The 5th Coal Mine Coulee Cross-Country Dirt Bike Race will take place this Saturday, May 8th, at Austin Genereux's ranch off of Coal Mine Road just north of town. First held in 2017, the race will likely attract between 175 and 200 racers from all over Montana and the surrounding states. When I asked about the race itself, Austin explained the difference between the Coal Mine Coulee race and a motocross event: "It's a cross-country dirt bike race. Motocross is a race around a track usually about 40 acres or so. Our race is cross-country. You go across creeks, logs, brush, the steepest hills you can, you go through coulees, it's whatever you might run into out there."

The rugged terrain and caliber of riders the event attracts make it a great choice to attend as a spectator: "I encourage people to come out. It's good entertainment. We sit in a big amphitheater type area so that you can see a lot of the racing very closely. When they start, they go on a cliff right under you. You're 15 feet away from those guys fighting for that start. It's a $5 per person fee. They need to bring chairs. There will be concessions on site from Brian's Top Notch Concessions in Great Falls."

The festivities start on Friday. "Friday is the pre-ride. A lot of people enjoy that. They can come out and just ride the track and get to know it. Then Saturday is the actual racing." The racing will start on Saturday morning with the kids' events and run throughout the day. "We're going to start out with the kids in the morning on the 50 cc track, a totally separate track for little kids. Then you have a regular kids track. That will be a 65 cc. Then there's 85 cc junior, 85 cc senior, then there's super-mini, which is an 85 to 112 class. Then you have your girls' classes as well and your women's classes, you have your women's 'A', women's 'B', and women's 'C'. Then you have your men's A, B, and C. A schoolboy class, then your vintage class, which is bikes that are 30 years old and older. Then you have your open A, 250 A, B classes. You have your super senior A and B. You have your Senior B. Your open B, your 250 B. So you see, there's a lot of classes. You'll have 8 to 10 people in each of those classes. The A classes, they'll all take off together, and you'll probably have 25 to 35 take off in that."

Over the past few months, Austin has been working to prepare the area for the day. "We put out 3000 flags. Every one of the steep cliffs or the coulees has to have a warning sign. We probably put out about 300 signs." The large number of flags is due to the sheer volume of track miles Austin and crew have created for riders. "We actually have four different tracks with it. That's why it takes weeks to get ready for this. We end up covering about 30 miles of track. It's called single track. It's cross-country single track racing. It's about the width of a cow trail, maybe a foot wide, and we flag these areas with different colors. The red flags mean it's an 'A' and a 'B' track and then the blue flags, which can sometimes share the same area as the red flags and sometimes have their own, that's a 'C' track, a 'kids'' track, or a 'vintage track.' We have 22 classes of racers: all the way from 50 cc bikes and 4 to 6 year old kids, to the masters class. We have a guy coming up this year who's in his late 70s."

The various tracks aren't divided up by age, however. They are separated by the experience level and seriousness of the racers who will be competing. The more competitive and experienced riders will race on courses that are riskier and push their skills. "We have some very gnarly stuff. We have some 6 and 7 foot straight cliff walls they have to climb." The B and C classes are less intense and lend themselves to serious riders and those who are just out getting their feet wet with cross-country motorcycle racing. Austin explains the differences between the classes: "The 'A' is your best riders by far. They don't mind getting hurt. They're basically going to do anything they can to win. The 'B' riders, basically are very good riders. They don't necessarily want to get hurt. They want to go to work on Monday and not be sore. 'C' track riders, we don't have a lot of difficult sections for them. They are riders that are basically out for fun, to joyride. 'A' and 'B' riders take it pretty seriously."

After missing last year's competitive experiences, Austin says he's had a lot of interest from folks looking to get out and race: "People are ready to get out and get going. I've probably had 30 phone calls in the last few days from people who haven't raced before. I've been having people come out to the place on weekends and riding. I had 9 kids and 3 adults last weekend. They asked if they could come out and ride. I said they could, and they broke in parts of the track. The age of the kids was anywhere from 12 to 18."

The race will feature a handful of Big Sandy competitors: "My son, Riley, will be racing. I think we've got probably 3 or 4 local guys racing. We always have the 'Farm boy' class that comes in. They're kids that haven't raced before, but they're kids that ride dirt bikes chasing cows and want to race. So we have a separate class. We put them on the course and get them racing. Two years ago, we had 14 people in it that were local."

Austin's family has been competing in cross-country motorcycle races for around 7 years, though he explains that his own time riding started much earlier: "I've been riding dirt bikes since 1981. I've got more miles on a dirt bike than about anybody because I chased cows, and I'm riding among them when I'm calving. I got started in racing, it's something I've always wanted to do but never got into. I got started in racing because of my kids. One day in 2015, we heard an advertisement on the radio about the Crazy Bend XC in Clancy. We had a couple days, so we washed the bikes off, cleaned out the stock trailer real good, and threw the bikes in there. We got there Friday evening and unloaded the bikes. Everybody looked at us kinda strange because they had been doing it a while. They're all in their motorhomes and tents, and we got there in a stock trailer. Bailey raced, and he got fourth. Riley went out and won the C class right away. His very first race; he won it. That's what got us hooked. I think I took 5th in the B class. We started hitting every race and series through 2015 and 2016. Then in 2017, we said we have a perfect place to put on a race, so we decided to do that."

The race isn't just a fun time for the riders and the Genereux family; the event generates significant revenue for the town of Big Sandy. "It's amazing how many people we bring to town that eat in the restaurants. Ezzies is one of our big sponsors. There's a lot of sponsorship. We try to help the community. The hotels in Havre get a lot of business. The hotel in town usually fills up. We bring quite a bit of money to the community when you figure that 4 to 5 hundred people come to stay here. A lot of them get their groceries at The Grocery Store, use the hotel, or get fuel here. We bring a lot of money to the community."

Anyone interested in competing in the race can do so by visiting 406xc.com and clicking on the Coal Mine Coulee XC link, going directly to coalminecouleexc.com, or by visiting the Coal Mine Coulee XC Facebook page.

To find the Genereux ranch on race day, simply drive north out of town on the highway. "We're about 6 miles out on Coal Mine Road. We're going to have the highway marked with a big 4 foot by 8 foot sign that says "Coal Mine Coulee XC" Then there'll be directions on the county road. It's pretty much self explanatory when you get on the road. There'll be a big sign and a camping area where there will be anywhere between 65 and 75 campers. You can't miss it."