more miles of trails built. Mountain biking IS coming to the Gorge. No, it’s here. It’s here to stay.
Whatever money we raise for the race will be rolled back into the local efforts to expand mountain biking. So your participation and your support will help grow the infrastructure and community of mountain bikers in the region. The energy you expend and the dollars you spend will help to create more mountain biking opportunities in one of Kentucky’s iconic outdoor destinations.
The potential for new trails in this area is unbelievable. There is no reason we can’t have great trails in the Red River Gorge area. Nothing is preventing it but the will to act.
Mark your calendars. If you don’t want to race consider volunteering. If you can’t make race day consider helping us out on trail days. If you can’t make trail days please consider contributing to CRRRGMBA.
No matter what…this is going to be EPIC and unforgettable.
So why should you race the RRG MTB 100? Only you can answer that question. Only you can decide if you’re up to the challenge.
Red River Gorge MTB 100 
Hope you will consider having a 1/2 ride also. Lots of us would love to do it but won’t have the time/ability to train for 100 miles of tough track. Also, would be happy to arrange a group to come from Louisville a few times in early and mid summer to do parts of the track to entice some to get involved. Any chance of working together to organize something. Louisville Bicycle Club as hundreds of members, some of whom would be willing and enthusiastic participants. I can help coordinate.
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Paul,
I’ve worked on trying to come up with a viable 100k route. I’ve also looked at a 50 mile route. The problem I keep running into is by adding a “shortcut” to the route I end up almost doubling my volunteer needs and end up using busier and more paved roads for a shorter course.
I will keep working on this as there have been a lot of requests for a shorter route. If we can do it efficiently we will. If we can’t we may have to wait a year or so until we are better established and have more resources to be able to pull it off.
Thanks for your interest!
Chris
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Chris – this looks awesome. For planning purposes, are you able to tell us what town/campground/etc. we should plan to base out of?
Thanks,
Dom
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That is a great question! Let me put together a little visitor’s guide. I’ll try to have that up before I open registration. For now as far as lodging goes there are cabins and a few hotel rooms in Slade. You can also search for cabins and hotels in Powell County (Stanton and Clay City), Campton, and Beattyville. The planned start/finish is going to be equally distant from Stanton, Campton, and Beattyville. Stanton has the most services, but if you want a full compliment of restaurants and shopping your best bet will be Winchester or Mount Sterling. We’d love to have you stay in the Gorge area though, so stay tuned for my personal recommendations. I’ll put together a list asap.
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