Macbride Fat Tire Classic Full Route Description:
The race will start in downtown Solon, take the north shore pea gravel trail west towards the park for a couple miles before heading NW on the Ely Bike Trail towards the Polk B-Road/600 Acres OHV park. After a full tour of 600 acres racers will double back to the point where they initially left the pea gravel trail to head NW. At this point racers will hop back on the north shore pea gravel trail and take it West to hook up with the steep and twisty hiking/snowmobile trails in the northern part of the park which will take you down near the reservoir boat ramp. From here you will make your way on park access roads through the park before hopping back on the twisty pea gravel near the boat rental/beach area which will take riders west to the spillway where we will have a special stop providing beverages and food in a nice grassy area overlooking the spillway and reservoir.
After all this the racers will continue across the spillway where they will be met by volunteers to help them get up the cliff over to the field campus side of the lake. (That's right there is a cliff that must be scaled!) make sure you are comfortable hoisting a 30+ lb bike up a small rock formation if you sign up for the race! Racers will then head east along the hiking/ski trails toward the sailing club, and then cross over into the woods east of the sailing club and head down towards Anglers point. After riding the wooded trails through Anglers point they will cross Mehaffey Bridge Rd. and take more wooded and hilly snowmobile trails almost all the way back to Solon before hopping on about 5 miles of scenic gravel and heading into town. A short but steep gravel climb on Racine Ave. will be the last defining moment before crossing 180th St. into town. Volunteers will be staged on 180th St. to stop traffic and allow for riders to sprint into town if necessary.
If you’ve ever ridden or hiked any of these trails, you are probably getting pretty excited by now! Absolutely amazing trails and stunning scenery to take in for most of this route! The full race loop will be challenging to say the least and the top 5 finishers should expect to be out there for around 3 hours or more depending on conditions.
Macbride Half Classic Fun Fat Ride Description
Riders of the Half Classic will start in downtown Solon and take the north shore pea gravel trail west towards the park. There will be a couple fun detours off of the pea gravel to explore some dense pine forest and a rough and tough secret trail. After a few miles of pea gravel trail riders will find themselves in Macbride Park where they will take a couple different park roads to make their way down towards the beach and boat rental area where they will hook up with more twisty pea gravel that will take them to the spillway area. After reaching the spillway area riders will be treated to a fun stop including brews and food and featuring the world famous Lion's Club Bacon Brothers! After riders get their fill of beer and bacon its time to turn around and head back to Solon the same galsh darned way they came in.
Riders participating in the fun ride should be able to complete the out and back loop in about 1 1/2 hours if they hold a brisk pace, but could make the ride last up to 2 -3 hours or more at a proper "stomping" pace. In 2018 we learned that some folks managed to pretty much spend the whole dog-gone day out there!
Due to the nature of the weather this time of year the race will be for fat tires only (3.5") and wider. We will be holding the event rain or shine and freeze or thaw so its important to only allow wide tires to prevent trail damage. Hopefully we will be able to hold future events at later times in the year and allow other tire sizes to participate. There is even talk of a marathon/endurance mountain bike event with multiple laps of the course involved!