Primal Quest Thoughts.

At the shop I work at we've been getting a few calls a week on the mountain biking here and what kind of equipment they should be riding for the Primal Quest Adventure Race.
So the race is in a couple weeks, right? Ah. June 21st through July 2nd.
Well, if you're planning on coming here, here's a rough and incomplete description of the terrain you'll probably encounter:

• Soil ranges from slightly loamy to sandy-ish to clay. Popular tires around here are Kenda Nevegals; Specialized Fasttracks and Resolutions; and WTB Wierwolfs, MutanoRaptors, and Nano Raptors. Moisture and location will have a tremendous effect on what tire works best. If your route takes you over clay and it's wet (which it most likely will be) then no tread pattern will work- narrow tires will be the least worst. If things dry out a wide (2.3+) tire with small knobs will handle the dusty hardpack we get here. So- it depends.
• Weather. We've been having an unseasonably wet "spring". I wouldn't be surprised if you get snowed on at moderate to high altitudes (6000+ ft.). Or it could be 100 degrees.
  
• Terrain. We don't have the elevation that Colorado has, but most trails follow creeks and rivers, meaning that you're going to be climbing the path of most resistance if you're on a trail. There's more than a few mountain bikers who run 20 tooth granny gears, made by ActionTec. They're available in 64mm bolt circle for modern mountain cranks and are about $65. They do require a bit of crank modification though, but that's really easy. A few shops here carry them. Otherwise, most trails are fairly smooth and non-technical; ridgetop trails excepted. Lower elevation trails are generally smooth and fast, getting looser and rockier as you get higher up. Generally.

And that's about all I can think of now. Feel free to leave a comment if you've got other questions or you feel like berating me on anything I've written here. And good luck if yer racin'.

-DNA