My First Post - Little Sugar MTB

Little Sugar MTB

Little Sugar MTB was on 10/12/2025. This was my third time doing this race series. The first year I did the 20k (~13mi) route. That year (2023) I was pretty happy with doing that route because it turned out to be very wet and muddy. I think the 50k would have been miserable that day. In 2024 I decided that I wanted more of the MTB cross country scene and signed up for the 50k (~30mi). It was super hot and dry that year. I finished the 50k race in 3:57. I was super stoked that I finished it.

That brings me to this year! This year I finished the 50k race. It was a lot of fun. At the beginning of the race I decided that I would take it easy since I didn’t have a lot of preparation for the race. Hanging back during the beginning of the race is, in my opinion, the best option if you are not super confident in your riding. The beginning of the race can always be very aggressive as everyone is full gas off the start line. If you’re looking to try this MTB race there are three things you should bring with you:

  1. Patience
  2. Patience
  3. PATIENCE

While this is a MTB race that attracts professional mountain bike riders, there are quite a few people that are relatively new to MTB racing. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t bring your race face but you should at least be aware that there are some riders that are there just to have fun and experience the Little Sugar MTB event.

course

Now that’s out of the way my race went really well. I was slower this year by ~20 minutes. I expected that I would be slower given that I didn’t prepare that much. I’m also suffering from leg cramps really bad. On all of my longer distance MTB rides I always get severe leg cramps at about mile 20. It doesn’t matter how much I hydrate or how many electrolytes I take, its always the same. I’m planning on seeing my doctor for that later. Two notable things that I saw during the event were a rider fell off a bluff going south on the “It’ll Bluff Out” trail. EMS was called and other riders said he would be ok. The other notable thing was that seeing the professional riders on the trail was super cool! They ride so fast through stuff, its incredible.

Anyways, it was a fun event. Given the high price tag this year, I’m not sure I’ll be doing it again next year. We’ll see when the tickets go on sale in March 2026… ;)