I find what is seen as technical in MTB varies widely between people. I am definitely not a skilled MTBer but I ride within my limits on all the rocky and rooty single track on the trails in my area. If that means, putting a foot down occasionally, so be it. If that means lowering the risk on some descents by keeping my speed a bit lower, so be it.
Sounding to me then like he might be overplaying it a bit, or like said, it differs for everyone. He did say - Rocky, not rooty though, FWIW.
Never been there myself, but am signed up with a group. Trying to hold on to some Leadville Fitness and get myself back in a punchier singletrack mode between now and then. Guessing I’m not going to have an issue, if I had to guess it’s pretty similar to New England. I’m going through rock gardens and rooted up stuff on every ride here.
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Yeah. People have different skill levels, and that is different than a trail characteristic.
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my understanding is they built a new trail for this race. I know Dale (the guy who posted in the fb group). Hes a solid rider, a multi leadville finisher, ironman, and has raced mountain bikes awhile. I trust that he is not wrong.
Whatever, all im saying that if this is very tech, then what is pisgah? Cause it isnt anywhere near pisgah
Could they both be “very tech”? It’s pretty subjective. Or, maybe Pisgah could be very, very tech. If only there were a standardized system we could utilize to classify levels of tech and or experience recommended for a trail, maybe using numbers or colors or similar (which is still subjective, but maybe not as much as counting the number of “very”s. 
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No they cannot both be very technical. It’s not Pisgah so everyone bring your gravel bikes. /S
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question for the SE riders: I’m based out of Florida. I have 2 days off between now and big sugar/coldwater. my options for a training day in that time are: mt dora, graham, chuck lennon, san felasco. (santos is my everyday ride) I’m also considering a trip up to standing boy- but that’s 8 hrs of driving alone. I was hoping to just tdrive up to alabama to ride it but i dont think thats realistic when im on nights the day before im off.
Suggestions? I’m normally a decent rider for power/endurance and a mid rider for technical. Tom brown 2 weeks ago was fine, Hanna last week was a struggle(those rooty sandy turns 
)
Was wondering about this race as well after hearing about it at Chequamegon. How does it compare to Little Sugar? I did the LS MTB 100k last year and while I finished it was long and hard. Probably won’t be on the cards this year but maybe next. It’s hard for me to hold motivation for training in races in late Oct/Nov because I’m ready to have fun. I also hesitate on doing another 100k if it’s going to be slog but I also can never bring myself to do the shorter distance if there is a longer distance offered, lol. Might have to check out some of the videos.
I’ve ridden Felasco with a friend who lives right there and it’s his home trails, keep in mind it was one day for me, so take this with a grain of salt.
Mostly sandy, maybe a root here or there. Really fun, tons of terrain. Flowy and fun. Not remotely technical.
He rocks race kings / dubnitals there year round.
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I decided I’m going to spend the hours driving and just go up to standing boy thursday, unless someone knows of similar closer. it sucks because im on night wed, and have to be back for a 6A shift, but shrugs thats the way it goes as a working person.
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Has anyone ridden this course recently? How does it compare to Little Sugar from a technical perspective? From a rock perspective? I’m trying to decide how aggressive I should go with tires. Is the Coldwater course as rough on equipment as Little Sugar?
I am planning on running Specialized Fast Trak Control T7 tires front and rear.
Also, are there any sustained flat sections that would benefit from a taller gear?
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I’ve taken two trips up there in the past 2 months and ridden most of the race course 4x. I haven’t had any issues with flats. The first trip I had Spec Air Trak 2.35 front and rear. The 2nd trip I had Ground Control 2.35 front and Rick Xc 2.4 rear. I’m a relatively aggressive descender for an XC rider. Usually top 5-15% on Strava downhill segments (much slower on climbs 
). The course is very rocky in places but not necessarily razor sharp from what I remember. It sounds like Little Sugar had a ton of flats and I don’t see that happening at Coldwater. I do run kind of higher tire pressure in rear than most so that probably helps a lot with pinch flats. I’m 165 and usually run 18.5/22.5 PSI f/r on a 120/110 FS.
As far as gearing goes, there is absolutely no flat fast sections on the trail portion of the course. you’re pretty much either going up or down. There is one flatter section right past the halfway point maybe a mile or two long but it’s still somewhat twisty singletrack so you shouldn’t need a super tall gear through there. I didn’t ride the paved sections at the beginning and end of the course so I’m not sure about those. They are only 2 miles combined so I’m choosing my gear based on the super steep Jeep road climb (30t chainring . 9-46 cassette.)
Great info, thanks for that. I’m right there with you, around 163lbs. I generally run 20/21 f/r, but I’m an old BMX guy that can’t help himself. Probably racing with 19/20. I’m in Florida currently and generally ride a 36t chainring. I put on a 32t for this race, sounds like that will work out fine. Very excited about this course…sounds like lots of fun.
So how was it?
What there verdict? Super tech, or just a typical mtb trail?
Pretty Typical MTB for the east coast and what you’d see from Alabama/Georgia mountains straight up through New England, but not a lot of roots. It wasn’t all smooth machine groomed and It was a little rocky at times, saw a good number of flats, and There was one very short section that there was no way I was cleaning without getting a chance to sit there running it over and over again (Maybe on an Enduro E-Bike) but it was pretty straightforward and definitely not 55 miles of tech by any stretch.
Other than 1-2 miles at start/finish, and then a ~10 minute jeep road climb which we hit twice - I think it was 100% singletrack which was fun, but definitely tiring.
Lots of fast flowy sections which made for fun descending throughout the day.
I personally had been sick a week earlier and was still recovering a little and maybe not at my best, so rode with a friend, left a little in the tank, so had a blast…
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I’d agree with what BCM said. It was pretty much completely single track aside from the jeep climb, which was loose gravel and tough in its own right, and the road into and out of town, which was less than 3 miles for both in and out combined. I found the trails to be a lot of fun. Some fun decents, some long climbs, and a mix of rocky, sandy, and hard pack terrain. It felt like I was mountain biking the entire time. Really well run event, I expected as much from lifetime though. Easy to get to from pretty much anyway with ATL being 1.5 hrs away. While I didn’t get a coin I look forward to going back.
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Agree with the comments above. The rocky segments were quite tiring, I struggled with hand fatigue/ cramping more than I have in other races.
Very well run event, Anniston seems like a cute small town. They are really supporting cycling as a sport. They have a long-running crit series there I learned.
I did see a lot of flats; it definitely required good line choice on faster segments to avoid danger spots. The aid stations were wonderful, excellent support. I was using neutral aid.
I will definitely be back next year.
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I did the 50k run on Friday and then volunteered on Saturday. Met a lot of local Anniston cyclists who were also volunteering. They really love their local trails and (deservedly) take great pride in them.
As I was running the 50k, I kept thinking I wish I had my mountain bike with me to hit the trails. The trails seemed to flow well. Even the jeep climb wasn’t terrible. Yes it was steep in certain parts but a decent portion of it was runnable (and likely rideable).
As far as the Leadville lottery process afterwards, it didn’t seem like there were many women trying to grab a coin. For the run, there were enough athletes, male and female, they were able to just go back and forth announcing the winning numbers. For the bike, it seemed they went back and forth for a few but then the majority of the coins were handed out to male athletes……so I assumed they had gone through all the female athlete numbers in their bucket. I was over at the food trucks, and could not hear the whole thing, so I am hoping someone can clarify. If what I heard was correct then a lot more ladies should look at doing this race next year because the chances of obtaining a Leadville coin were high.