The Warriors Cycling team headed out to Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch earlier this week to do some trail work and pre-ride the course. I must say that this was my first time at the ranch and I was absolutely blown away by the beauty, trails, and environment. Wildflowers were abundantly sprouting on the rolling ranch land and the ponderosa pines are always impressive.
One of my favorite things to do is volunteer with my local mountain bike club on their trail work nights. The feeling of getting out on the trails and shaping them with shovels, Pulaski’s, McLeod’s, and of course rocks is hard to beat. It allows you to truly get a feel for how trails are shaped, drained, and the creation of “flow” as we like to call it. With that said, I was pumped to work on our PV Derby race course!
We are planning on some more trail work on the course this Wednesday and Thursday. Help is needed and we are offering a FREE race entry AND the opportunity to pre-ride the course before it opens on Friday morning. for details.
Once we finished our trail work for the day it was time to ride. To be honest I was not going to ride because of a nagging knee injury but after being out on the trails and imagining what they’d be like on my bike I couldn’t resist.
It is very hard to describe the beauty of the area and the trails. The course hits all of your riding senses; from fast open meadows, to technical rocky downhills, uphills, traverses, and fast flowy singletrack through Ponderosa Pines.
Originally we planned on setting the course as an 11-mile circuit but after our ride we decided to add more singletrack and less laps. The course is now a 17-mile circuit meaning 3 laps for Endurance, 2 laps for XC, and 1 lap for Appetizer. Juniors, depending on age, will be lapping the short course.
In the end I was very impressed with the Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch. I haven’t even begun to tell you about the campsites, disc golf course, and lake. Come out Friday to experience it for yourself first hand when pre-riding opens at 10:00am. On-site registration and check-in opens at 4:00pm followed by a potluck for all racers camping on-site. Make sure to bring your favorite picnic style dish to share with all. After the potluck join us for a group Night Ride presented by Voyager Made. They will have 15-20 bike lights available for use. We’ll take a smooth social lap around the 5-mile junior course. I can’t wait to experience the trails at night.
You can find more details about the race schedule, the Upslope Brewing BBQ & Brews, and start times on our Event Info page. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you all on the trails on Saturday!