Michaux is a bit more technical than almost anything in Wayway or Ringwood. If you like the Yellow trail in Ramapo/Skyline...that's pretty close to what most of Michaux is like; super rocky singletrack that you can ride if you're good, and then some features that you need to walk unless you're superman (or graveyardman) The are big climbs that gain a thousand feet or more, and there are sections of fireroad, sometimes several miles worth, that connect the different ST together. They are widely and rightly considered the toughest races in the East. Yeah...it's worth the trip.
It's funny, but I've never thought of Michaux as more technical than a lot of places. I mean -- yeah, it's one of the toughest places to race but that's more because it's just so f*cking relentless start to finish. You are always either riding rocks, climbing steep hills, or descending technical terrain. There really isn't a moment's respite. But when I think of the most technical courses, for some reason I never think of Michaux. I think it's the difference between being worn down vs obliterated. Michaux always wears me down. Places like Allamuchy and French Creek obliterate me. (I reserve the right to change this opinion after this weekend, though, because I'll be running a rigid fork at Michaux for the first time in the 50 miler at the Michaux Trail Cup.) By the time I finish a Michaux race, I almost always just want to put the bike away and rest for about a week. Those others may hurt like hell from start to finish, but I'll go out and ride again the next day after racing at those venues.
Quick story that shows what Michaux races are all about: Michaux was the first place I experienced total failure for a carbon frame years ago. The frame itself didn't crack -- the epoxy holding the bottom bracket housing broke, so my whole bottom bracket was sliding out. But until I figured this out, I thought I was just having shifting problems (which I was -- when the front half of your drivetrain is moving laterally, it tends to screw up your shifting!) So, instead of bailing at the sport/beginner split off, I kept going and spent 20 miles doing pedal-pedal-pedal-kick drivetrain into place-pedal-pedal-pedal-kick drivetrain into place-pedal-pedal-pedal, etc. I actually got into a rhthym with it after a while, but the effort of just moving forward was wearing on me. By the time I got to the last powerline climb, I was so burnt out I remember looking up at this massively steep climb and saying (out loud), "Oh, come on! Really? What the hell?" And then I just hear this exhausted, hollow voice from behind me say, "Welcome to Michaux." And I've raced there a bunch of times since then and every time I get to the last few miles and they're just as hard or harder than all the ones that came before them, that guy's voice plays in my head.
THAT's what racing at Michaux is all about.
So, yeah, I agree: worth the trip!
