The Solavaca Cat Claw Classic – near Glen Rose, TX
The Solavaca Cat Claw Classic – near Glen Rose, TX
April 24 – 25
After kicking around lots of names for our fist annual TMBRA Championship Series XC Race in the Spring, we came up with ‘Solavaca Cat Claw Classic’. Since we have a lot of that devilish plant, the cat claw, on our ranch, and since we named a whole section after it, and since we kept the cat theme for the hardest climb on the trail, then we liked the idea of carrying that onto the big TMBRA race. We are making big plans for that weekend and we expect to get tremendous support from the Glen Rose/Granbury community. The Steering Committe has already been working hard on ideas and plans. Here’s the names of the guys on the committee. Adam Eyres, Andy Lawler, Chris Purser, Barney Benner, Leonard Nucholls, Larry Colvin, and me, Mack Hargrave.
This Texas mountain bike trail is located in the limestone hills of the Paluxy River watershed. Just down the road is the Dinosaur Valley State Park. Solavaca is a privately owned ranch with an ideal topography for a mountain bike trail – a large scenic variety of rocky hills and flats, all covered with cedar, oak, pecan, elm, mesquite, cottonwood, and many other native Texas trees. A seasonal creek runs across the property from south to north. This clear water creek is dominate in several of the more technical parts of the trail. The 8+ miles of single-track trail – all marked ORANGE – plus 3 miles of dirt road provide choices to satisfy all levels of riders. The owner rides and has built the trails to share. There are some sections that require a more advanced level of skill. Rock strewn descents, climbing switchbacks, steep dropoffs, roots, logs, a rock garden, just to name a few. Some of these have “go-arounds” marked with WHITE arrows, so that the beginners and intermediates can avoid the more technical sections.