Most Mountain bikers have a core group of riding buddies who share the
love of challenging rides in the woods. Nothing tops the physical toughness, the technical skills, the scenery and the camaraderie of Mountain Biking. Near Williamsport, PA there is such a group of buddies who are members of the Susquehanna Valley Velo Club. The club is mostly road oriented although most of the members ride at least some MTBing. The hardcore MTB members decided to put on a Mountain Bike Race in 2003 to complement with the big Millionaire's Row (roadie) Stage Race put on by the club in early September every year.
When the race organizing group went to find a venue to hold the race, they hit the jackpot. The Logue Family, one of Lycoming Counties oldest families, live on property that has been their's since the mid 1800's. A total of about 800 acres of the most beautiful property in PA. The thing that really is unique about this property though is what Logue's have done with the land and the interesting people they are.
They have beautifully and tastefully shaped the land over the generations into an outdoor playground. There are grass and shade tree surrounded country ponds with numerous species of waterfowl, deer grazing grass fields, scenic overlooks to the rustic farm valley below, turkey and wildlife roaming forests, rock lined babbling brooks, pioneer's hand laid stone fences, mini swamps and trails to everywhere on their family farm.
The Logue family is one of the most down to earth and fun to be around families. George and Tom Logue are the patriarchs of the current generation of Logue's. George has at his part of the farm, a barn and grass covered knoll filled with one of the largest collections of Antique Caterpillar Tractors in the world. This is where the organizers came up with the race name, Cat Classic. Team Trek-VW parked their impressive east coast team support rig in front of a row of Antique Cat Road Graders. What a great contrast and compliment it was: A collection of past, state-of-the-art earth smoothing equipment and a collection of Trek's current state-of-the-art earth smoothing equipment!
The race course itself got as much praise from the riders as did the idyllic setting. A technically and physically challenging course that wasn't just a torture trail. The start area was set up like a Motocross. A wide start line and straightaway that tapers to a 3 bike wide, sharp right hander 75 yards away with a pond on the outside of the first turn. Riders then began the prologue around the pond, up the hill to the racer parking area on a grassy knoll with a huge collection of Road Grader Cat Tractors. At the top of the parking hill, the riders do a 180, go back down the grassy knoll past their cheering fans (well, at least spouses, friends and children), and into the Cat Barn with the earth moving history of the United States.
(George Logue, without request actually had one of his earth moving business employees grade and roll the entire start and finish areas of the course to an almost pavement packed finish). Out of the Cat Barn and past Bob Logue's house, the almost 8 mile course's first 10 minutes put the riders straight onto traditional "Pennsylvania Technical" single track through the forest. Rocks, roots, logs, and off-cambers were the order. You can take it slow and careful and conserve energy, but to go fast, it requires upper body work and skill. Then you come out of the technical woods section past Cal Logue's house and sled dogs he and his wife raise, then over the road past Tom Logue's pond-side cabin.
Next the course goes on to the northern section of scenic rolling ATV trails (sled dog training trails) that are energy sapping because of the covering of grass and small rocks and shallow mud bogs. The course gave the "roadies" one section about 300 yards long. They were too tired from the previous technical sections to notice though. The course worked back to the south past Tom Logue's restored diesel powered antique sawmill and the airport. Yes, the Logue's have a runway on the property and the course trail parallels it on an energy sapping grass covered ATV road. The course then descends down a long downhill that is technically easy but can be dangerous if you're "gassin" it. The daring riders made some time here. Of course, all great downhills are followed by great uphills.
The course works its way back to the top of the mountain on old, steep logging trails and then to the neatest part of the course, the "paved road". So named because this section was so swampy that organizers were worried that the section would be unridable. A work crew consisting of community service youths showed up one Saturday before the race and literally "paved" the worst parts of the trail with hundreds of flat stones drug from the surrounding hill. It is like an historic Roman road, still hard to navigate, but very fun. All water crossings in this section were made into a "corduroy" road. Dozens of 4-foot long logs, 4 to 10 inches in diameter are placed side by side, perpendicular to the trail over water crossings and look like corduroy pants material. Speed and agility make it possible to cross the logs. Apprehension and wet logs made it hard to do.
Coming out of the paved road section, the course rides on the dike of another pond back to the Cat Barn where spectators see the racers go by briefly before you go down to the bottom of Barn Hollow and then climb right back up to the Cat Barn. The top of this climb was the prime spectator spot being near the start, finish and parking. That's also where a big log crossing immediately followed by the crossing an old stone fence is. The spectators loved to watch riders traverse this section. The course merges onto the start straight here and goes up to the top of the parking hill where the old forest fire tower the Logue's bought is located at the highest point on the farm. After all of that climbing, manhandling and mud, the riders are totally worn out. They see the finish over at that Cat Barn but instead of turning back to the barn like they did on the prologue, the course takes sends them over the hill, down through the woods to Joe Logue's barn. Then across Joe's pond dike (5 feet wide, water on the right, straight down woods on the left) right to the beautiful view of the valley below. When the riders look back from the view, the caution sign greets them.
The Caution is because the "Chutes and Ladders" downhill and uphill says
hello to them like a slap in the face. The "Chute" is a straight down, rocky, technical trail to the lowest point on the course. The turns on the chute are lined with hay bales as it is that gnarly and steep. Reports say that Women's Sport Class winner, Michele Stopper, was the fastest down this hill, even faster than Men's Expert winner, Brandon Ott.
The course then makes its final masochistic "Ladder" climb back up to the fire tower. The Ladder climb was acknowledged by the racers as the most difficult long climb anyone had ever seen. Add to that, it was at the end of the lap. Even winner Brandon Ott, who is known as a great climber, only made the climb one lap in three. (Brandon asked the race organizers to make more hard climbs after he won last year's event. He got what he asked for.) The final stretch then goes down the grassy knoll parking area to the Cat Barn finish.
In the Cat Barn for the finish was something unique besides all of the old tractors. Organizers bought a computer stopwatch program for $12 and armed with a laptop, an LCD projector and a movie screen, projected an easy to read race time clock with 5 foot high stopwatch numbers onto the screen. Brandon Ott defended his Cat Classic title from 2003 with a convincing start to finish win in the Exp/Pro Men's division. His conditioning and technical abilities led him to win the event by 14 minutes over 2nd place Benji Souza. First year Pro Jeff Frutchey, who won the Sport race O/A last year, was third.
Brandon said he was just cruising too, because he had to drive down to Delaware for a "big" series race the next day. (The Escape From Granogue/Andrew Mein Memorial in Wilmington.) His paycheck for the day mounted to a $400 chunk of the $1,000 Pro Purse. Brandon's time of 2:24 was over 30 minutes slower than last year's shorter and easier loops. Brandon placed second to Trek's Chris Eatough the next day in DE. Eatough did not ride the Cat Classic in order to conserve for the DE race and reportedly only beat Ott by a short distance.
Organizers only had two Women Pro's but still paid winner Caitlyn Tuel of the Trek Team a $200 cash prize. Lacey Gonzalez was second, but DNFed to conserve for the DE race the next day which she won over Tuel. Caitlyn showed great skill and conditioning with her win with a professional flair that made the Trek-VW East Team and other sponsors mighty proud.
An aspect of the race that is unusual is how the organizing group is comprised and coalesced to turn this into a "must do" Northeast classic. The organizers are students, doctors, sales reps, teachers, engineers, machine operators and bike shop owners. Mountain biking lovers all. They put in incredible amounts of time working on the course. Even each section of technical single track was perfectly groomed. We found local sponsors for the event that raised money for local Boy Scout troop. Besides bicycle product sponsors, the event was funded by local companies not associated with the cycling business. Their interest was the grassroots atmosphere, local to Williamsport and Lycoming County, and that it benefited the Scouts.
The two primary sponsors were Keystone Business Forms (who make exactly what their name implies) and Woolrich who is one of the oldest and well respected makers of stylish and top quality outdoor clothing in the U.S.
The race was fortunate to receive three Pro Purse Cash Sponsors. All three are downtown Williamsport, PA businesses. The first is the Coffee and Tea Room (a Starbucks with personality) owned by cycling enthusiasts Darlene and Bill Hinckleman. (That's the location of our race promotion seminars.) The second Pro Purse Sponsor was Marc Williams Goldsmith, maker of high quality jewelry and a former Nationally Ranked motorcycle trials rider. Yoa's Drafting Supplies was the third. Yoa's, along with Hugh Logue's expertise with GPS computer systems available (from Yoa's) and Cal Logue's Yoa's GPS allowed us to manufacture the ultimate Mountain Bike course map. It was a 3.5-foot high by 6-foot wide aerial photograph of the Logue Farm and was overlaid with standard elevation lines from a topographical map and then overlaid again with a perfect GPS route of the course with tick marks every tenth of a mile. The riders could plan strategies for the race and spectators could easily see the course and scope out prime spectator areas.
These local companies sell to other parts of the country. If you like nice clothes that don't look "corporate", buy Woolrich. Does your business need business forms? Use Keystone Business Forms. Would you like to have the ultimate course aerial photo, topo, course loop GPS map? Hugh Logue and Yoa's Drafting Supplies can do it with copy of your GPS download. Do you appreciate the value of high quality gold craftsmanship? Give Marc Williams Goldsmiths a call. If you're coming to the Williamsport area for fishing, hunting, great mountain biking or the annual Little League World Series, relax at the Coffee and Tea Room and visit the local bike shops for area Mountain Biking info.
The organizers didn't use any of the money from the Pro Purse Sponsors for operating expenses. It all went to the purse. Money brings Pro's and Pro's bring amateurs and prestige to the event. Since this race site is so far from the Big Cities, it needed something to draw the racers besides just telling them about the excellent course and venue. Money talks. Pro's should mark their calendar for April 30th, 2005 with a huge $ sign.
It was amazing that even with the technically challenging singletrack and climbs along with the extremely tough climb to the finish, everyone had a sweaty and dirty look of satisfied, enthusiastic fatigue. It was a good kind of tired. Many riders stayed around afterwards and toured the grounds and met the dozens of Logue Family members watching the festivities. They talked about their collections, land history, settings and creature comforts produced with their own hands and ingenuity. Seventy-five-year old Tom Logue was especially impressed with Brandon Ott. He questioned him on a number of issues pertaining to Pro Mountain Biking while Brandon washed his bike immediately after the race to get ready for the DE event the next day. Trek Bike's Jon Posner and Pat Leslie spent a lot of time talking to George Logue about his tractor collection and on site (At the farm) machine ship that can do precision work to one millionth of an inch. One millionth!
The O/A winner of the Men's and Women's Pro, Sport and Beg will get a carved flagstone with the logo of the Cat Classic Mountain Bike Race to place on the mantel. A true collectors item being carved right now.
Next years race will only get better. More money, better prizes and more race weekend activities. It will even have an added "fork in the road" at the "ladders" climb for riders who don't want to tackle the final climb straight on. They can take an alternate longer, easier, (and slower) route to the top. Stra-te-ger-y at it's best.
Cat Classic organizers are working to substantially build up next years Cat Classic Pro Purse. Will Eatough and other top Pro's show up for the money next year? They will have to go through Brandon Ott and bring every mountain biking skill they have to do it. Or will Caitlyn and Lacey be back to duel again next year?
Below is MBA's Top Ten List of fastest one, two and three lap riders. Contact www.catclassicmountainbikerace.com to experience what paradise feels like for yourself.
FASTEST THREE LAP RIDERS
1. Brandon Ott Brandon...Sr...2.24.25
2. Benji Souza...Sr...2.38.21
3. Jeff Frutchey...Vet...2.50.04
4. Jonathan Posner...Sr...3.00.28
5. Rolf Rimrott...Vet...3.22.23
6. Caitlyn Tuel...Sr Wmn
7. Dave Hill...Vet...3:40
TOP 10 TWO LAP RIDERS
1. David Perry...Sr...1.56.33
2. Werner Fryemann...Vet...1.59.04
3. Matt Potter...Sr...1.59.34
4. George Schneider...Vet...2.01.43
5. Alex Witter...Vet...2.06.47
6. Scott Jeziorski...Vet...2.08.14
7. Chris Stine...Vet...2.08.40
8. Steve Burlingame...Vet...2.08.54
9. Craig Pierotti...Vet...2.10.52
Class winners:
19. Stan Ritchie...Mst...2.29.07
20. Michelle Stopper...Sr Wmn...2.29.46
30. Kendra Sharp...Vet Wmn...2.51.37
TOP 10 ONE LAP RIDERS
1. Scott Podgurski...Vet...0:59.28
2. Eric Burns...Vet...1.04.57
3. James Heverly...Sr...1.07.45
4. Mike Bartlott...Vet...1.09.40
5. Brett Corbin...Sr...1.10.24
6. Westley McElravy...Vet...1.14.00
7. John Callahan...Vet...1.16.12
8. Matt McKinney...Sr...1.17.25
9. Bryan Thompson...Jr...1.18.00
10. Bob Nunnink...Vet...1.18.06
Class winners:
11. Bruce Muthlor...Mst...1.19.47
17. Patty Dougherty...Sr Wmn...1.33.32
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