Tabor time for mountain bikers

It’s the last race of the local mountain biking season and it promises to be a thriller of epic proportions.

High-speed descents and edge-of-disaster jumps will be the order of the day Sunday at Tabor Mountain Ski Resort at the Prince George Cycling Club’s Chainsaw Downhill race.

“This is the last race of the season and it’ll be pretty exciting, the first pure downhill race since the last time Tabor was open (in 2006),” said Andrew Steele, the Prince George club’s mountain bike director.

The downhill race route follows the Loosey Goosey trail, which is rated as a more difficult intermediate run with dirt and wood features, with rocks, roots and some surprises built especially for the race by course designer Mitchell Thibault.

“It’s decently steep, pretty rough, with a few jumps in there,” said Steele. “It’s not one of the most challenging trails on the hill, but in the context of a race, absolutely.”

Steele estimates most racers will complete the one-lap time trial in three minutes 15 seconds or less, with the fastest riders crossing the finish in about 2:30.

If fewer than 50 riders enter the race, there will be seeding races starting Sunday at 10:30 a.m., which will determine the start order for the final race, which begins at 1 p.m. If more than 50 enter, there will be just one timed race for each rider in the afternoon, with a morning practice session.

Race organizers advise riders to use Saturday as a practice day to learn the course.

“We’ve capped it at 100 (riders) and we’re hoping to hit that,” said Steele.

The cost to enter is $15 for PGCC members and $20 for non-members. All riders are required to purchase a $30 lift ticket. Full-face helmets are required and body armour is recommended.

Tabor first opened its lifts to mountain bikers in 2004 and operated the facility for three summers before the resort owners determined there weren’t enough lift users to make it economically viable. Steele said the experimental return of liftassisted mountain biking at Tabor on summer weekends this year has been a success, with enough riders to justify reopening the resort to bikes next year.

“Tabor’s fantastic, it’s a great element to have in the riding community here in P.G, with a decent variety of trails up there,” said Steele. “There’s a lot of good, challenging steep trails and a lot of well-designed stuff there. I know there’s plans to introduce a lot of new intermediate-level trails later this season and next season so they will be opening up a lot of stuff that makes the hill more family-friendly and more accessible to everybody.

“It’s a vital component if we’re going to build Prince George up as an overall ride destination for mountain bike tourism. There are plans in the works for them to host a pretty big event next year.”

This is the last race of the season and it’ll be pretty exciting, the first pure downhill race since the last time Tabor was open (in 2006).