Quantico Conditions

[plojaa]

Anyone familiar w/ Quantico to know how it is after rains?

[mongercoster]

Thinking about doing pre-ride in there before crankey monkey!But i never been there.If there is anyone who knows the trail,Please let me know.Ex2adventures.com hasn't posted anyting yet,
Thanks all!

[ThatHurt]

Quantico drains pretty well. Due in part to the hills and sanding soils. A few spots do hold water, either walk around it or ride through it slowly so the trail isn't made wider. I haven't been out there in about two weeks, but there were a few trees down, though I am sure clean up has been done before the race.

[Linneke]

I rode there last Sunday for the first time. Although I did not know the actual race course, I covered a lot of the trails so I'm pretty confident there isn't anything radically different from what I saw. There is a lot of doubletrack with a gravelly/sandy surface, and lots of hills. The singletrack is pretty easy and the few logs seemed to be either small or ramped, so they're nice to cross. The challenge lies in the number of hills - the fireroad hills are gravelly and the singletrack hills are rooty. Some of the hills are long, some are steep, some are long AND steep, so come with a fresh set of legs. If you preride, prepare to get a bit lost - I looped around the same trails a few times and kept ending up back at the same hills. There are some signs marking trails, but they're not really helpful ("Witch Ditch", "Log Jam"), so the key is to remember that you can always find your way out on the sewer line trail, which is conveniently marked with manhole covers every few hundred yards and a funky smell. Just don't start riding close to dark if you're not comfortable with the trails.

Edit: There were still trees down this past weekend, but I'd imagine the awesome folks from Ex2 will take care of them by race day. There is, however, no Quantico trail workday scheduled for this Saturday.

[liznotter]

Thinking about doing pre-ride in there before crankey monkey!But i never been there.If there is anyone who knows the trail,Please let me know.Ex2adventures.com hasn't posted anyting yet,
Thanks all! The Hookie Ride will be at Quantico this Friday (check this thread (http://www.more-mtb.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8548) ), if you can get out on Friday morning. I doubt EX2 will post a course map before the race, they didn't for the 12 Hour; but they did mark the course the day before for that race.

Fun course.... a little bit of everything.

[eloach]

I rode there last Sunday for the first time. Although I did not know the actual race course, I covered a lot of the trails so I'm pretty confident there isn't anything radically different from what I saw. There is a lot of doubletrack with a gravelly/sandy surface, and lots of hills. The singletrack is pretty easy and the few logs seemed to be either small or ramped, so they're nice to cross. The challenge lies in the number of hills - the fireroad hills are gravelly and the singletrack hills are rooty. Some of the hills are long, some are steep, some are long AND steep, so come with a fresh set of legs. If you preride, prepare to get a bit lost - I looped around the same trails a few times and kept ending up back at the same hills. There are some signs marking trails, but they're not really helpful ("Witch Ditch", "Log Jam"), so the key is to remember that you can always find your way out on the sewer line trail, which is conveniently marked with manhole covers every few hundred yards and a funky smell. Just don't start riding close to dark if you're not comfortable with the trails.

Edit: There were still trees down this past weekend, but I'd imagine the awesome folks from Ex2 will take care of them by race day. There is, however, no Quantico trail workday scheduled for this Saturday.

I think the MCORE takes care of the trails there and you can bet they will be ready for the race. Rain during the race would make the climbs a mess, but even if it rains the day prior, the trails should take it fairly well, with the exception of those low lying sections from the 12 hour race, which may or may not be in the Sunday race.

Make sure you try the ~5 foot log pile if it is in the race and you have not gone over it before.

Trail maps do exists, but are not posted on the forum since it is a military base. The best bet is to ride it as soon as the course is cleaned and marked. Saturday would probably be ideal if the weather cooperates.

Also - my GPS reported me going 100 mph and other things of that type while there, so I wouldn't recommend that you depend on your civilian GPS too much on the base.

[Linneke]

Make sure you try the ~5 foot log pile if it is in the race and you have not gone over it before.
Dude, that sucks! I just remembered someone telling me to try that when I went there, but I completely forgot to look for it while I was there. Grr! Can you give a bit of a description and a technique for conquering for those of us who can't make it out there before the race?

[plojaa]

I am planning to head over there pretty early friday.....in fact would rap up around time of hookie start...so if anyone is interested. Plan is 2 laps...one easy to get to know the course again and 2nd to take smoothly but not near race pace.

[eloach]

Dude, that sucks! I just remembered someone telling me to try that when I went there, but I completely forgot to look for it while I was there. Grr! Can you give a bit of a description and a technique for conquering for those of us who can't make it out there before the race?

Ride over it at medium speed. Not too fast, not too slow. It's at the bottom of a hill, so you don't even have to pedal too much to select your speed. You want to go fast enough to go over it without pedaling or needing to break while on it, but not so fast that you catch air off the back side, unless you are an "expert" level rider.

I was nervous about it, but this fellows son casually road back and forth over it on the pre-ride on his 7 1/2" travel free ride bike like it was a joke. So I did it on the pre-ride with the rigid SS and then it was easy on the dually in the race.

Once you come off it, hammer and then quickly drop to the granny so as to clear the steep on the far side.

If it rains and it's muddy, I personally would use extreme caution and make sure you have a straight on line into and over it. Logs and mud don't mix, and this is a decent sized log pile. Any off angle stuff if muddy and wet as I went over and I personally would land pile to the side.

If you can, go back and ride the marked course on Friday or Saturday. If you missed that you might also have missed two other items you should probably get a look at. One is a "downhill" section (the hill is not very big, but it helps to have seen it) and the other is a climb that is a little ugly at the top end (a few "step ups").

[Linneke]

Thanks for the heads up. I work in MD and I'm doing a MASS race on Saturday in DE, so going back to Quantico is out of the question before Sunday. At least I know what to expect now...even it if sounds a lot like doom. But I did Shock-a-Billy last weekend...I can do anything! :cool: (Fake confidence.)

[eloach]

Thanks for the heads up. I work in MD and I'm doing a MASS race on Saturday in DE, so going back to Quantico is out of the question before Sunday. At least I know what to expect now...even it if sounds a lot like doom. But I did Shock-a-Billy last weekend...I can do anything! :cool: (Fake confidence.)

Watch anyone in front of you who does a good job on it as you are coming down the hill (excellent site line) and match their speed as you come down the hill. Think "ramp-up and ramp-down", not "my, what a large log pile!". Looking at the times at the FH race, I think there will be plenty of riders with you and most of them will ride over it.

There were two logs ramped with 2x12s on the 12 hour course. If you didn't ride it already, watch the second one, because the ramp on the down side is steeper than the up ramp and tends to catch one off guard the first time through. You can also air the second one out, but that always works better if you were planning on airing it out instead of simply ending up in the air because you overshot the downside ramp.

IMO - After FH, Q will be a piece of cake.

[Linneke]

Sweet! Thanks for all of your advice!

[StormShadow]

Check out the pics from the 12 Hour race. I think you can see one of the ramps. From what I remember one ramp was wider than the other, but I can't remember which came first.

http://www.waramos.com/thumbnails.php?album=162

[plojaa]

Rode this AM. Conditions were good but sketchy in some areas. A few wet roots/logs. Sandy areas have drained well but there is some sand in some corners that is slippery. There is also some wet clay sections that are slick. No mud or puddles and all ramps etc are not slick. With hot weather should dry out a bit more....

[mike a]

Hopefully the possible thunder storms don't happen... :(