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  • Adirondack Explorer

    Serious single-track

    May 01, 2019 7 minutes
    By Alan Wechsler

    I arrive at the base of Whiteface Mountain Ski Area at 6 a.m. on a Saturday in early June. It’s an hour before the start of the Wilmington Whiteface mountain bike race, and it’s already busy. Most competitors are already loading protein bars into their jersey pockets, checking tire pressure, warming up on Route 86. I unload my bike and try to prepare for one of the most challenging mountain bike races in New York.

    The Wilmington Whiteface is a 100-kilometer (62-mile) race that goes from the base of Whiteface Mountain to Elizabethtown and back. There’s also a 50K option. The race is part of a unique bicycle weekend in the Lake Placid area. The evening before, road bikers take part in the Whiteface Uphill Bike Race, where they compete to see who can be first to finish the 3,500-foot climb to the summit. Some mad fools do both races, competing for a $500 prize for the best combined time.

    The Wilmington Whiteface is a special race for another reason. It is a qualifier for the famous Leadville 100, a

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