Press Release

The Trail Party Series Introduces Gravity Stage Racing 19

"Racing should be a good time." Learn about a new format of racing coming to Colorado and New Mexico this summer.

Trail Party
2/6/2019 1:22pm
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Join Team Trail Party this summer for a race series built on the fundamental principle that racing should be a good time. The events are focused on reaching a broader audience of rider by creating a laid back race experience.  We call this exceptional format Gravity Stage Racing.

Trail Party is rider-owned, giving our organization a unique insight into rider experience. We believe that every rider deserves the same level of service in our race from beginners to professional.  We are dedicated to creating a loyal rider base that will in turn support sustainable events that could someday be offered at Bike Parks around the nation.

The Format

The format of the Trail Party Series stands out from other gravity mountain bike races by alleviating many of the stresses that negatively affect the outcome of the rider’s weekend.

100% Lift Access

Riders will be fresh for the downhill stages.

“Best Of” Format

Allowing as many runs as a rider wants, means a mechanical, small crash, or catching another rider will not decide the outcome of a race.

Ride the Stages in Any Order

Letting riders go to whichever stage they would like throughout the day reduces long lines and adds an additional layer of strategy to the event.

Ride the Stages with Your Friends

Riding with friends or team members keeps the good vibes going all day.

The Venues

Purgatory Bike Park - June 29

The series will kick off in iconic Durango Colorado at Purgatory Bike Park leading into the 4th of July holiday. Riders will experience 3-4 stages in the bike park. Stay after the race to ride all the amazing backcountry that Durango has to offer. This event has all the ingredients to be a legendary party on bikes. 

Pajarito Bike Park - August 10

Our second venue on the tour is located just 40 minutes from Santa Fe in Los Alamos, New Mexico. We had our inaugural test event here last year with amazing feedback. The trails in the bike park are straight out of a backcountry downhill paradise and the surrounding 20 min plus descents around the city make this New Mexico’s best-kept secret. Take our word for it, you do not want to sleep on this event. It could become one of your favorite places to visit.

Angel Fire Bike Park - September 7

The final stop for the summer tour takes place at Angel Fire Bike Park, Trail Party’s home away from home. This event has been in the works for 3+ years and we are elated to have the tour end at one of the best bike parks in North America. We are pulling out all the stops for this party. There will be a kid’s pumptrack race before awards and we are working on a system where the registered riders get to vote on a stage to be used in the race! 

A New Day for Gravity Racing

Trail Party would love for you to join us at the bike parks this summer. Take a look at some of the reviews from riders that have previously ridden with us:

“The Party at Paja 2018 was a super relaxed format that provided a stress-free race environment for young and old racers alike. I definitely think this is the future of MTB racing and I can’t wait for the next one.” Teddy Jaramillo-Transition Bikes

“Hands down one of my favorite races of the year. More relaxed atmosphere than enduro races, but more bang for your buck than DH. It’s the best of both worlds.” Alex Scott-Jagged Axe Trail Design

“It was an awesome day of riding with a little friendly competition. Definitely my funnest race day of 2018 and I can’t wait to do it again.” Syd Schulz-Jamis Bikes

Registration

Early registration is open now which will give the first 100 riders that sign up for each event the opportunity to save on entry fees. A series relies on its rider base so please sign up early and share with your friends.

www.trailparty.com             IG @TeamTrailParty                 FB Team Trail Party

Photos by Keith Smathers

Related:
Durango, Colorado
Angel Fire, New Mexico
Los Alamos, New Mexico
19 comments

View replies to: The Trail Party Series Introduces Gravity Stage Racing

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profro
5 years ago
Why is mountain biking so afraid of actually requiring endurance or even pedaling ( Lift assistance for 350ft vert)?

Personally I relish having to factor my fitness for timed stages when I just climbed 1000ft.
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Hollywood Gainey
5 years ago
Cross country Riders could literally make that argument to every style of mountain bike racing except theirs. I myself signed up for a full enduro Series, because really this isn't the ideal series for me, (you) although it will be for a lot of people. As I mentioned in another comment
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bulletbass man
5 years ago
Plenty of Enduro series have long transfers. Many have no lift access what so ever. This is clearly meant to be more of a fun get together with a quality clocking system than a full on competitive race series. I rarely plan vacations around races as the payout is usually lower than planning vacations around riding. As someone who likes going fast against a clock, this seems like best of both worlds. I doubt they'd stop you from pedaling up the access road if you wanted to.
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profro
5 years ago
Pretty soon we will just have lift assisted e-bike multistage downhill racing.

The association that fun can only be had Without human powered transfers is the wrong direction for the sport.

Last year I race cross country, enduro, downhill and even a 12hr and able to have fun, even with all that pedaling. The least fun was the multistage stage downhill race that was disguised as an "enduro".
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bturman
5 years ago
These mountains are all very large.

The way I see it, this format allows competitors to be as fresh as possible for their actual race runs. If anything it'll make it more competitive. There's plenty of endurance required to sprint your ass off for several minutes at a time.

Want a backcountry enduro event? Someone offers those, too. Choices!
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boaz
5 years ago
hmm. I agree, if someone is not as fit as you they shouldn’t have the privilege of participating in a race if they don’t want to train for the climbing. Grow up. This is great for people looking for a good time without worrying about what 3k feet of climbing will do to them in a day
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JLF1200
5 years ago
Spoken like someone who's never tried to be competitive at an elite level enduro. The weekend is long and stressful AF. It takes an incredible amount of logistics AND fitness just to get your practice laps in, and then you've gotta worry about leaving enough in the tank to race well. It's certainly not what I'd call "relaxing," and these guys want to offer a care-free weekend where you're still finding out who ripped the descent fastest. Why does that insult your sense of bike-gaming so much?

Look, this format will never be considered a test of pedaling fitness combined with descending skills. But luckily we have this format call "Enduro" to find the best riders in that regard.

Don't even get me started with this "earn your turns" XC bullshit, though. Go enter a DH race and tell me how fresh you feel after 4 mins of racing.
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Who is A A Ron?
5 years ago
People will vote with their dollars. I have raced several of the BME races and EWS races. Aspen EWS was a pedal fest with 12 mile pavement transfers and huge climbs. Keystone BME has always been a staged DH race with one small transfer. Both were very fun but as far as stress free and easier to get through the weekend the one day multi run DH style format wins for me personally. The two day huge backcountry stuff is type 2 fun. It also takes much more time and money to be there a day early to practice and you have to be fit.

In my opinion there is room for both. Nobody is forcing you to like or participate in any style of racing.
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Hollywood Gainey
5 years ago
Race Cascadia did a round with this new style of racing last year at Bachleor. I think thier series (west coast) is called Full tilt. It seemed to be enjoyed by many.
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Trail Party
5 years ago
That's great that someone else is spreading the format. We started talking to Angel Fire and Mountain Capitol Partners in 2017 to get our Pajarito test event set up last year. Hopefully it will spread.
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Marc_Garoutte
5 years ago
Race Cascadia had a rule last year that if your bike has a dual crown fork it is ineligible for competition. I contacted them and they say that will most likely remain the rule for the Full Tilt Series.
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Hollywood Gainey
5 years ago
Yes, one of my favorite rules of series. I think this is a great way for someone interested in Enduro style racing but dont have the fitness (due to kids, work, etc) or the time to commit to a 5 plus Enduro race series. Much more realistic than 5-6k climbing o top of multi stages for the weekend warrior. Also great for all the ADHD types that cant handle all the sitting around for a DH race! Stoked on these series for all the Joes!
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Trail Party
5 years ago
We do not have a preference on what bike you ride. You could rip a Strider down Lower Boogie and we could care less. We should also mention that the series you talked about only allowed two runs per stage and they have to be done in order. They mention nothing about rolling out with your homies all day. Subtle differences that create a bit more relaxed atmosphere. We know it's not for everyone, but as stated above it's about choices. We just want to see more people supporting bike parks so more rad trails get built.
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TRex
5 years ago
How is this going to be timed? If you can do any stage in any order, any number of runs, does that mean that there are multiple timing stations for accurate timing? Is it a STRAVA based thing?

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