What a great course Custer’s Last Stand offers.  You get a nice, fast start in the very beginning, going through “The Meadow” before passing through a marshaled Fort Custer drive crossing.  Another 75 yards later you hang a right onto Section 9 of the green trail.  This course is considered Intermediate skill level as it’s nearly all singletrack with above ground roots, a few rocks, some decent climbs and “The Stairs”.  Since Fort Custer is a bi-directional trail and our race day is Saturday, you need to climb “The Stairs” since the ‘Easy’ bypass is taped off.  There are 2 creek crossings, lots of switchbacks that’ll work on your bike handling skills and you’ll descend “Erin’s climb”, a nice swooping switchback climb with you guessed it…more above ground roots.

When exiting the green trail, you’re on wide open 2 track that’s a gradual climb up to your left-hand turn that’ll take you to the red trail, also an Intermediate skill level.  To keep this course fast we bypass “Granny’s Garden”, “Amusement Park” and “Crazy Beaver”.  You do however race through “Camel Humps” and “The Trenches” before hanging a left back on Yellow before exiting out and racing over Eagle Lake, taking a quick shot through the woods and then finishing your lap by climbing the “Eagle Lake climb”.  This climb is approximately 75 meters long at a 15% grade.