The Cowbell Challenge is a 12-hour mountain bike race -- held on June 23 -- at the US National White Water Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a USA Cycling Ultra Endurance Event, the sixth annual competition is for points and a purse in the 12-hour solo categories. It's the Cowbell, so look for great trails, great competition, food, music, and special events.
Welcome to our Grassroots Channel! This is the place to see and share stories, photos and videos of the big event. ... We're giving away prizes from South Park Cycles for best photo, video and blog about the Cowbell, so learn how you can win.
BONUS RAFFLE: Join this Grassroots Channel and be eligible to win MTB goodies from South Park Cycles. (Click "subscribe" in the orange box above right.)
The 2007 Cowbell Challenge came and went...but one last competition still remained - the best photos, blogs and videos! Competitors and spectators shared their photos, stories and videos from the race here at the YourMTB.com Cowbell Challenge page, and to make things a bit more fun, with the help of South Park Cycles we held three contests for those that submitted their stuff. Without further ado, here are the winners!
The home of the Cowbell Challenge is my home trail. I know every inch of this trail system and it's one of the courses I race in as part of the Summer Series local to Charlotte. I'm still new to racing but I'm doing well so I thought I would give the Cowbell a shot and enter the 6 hour solo. The start was great, we did a prelude lap around the Whitewater Center as the spectators lined both sides ringing their cowbells. It made me feel like a Pro XC Racer as we made our way threw to the singletrack. I was placed somewhere in the middle just going along with the flow.
This was my first race and it was fantastic. I competed in the men's solo 6 hour category and had a blast. I'm feeling it a little today, but I'm ready to sign up for some more events the next chance I get...
8:30 a.m. -- We arrived in Charlotte for the Cowbell Challenge where we were directed to the parking area assigned to Duos - directly under the power lines. You could actually hear them "sizzling" overhead - a rather ominous sign to my way of thinking! Despite that, my husband Steve and I set up the sunshade and gathered our supplies - food, liquids, helmets, gloves, bikes, sunscreen, chair, chamois butter (which I naturally forgot to apply...) and got ourselves checked in at the registration tent.
Well, here it is 5:00 in the morning on the big day and I'm nervous!!! Naturally, I'm worried that I'll get run over by the "real" racers, especially since my knee is still much too weak to allow me to stand up and pedal uphill. Fortunately, I'm used to getting passed, so as long as I have a chance and space to get out of the way quickly, hopefully things will be okay.
So it's the night before the big race. I would say I've been waiting for this for a while, but it's really only been a week or so. I just wanted to thank my friends and parents for making it down to Charlotte for the event. With a 4:45 alarm set for tomorrow, I don't know if I'll be in a particularly gushy mood in the morning. Especially considering that that rude awakening will be followed by a two hour drive, two hours of registration/hydration/urination madness, and then 6 hours of racing. Yeah, I should bust out the thank you's now, I'm getting groggy just thinking about tomorrow.
Does this happen to anyone else? It seems like my bike is the fully functional, smooth shifting, tight braking, creak free ride that I expect it to be whenever I don’t have to ride it. Although this is my first race, I have taught mountain biking through my school’s outdoor education program (www.coe.cornell.edu) for 2 years now. Through the whole semester I forget I even own repair tools. Then my classes start up and I can’t leave the house without brakes rubbing and gears jumping. Scouting rides turn into repair clinics. Repair clinics turn into anger management sessions. Anger management sessions turn into frantic trips to the bike shop to get things straightened out ASAP before my next class where something else breaks… Damn hex.
Cowbell Challenge – Wow, those two words bring back some memories! It was at the 2003 Cowbell where I had what I consider my first “real” win at an endurance mountain bike race, taking the Solo Women 12-Hour Division by mere minutes. That race helped teach me how to dig down deep and find the inner strength and determination to achieve my goal, and luckily the race finished at a point when I had managed to gain a few minutes over second place!
Fuuuuck!!Well it's two days out and i've been diligently consuming my own body weight in cookies and ice cream--kind of a simple carb bukkake thing.. i know, i know, it's all wrong, it's COMPLEX carbs that we want, well.... lets be honest, they just aren't as fun, and besides, my knee hurts so i wont' be doing that well anyway.. best just to wallow in a corn syrup funk, besides, the good folks Betty Crocker need my support!!!
So my history with the Cowbell Challenge is unfortunately quite short. I’ve been looking at getting into various kinds of endurance racing for the past two years or so, but the “if I only had time”s have gotten the best of me. My girlfriend as I finally signed on for a sprint adventure race in Macon, GA called the GEICO Ocmulgee Adventure Race (GOAR). We registered early and have been training four to five times a week trail running, biking, and a little paddling as well. But the race isn’t until July and I was itching to compete. So I scoured the internet looking for a race that fit in the one or two weekends I was free and found Cowbell about a week and a half ago.
My name is Daniel Grillo. I feel like I've been starting a lot of corrrespondences like that recently seeing as I'm a 21 year old college student. But then again, a blog reader is a bit different than a potential employer, professor, or financial aid officer, all of whom need that down and dirty introduction with no dead air between "hello" and "my name is." The reality, though, is that I'm just as nervous with my Yourmtb.com endeavors as I would be with the afore mentioned pillars of a twenty-something's existence. This is, you see, my first blog...it also happens to be about my first endurance race...which also happens to be my first bike race. I know, I know, who accepted this guy as a blogger, right? Hopefully my rookie status will only elicit more comments/feedback rather than scare it away. Anyway, I'll be back shortly with some thoughts on how I got involved, training, etc. Looking forward to Saturday...
What that means: Competitors, participants and spectators alike will use this site as a homebase from which to share their photos, stories and videos from the race.
As an added bonus, we're giving away prizes to those who post the best stuff! Check it:
The Cowbell Challenge in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fast approaching! For the June 23 endurance mountain bike races, we're looking for 3 athlete (or spectator) correspondents!
Simply blog about the race, take a few photos (and/or even video clips), and you'll get a free solo entry to the Cowbell.
This is part of YourMTB.com's cool event correspondent program. They're looking for competitors and spectators who want to have some fun photographing and blogging about the race.
Join us for the 2007 Cowbell Challenge at the US National White Water Center, in beautiful Charlotte, NC. As a USA Cycling Ultra Endurance Event, our sixth annual comptetition is for points and a purse in the 12-hour solo categories. It's the Cowbell, so look for great trails, great competition, food, music, and special events.
2007 attractions include Dash For Cash, King & Queen of the Mountain, Fastest Lap and more. While you're here, check out the way cool facilities that USNWC offers: rafting, kayaking, climbing and so much more.
