Pre-Riding the Course
PRE-RIDING THE COURSE
Many sections of the course are NOT open to the public, which means it is not possible to pre-ride the course as a whole ride. But there are many ways to pre-ride long sections, and below is a list of our suggestions.
When you get to Big Sky, the first thing you need to do is visit our local shops (Gallatin Alpine Sports or Grizzley Outfitters) and get yourself a copy of our Summer Recreation Map & Guide. You’ll need this!
We’re going to do our best to give you good directions and instructions on how to find, park and ride these sections using a combination of Strava, Mountain Bike Project, and Trailforks. We apologize in advance if it seems vague or difficult to follow!
Mountain to Meadow
The Mountain to Meadow trail, aka M2M, is extremely popular in Big Sky. And once you ride it, you’ll understand why. It’s also easy to shuttle, which makes this an ideal pre-ride section for anyone who’s saving their legs, or is pressed for time. The entire M2M descent is part of the Biggie course.
Ciara Wolfe, BSCO Executive Director, wrote a great article about this trail, and we recommend reading it for directions on how to access this trail: Mountain to Meadow Guide »
The Yellow Mules
For the 60 Miler Course only.
Pre-Ride Length: 18 miles (as a loop from Ousel Falls Trailhead)
Estimated Time: 3 – 4 hours
For the 60 Milers, you’ll be doing the Yellow Mules Loop in the race. In the race, you’ll ride up Second Yellow Mule and down First Yellow Mule. Your Aid Station #4 is located at the top of First Yellow Mule, aka the “Whiskey+Bacon Station”.
Directions:
The trailhead for this loop is the Ousel Falls Trailhead. You’ll ride the Ousel Fall Trail to First Yellow Mule, then turn right onto Second Yellow Mule, ride that to Buck Ridge, and then take a left onto First Yellow Mule to complete the loop, and then take the trail back into Ousel Falls Trailhead. Your pre-ride is essentially a lollypop. This is approximately 18 miles with 3,000 ft of vertical gain. We recommend riding this early in the day, as we tend to get storms with electricity later in the afternoons on a regular basis. Bear spray or loud talking is also recommended.
Remember: Ride UP Second, DOWN First
Helpful GPS Map Links:
Second Yellow Mule on Trailforks
First Yellow Mule on Trailforks
Second Yellow Mule on MTB Project
First Yellow Mule on MTB Project
Ralph’s Pass to the course finish
Ralph’s Pass > Uplands > Hummocks Connector (new!) > Hummocks
Pre-Ride Length: 8 miles (as a loop from Town Center)
Estimated Time: 1 – 1 1/2 hours
We highly suggest pre-riding this. It’s the final stretch of the race, and we think the difficulty of Ralph’s Pass may surprise some folks who didn’t save any gas for the end. There are some technical switchbacks that require some serious power, which after 60 or 30 miles, you will have to dig deep to find.
Racers will ride Ralph’s Pass (eastward) to Uplands. When you get to Uplands, you’ll go RIGHT (different from year’s past), and descend Uplands for about a mile, and then you’ll see a NEW connector off to your right (on a left hairpin turn) – look for the flagging and new tracks. This new connector will take you to Hummocks, turn right on that trail, and then ride Hummocks counter-clockwise all the way to the trailhead. From there, turn right and take the pavement (Aspen Leave Drive) into the finish at Town Center. A great way to pre-ride this would be to park at Town Center, and ride the Ousel Falls Trail to the Ousel Falls Trailhead, then get on Ralph’s Pass from there.
Fish Camp
Part of our course is on private land, and we are given permission to use these trails out of the generosity of these private communities. The Fish Camp singletrack trail is one of these trails. Honestly, we’d prefer you didn’t pre-ride it out of respect for the valuable relationship that we’ve established with the Spanish Peaks Community. The Fish Camp trail starts at the top of their community, and is ridden in a downhill direction towards First Yellow Mule. You can see it highlighted on the image of the map here. This trail is part of every course distance – 15, 30 and 60. In each of these course distances, you’ll be climbing on a paved road in the Spanish Peaks private community to reach the Fish Camp trail.
Like we said – we’d prefer you didn’t pre-ride Fish Camp. This trail is flowy, fun and there are no surprises or technical sections. It will be well marked. Pre-riding is really not necessary. If you’re going to pre-ride it, please at least have the courtesy of pedaling to the top of the trail on the roads, and be mindful that you are on private property. DO NOT SHUTTLE THIS TRAIL. Shuttling or parking at the top of this trail puts the entire race in jeopardy. Please do not be that person that ruins the Biggie.
