Whiskey Off-Road is Epic Rides' flagship event and one of the longer-running fixtures on the American MTB calendar, built around Prescott's Whiskey Row — a stretch of historic downtown bars that doubles as the start/finish line — and the singletrack, doubletrack, and gravel of the surrounding Prescott National Forest. The combination of a professional criterium through downtown and a genuinely demanding backcountry XC race gives it a split identity: part spectacle for the Whiskey Row crowd, part serious endurance test for the field climbing into the national forest.
Prescott sits at over 5,000 feet and the course climbs well past 7,000, so altitude is a real factor for visiting riders — a detail Epic Rides leans into as part of the race's difficulty. The weekend's heavy community integration reflects Epic Rides' broader approach of tying its events tightly to host-town identity rather than parachuting in as a standalone race.
The weekend's schedule — Friday criterium, Saturday amateur backcountry racing and a party, Sunday pro racing — creates an unusual mix of spectator draw and grassroots amateur access all in one place.
Registration opens in January and typically sells out.