Mellow Johnny's Spring Classic Mountain Bike Race

Happy May Day! May 1, 2011, Cottonwood Creek RV Park, Dripping Springs, Texas.
Over the weekend we started getting some mountain bikers moving into the park. A few of them had small Casita trailers which look like an egg. I got to talking to some of them and learned that they were participating in the Mellow Johnny's Classic bike race on Lance Armstrong's property outside of Dripping Springs. We decided to check it out today and drove out to Lance's, Rancho Juan Pelota.

Yellow Boulder and sign mark the road to Juan Pelaton Ranch

We got there shortly after 10:00. There was already a Cat II race in progress.  The Cat I race was scheduled for 11:00. The pros had raced yesterday.

Private entrance to the Ranch, Not the entrance for the race!

Lance's home in the background.

LiveStrong utility vehicle.

Start and Finish for the 8.3 mile off-road course

Lined up for a mass start.

They're off....

Leaving a cloud of dust...

The biggest sponsor for the race is a bike shop owned by Lance Armstrong.

Joyce and I on a small hill over looking the event area of the ranch.

We left after a few hours. The course was so large that it was difficult to keep track of the participants as they spread out across the course through the course of their 3 laps. It was a hot, humid and very windy day with lots of blowing dust. We enjoyed the chance to watch the race.  I even got the opportunity to do a demo ride on a $4K Trek 29er full suspension bike! Yeah, like I could afford that! Still, I sure could get used to the idea of riding a 29er which is a mountain bike with road bike (diameter) size wheels as opposed to the typical 26 inch wheels of my Cannondale hardtail mountain bike.