A pair of the country’s best known mountain bike race organizers are planning the first epic mountain bike stage race in the U.S., to be held this summer in the ski and bike resort of Brian Head, Utah.

Inspired by the growth of events like South Africa’s Absa Cape Epic and Costa Rica’s La Ruta de los Conquistadores, the Brian Head Epic will be held August 21-24.

While several mountain bike stage races have been held in the U.S over the years, epic races feature unrelenting long stages and are open to hundreds or thousands of participants, including elite racers and (very fit) amateurs.

Tom Spiegel of Team Big Bear and Jeff Frost of Blue Wolf Events, both of whom have organized the National Mountain Bike Series (NMBS) since 2002, are planning an event with roughly 280 miles of racing over four stages.

“I did [La Ruta de los Conquistadores] in 2002 and got all fired up about holding a multi-day race but we never got it going,” Spiegel said. “This year seemed like the right year to do it, and Brian Head is one of those communities that has always opened its arms when I have hosted races there. And the riding is amazing.”

Spiegel said that about 70-80 miles of the route will be on singletrack. The route will take riders on a tour of southwestern Utah’s canyon country, skirting Bryce Canyon National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument.

It opens with a 50-mile journey from Navajo Lake to Woods Ranch. Day two will bump the mileage up to 80, as riders complete a lengthy out-and-back loop around the town of Panguitch. Day three makes it an even 100 miles, as riders complete the loop of the Epic 100 race, which travels from Brian Head to Duck Creek and back. The race finishes with a 50-mile journey — riders will descend from Brian Head to nearby Parowan and then climb back up to the 9500-foot high resort.

Brian Head has been the site of several NMBS races in the last decade

Photo: Fred Dreier

Brian Head hosted a stop on the NMBS in 2005 and 2006; however the series did not hold one in 2007 due to construction at the area’s base. Spiegel’s Team Big Bear has hosted two mountain-bike races — the Epic 100 and Silver 50 events —at Brian Head since 2003.

Colorado-based Bigfoot Productions had a five-day race slated for July of 2008 in and around Breckenridge, Colorado. Plans for that event, however, fell apart in late January.

The Epic format is on the rise word wide, with events such as the Absa Cape Epic, Trans Alp and Trans Germany events attracting more than 1,000 participants each. North America boasts the oldest epic race, La Ruta de los Conquistadores, as well as Mexico’s new-for-2008 Baja Epic and the Canada’s BC Bike Race and TransRockies Challenge.

Spiegel said the Brian Head event would boast individual and team. Unlike the Cape Epic and TransRockies events, riders will not need to sleep in different areas each night — athletes can choose to stay in hotel rooms or camp around Brian Head resort.

To find out more information about the Brian Head Epic, email Tom Spiegel at teambigbear@aol.com.