Race Report: Motherlode Epic, Pro Men

Race: Motherlode Epic, Pro Men

Date: June 7, 2025

AVRT racers: Jon Wells

Top Result: Jon Wells, 3rd

Course: 41 mile XC MTB race up at Folsom Lake. The race is broken into 5 stages which are timed and added up, like a stage race of sorts (or enduro for those that mtb). Shortest stage was about 15 minutes and the longest was an hour, all on pretty non technical trails. One big course highlight was the boat transfer you took between stages 3 and 4.

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/14727405094

Nutrition: I carried one bottle throughout since there were aid stations between every stage. Drank 2x 100g malto mix bottles during stages plus lots of small cups of coke, water, gummy worms, oranges, etc at each aid station. Also tried to stay cool with lots of ice and water dunks throughout the day

Race Recap:

This race is broken into 5 stages that are raced (About 2.5 hours worth or racing total) plus untimed transfers in between them. Stage 1 is a mass start but the rest are all time trials that you get to decide your start time/order for. Gameplan was to ease into the racing in stage 1 and 2 (both about 30 min each) before really opening up the throttle for stage 3, which was the longest at almost a full hour. Then stages 4 and 5 would be whatever I had left in the tank, but they were both pretty short, around 15 minutes each, so not as much time could be lost there.

I got off to a solid start in stage 1, taking the hole shot for the singletrack. Once into the woods, I set my own pace that was hard but not red lining. I’d forgotten my garmin in the car so I was racing just on feels, which is tricky for races that are effectively TTs. I never really looked back but I could still hear free wheels behind me so I knew others were around. After ~20 minutes of me leading, two guys jumped around me at the start of the final climb for stage 1. I realized they were the only guys left on my wheel so I jumped in with them. I let them go towards the halfway point of the climb and finished stage 1 in third place, about a minute down.

Stage 2 was net downhill with several punchy climbs thrown in that I planned to hammer as hard as possible. I caught a few guys who started ahead of me but really had no idea how I was doing. There were no results out on course so you didn’t really know how you stood compared to everyone. I felt strong about my time though since I had caught guys. Turns out I had the fastest stage 2 time of the day!

Stage 3 was the longest of the day. It began with a long climb and immediate descent, then was meandering along the lake shoreline for most of the stage, and finished with another VO2 max type climb at the very end. I started right behind another contender in the pro field, who dropped me on the first climb, which was a little heartbreaking. But I eventually caught him back at the end of the stage, and my time would end up being good enough for 2nd on the stage, only 5 seconds back in an hour long stage. Stage 3 ended with a margarita aid station and a quick lake crossing via boat!

Now across the lake in Granite bay, the remaining stages were much shorter. Stage 4 was very punch and twisty, but unfortunately the course was rather poorly marked on this side of the lake. I struggle to follow the markings, and ultimately lost almost 90 seconds on the stage after I took at least 3 different wrong turns that required full stops and turn around to remedy. I didn’t know while on course, but this would ultimately cost me the win.

Stage 5 was another short one, started with a steep minute long climb and then had a fast single track descent before a pretty flat mix of fire road and single track to the finish. I had the 2nd fastest time on this stage as well, within 5 seconds of the leader

All together, my times came in for 3rd overall on the day after a bunch of super close racing. I was only 15 seconds out of 2nd place and a minute off the winner. Without my navigational hiccups in stage 4, I think the win very likely would’ve been mine, which is a bit of a bummer. Luckily we weren’t racing for any serious prizes (race is a fundraiser) so no real harm. I’ll definitely be back in the future, the course and race format were a ton of fun with a super unique boat transfer stage! The after party in Folsom was also A+, featuring the dad bod band!

-Jon