Race Report: California Dirt MTB Series, TDS Ranch - Pro Men XC
Race: California Dirt MTB Series, TDS Ranch - Pro Men XC
Date: June 1, 2025
AVRT racers: Jon Wells
Top Result: Jon Wells, 1st Pro Men
Course: 3.7 mile loop in Grass Valley, CA with almost 3k feet of climbing for the 4 loop course. Course is entirely single track with lots of loose turns and some fun technical sections thrown in. TDS Ranch is closed to the public for the rest of the year outside of race weekend so the trails are very fresh and loose dirt
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/14667355587 (got cut short)
Nutrition: One bottle of 100g carb mix. Also put down another 100g carb bottle during my warmup to preload.
Race Recap:
Race is basically all single track so getting a good start is key. I got out in a front group of 4 which quickly separated and I found myself tacked onto the back of it. It was tricky to follow in the very loose corners since so much dust was getting kicked up but I also hadn’t pre-ridden the course so I wanted to follow some others around. This group was myself and 3 junior racers.
Ultimately, the juniors dropped me at the beginning of lap 2 on a technical uphill section. Once dropped I was just focused on covering the course as quickly as I could on my own. I didn’t see anyone else from this point on and was able to do just that, ticking off fairly consistent times for laps 2, 3, and 4. Ultimately I rolled in by myself having been bested by a few of the junior riders, but they were all scored out in their own category so I was the pro men class winner. I would’ve loved to stick on the speedy junior riders for longer but I think I did a really good job managing my effort once I was riding alone, which can be tricky to do in these races. Also it was great to ride on trails which are otherwise off limits for the rest of the year! My win this weekend combined with 3rd from the weekend before also left me in the overall series lead for the CA dirt MTB series with one doubleheader race weekend left in October.
-Jon