Cruise the Blues Bike Festival
Saturday, July 19 & Sunday, July 20
The Cruise the Blues Bike Festival is one of the longest running bike races and festivals in Kansas. This year we are celebrating 22 years of friends, families, fun and fat tired on the Palen Family Farm!

Register Here for CTB 2025

New Festival Format
For this year’s event we are changing things up a bit with a new format we hope will make the bike racing, riding, camping, festival fun and games better than ever! The new 2-day festival format will showcase some of the best mountain bike trails, gravel roads and terrain in the region with our first ever Super D (downhill) race Saturday and our epic Mountain Bike and Gravel Races Sunday.

Festival Schedule

SATURDAY, JULY 19th
Festival Grounds Open at Noon
The farm will open at noon Saturday, when riders are encouraged to come out to the farm, find a camping space, grab some Texas Red's BBQ, and ease into a great weekend of riding, racing and fun on the farm. 

Camping on the Farm
RV and tent camping on the farm are free and available on a first come, first served basis. The camping facilities will include wifi and primitive restrooms and showers. The lights and music will wind down with camping quiet hours starting at 11:00PM on Saturday evening so folks can get some good sleep and be ready for a great day of racing on Sunday. For folks who want to focus on maximizing their racing performance there will be an additional “quiet camp" tent-only area at the Forster Pasture area and away from the main event venue area.

Food Truck
Texas Red's BBQ will be serving some tasty lunch and dinner Saturday from 1pm to 9pm and breakfast and lunch from 7am to 4pm Sunday.

Freeride Open House Riding on the Farm
All race courses will be marked and open for pre-riding starting at noon Saturday. Riders are encouraged to explore the trails and warm up for the racing on Sunday. For the safety of rider and spectators, we ask non-registered folks to kindly stay off the trail Sunday.

Freeride Open House on Lone Hill (2PM-5PM)
Everybody is invited to take advantage of the free shuttle service to explore the epic new trails on Lone Hill! Riders are welcome to session the downhill course to dial in their lines for the Super D competition, or explore the other scenic trails traversing Lone Hill. Lone Hill is about1.5 miles east of the main event area. Riders can pedal, drive or jump on a shuttle starting at 2pm. The Super Downhill race starts at 5pm.

Super D Race on Lone Hill (5PM)
Featuring flowy berm turns, big jumps and progressive drops, the brand new 1.1-mile Super D Race course showcases the best downhill trail in the Blue Hills of North Central Kansas. All of the features are rollable, safe and fun for beginner level riders, but also designed for more advanced riders to boost their ride! The well-groomed downhill course has 200 feet of vertical drop with a few short pedaling sections and is fun to ride on All-Mountain, XC and Hardtail mountain bikes. Riders are encouraged pre-ride the course during the Open House Freeride time starting at 2pm before dropping in for their Super D race run. Riders will need to be at the race start on Lone Hill at 4:45pm for the pre-race talk and to queue for their race starts.

NEW EVENT! Bike Squid Games and Olympics (6:30PM)
Following the Freeride Open House and Super D race Saturday afternoon, we will have the first ever “Bike Squid Games” with fun riding games inspired by the viral Mr. Beast video. Riders will compete in fun solo, team and group elimination-style events like in the video until the final winners emerge. The bike squid games events will include classics like red light/green light, follow the leader, merry-go-round and snake and are as much about fun and luck as they are about skill. The Bike Olympic Games are more about showcasing the amazing skills and talents folks have in the Bike Limbo, Bunny Hop, and Skid Contests. There will be lots of fun prizes and no registration is required.

SPECIAL PRESENTATION! Getting More Kids on Bikes with Kansas MTB League (8PM)
Following the Squid Games, the Kansas Mountain Bike League will share a presentation about their amazing 2025 season and the incredible coaches, student-athletes, parents and families and friends that make the Kansas league so special! All NICA student-athletes and coaches are encouraged to wear their team jerseys for a special group photo.

Live Music & Parade of Lights
As the sun goes down, we will have some great live music from local favorite, The Victor Valley Varmints, and a fun parade of lights bike show before winding things down for the quiet camping hours.

SUNDAY, JULY 20th
Race Registration (6AM) Same day registration!
Race registration will open at 6am for same day registration and packet pick-up.
We encourage riders to pre-register! It saves you a little money and helps ease the chaos in the morning.

Farm Fresh Breakfast! (6AM)
Texas Red's BBQ will be serving a farm fresh breakfast so riders can fuel up for the race and a great day of riding!

Pre-Race Safety Meeting (8:45AM)
The pre-race safety meeting is to make sure riders are aware of the course conditions, the race routes and to go over the rules of racing to make sure everyone stays safe. All riders are required to attend and should be ready to line up with bikes and gear immediately following the meeting.

Mountain Bike & Gravel Race Rolling Start (9AM) Early Race Start To Beat The Heat!
The mountain bike and gravel races start with a special rolling start around the farm, led out by the Palen Family at 9am.

Gravel Race in the Blue Hills (9AM-Noon)
The 18-mile Blue Hills Gravel Race course showcases some of the most epic and beautiful gravel roads and tarmac in the region! The course loop starts and ends at the farm with an average lap time of around 90 minutes. Riders are encouraged to ride as many laps as they can until noon when the last lap cutoff happens.

Mountain Bike Race on the Palen Family Farm (9AM-Noon)
The 7-mile Palen Family Farm mountain bike race course showcases the beautiful rolling hills, shaded woods, pastures and fields of the Palen Family Farm with a fast, flowing and super fun XC trail network! The course loop starts and ends at the farm with an average lap time of around 75 minutes. Riders are encouraged to ride as many laps as they can until noon when the last lap cutoff happens.

Bike Games (12:30PM)
More bike games to keep the party rolling into the Awards Ceremony.

Cruiz’n Kids Race (2PM)
Kids love riding in the Cruiz’n Kids Race and feeling the fun and excitement of racing in front of the crowd! This event is free and open to kids through 10 years old.

Awards Podium Presentations (3PM)
The awards presentations will be at 3PM.

Last Call for Food and Festival Close (4PM)
The last call for food will be at 4PM.

Maps

Download Festival Map


Download Super D Course Map


Download MTB Course Map


Download Gravel Coarse Map

Register Here for CTB 2025