Clear Creek Trail

Sometimes I forget just how much fun the Clear Creek trail can be. Perhaps this is because I'm not out there much since there is a great trail network right in the middle of town. This is almost a shame because Clear Creek is easily 20 minutes from my front door, and I helped build this trail. Another reason I should ride more often at Clear Creek is Bike Magazine selected it as the best trail in Mississippi. The Clear Creek trail is a 9.5-mile loop of fun, high-speed, single-track that runs through a hardwood forest nestled next to Sardis Lake. With around of 1100 ft. of elevation change per lap, Clear Creek offers a series of rolling hills, switchbacks, and enough trail obstacles and terrain changes to keep things interesting. This trail has just about everything a good mountain bike trail needs from off-camber sections, to small rock gardens to crazy fast flats. The highlight of the trail is a switch back commonly referred to as "The Big One" by locals. You'll know it when you come across it. It might not look like much at first glance, but you'll either be grunting your way to the top or pushing your bike.

On September 7, Oxford Cycling will host the Clear Creek Challenge, and I plan to ride out there as much as I can to get ready. Unfortunately, I only have three weekends, and I have a race in Memphis on one of these. Since I’m using the Stanky Creek race as a tune up, I’m considering riding at Clear Creek the day before, which is something I normally wouldn’t do.

Online Registration:
http://www.racesonline.com/index.cfm?fu ... ce_id=6697
Race Information:
http://www.oxfordbikeclub.org/ccc.html
GPS Data:
http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip ... pId=127958
Bike Magazine Article: (.pdf scan of article, 3.55Mb)
http://www.oxfordbikeclub.org/Files/bike_mag.PDF