However, if you find yourself in Mississippi and you happen to have a mountain bike, you need to find your way over to the Tombigbee National Forest and ride the Noxubee trail system. If it happens to be during the summer, you at least have lake access to squelch the fire on your head.
To further this point - if you happen to be in the area at the end of the August, be sure to sign up for the Skool of Hard Nox endurance MTB race. It's 50 miles of what has to be the best trail system in MS. Over 4800 feet of climbing in 50 miles, and the climbs were all composed of 25 foot kickers that seem easy at first and later start to take their toll.
The race started at a very reasonable 8am but was delayed to 8:30 due to a somewhat slow registration process. At 8:30 we were lined up and ready to....run? Yup, LeMans style start - not every racer's favorite, but a good way to break up the group early and avoid congestion at the start.
The race started out with a pretty hot tempo once we got off the asphalt and on to the gravel leading us toward the singletrack. I entered the singletrack in 4th place, but that would soon turn to 3rd as the leader pulled off and let a few of us around since we were moving faster. It didn't take long before the lead group had whittled down to Scott Kuppersmith and Kevin Connerly (locals), myself, and Tracy Martin from Louisiana.
After about 45 minutes of what seemed to be XC pace, I let Scott and Kevin ride ahead as I wanted to maintain a consistent pace from start to finish. Around the 1.5 hour mark Tracy and I caught up to Kevin and we all rode the remainder of lap 1 together. Once through the pit, Tracy fell off and Kevin and I hammered away in hopes of chasing down the leader.
We rode together through all the tight, twisty, turns and over hundreds of exposed roots for a good bit of time before I tried to make a couple attacks that ended up costing me. Kevin was falling off my wheel a bit on the steep climbs, so I thought it would be best to hammer those short hills and try to distance myself from him. It was difficult to do, though. After each kicker, Kevin would be back on my wheel in just a few seconds. Then, after about 5 or 6 attacks, I started feeling weak. I looked at my clock and realized I had missed a feed while I was focused on attacking.
I felt a bonk coming right away. I quickly shoved a Honey Stinger Gel down my throat, but it was too late.
I heard those painful words that nobody wants to hear when racing "let me get around you when you have a spot" It's a polite way of saying "Ge the hell out of my way!"
It took about 15 minutes before I started to get my legs churning back at race pace, but that was the last I would see of Kevin.
I hoofed it around the rest of the course not knowing how far behind 4th place was. With 4800ft of punchy climbing on the 50 miles, I was working pretty hard to maintain a steady pace in the nearly 100 degree heat. Turns out it was a pretty big gap, but better safe than sorry, right?
Lessons learned: mind your calories, and don't mistake a smarter riding style for a weaker riding style. Attacking is not always the answer.
All in all, it was a great race. Well supported and well managed. The only thing that could make this trail system better is some cooler temps and lower humidity. A great place to escape to during winter months. I'll find myself back in the Tombigbee National Forest again, but it might not be in August...
