To the organizers and all the hard working volunteers, Thank You for putting on a memorable event. It may be a bit late to pitch in on the instant feedback, but for those who care and are interested in offering this race in the future, I definitely want to support your effort, and encourage you to keep up the good work. I have watched the Laramie Enduro go from day-of registration, to an event that fills in under 30 minutes on-line. There is a Front-range, freaky kind of aspect to that level of popularity, but I see Butte growing as well. I also see an incredibly unique system of trails around Butte that results in a true 100-mile loop, and how amazing to bust a pure hundred miles, virtually on all new trail.
Constructive criticism? Well, for one, stocked aid stations are a luxury. You will not please everyone. That there were 8 spots with guaranteed cold water, and an opportunity for a drop bag was AWESOME. Everything else in my book is gravy. Complainers, bring a freakin' drop bag or two. The stations were well spaced, and at aid #3 when a woman read my number from a distance, and ran up to me with my drop bag in hand...damn, that has never happened before, no not in Leadville, not in Laramie, not in Oregon. I even got an application of sunscreen before rolling out...thank you again! Aid in general gets an A+ from me!
Organization: Please confirm the course weeks, not days in advance. I did not ride this race with a computer, or an idea of the profile, b/c mile markers for significant course features were not available. That HAS to be improved, period. You will not lose so many riders on the course during the race, or lose return competitors for the next year if you offer that basic necessity. I rode the whole course essentially blind, trusting the flagging b/c no one can memorize the numerous road names or geographical landmarks that you have never seen or heard of before, and add the intensity of a race situation, well, we saw the result. The organizers did not give an appropriate amount of information with enough time in advance, and yes, I did get lost...fortunately I hit a dead end shortly after our wrong turn and it was a minor penalty.
Re-name the 8 miles from Hell. I know hell on a bike, and that's not it. I rode it comfortably on a rigid bike, just re-name it...8-mile, whatever, it's really not from Hell people! Talk Hell, and you scare people - there are scarier parts of that course!
The last 30 miles are world class. Perma-freakin' Grin the whole way, OMG, couldn't ask for a better way to finish a very hard course.
Lastly, figure out how to involve Homestake Lodge in the finish line/aprez race proceedings. Even if it means running a shuttle every 1/2 hour. You finish the ride, and it's essentially a major letdown. The racers, supporters, volunteers need a place to hang, chill, compare stories, and parking lots just don't cut it. Figure out how to involve Homestake, and schedule the time for ceremonies before hand.
Time Keeping: Well, I am sorry you have had the difficulties you have had with the results. Somehow race organizers have to, at a bare minimum for the cost of entry alone, be able to guarantee participants that their efforts will be accurately timed and kept track of for comparison against the other racers. There are problems with the results, which undermines the hard effort that all the racers have put out there.
Keep working hard Butte 100. I am really psyched you are there, and appreciate the good bicycle advocacy for the community!
Hamilton Smith

I am blown away by the Butte50. The hardest, sickest, most beautiful single-track 50 mile loop in existence. If you want to find out what your made of go race this course. Friends who finished all said, "hardest thing I've ever done." I can only say for the last 10 miles I was in an endurance "trance" repeating out loud,"Oh my God, Oh my God", over and over until I saw the Homestake parking lot and the finish line. Was it brutal? You bet! Will I be back next year? Hell yeah! Bring it on Butte 50!!!!

Thanks to all of the organizers and volunteers. The more brutal and longer Butte 50 didn't disappoint this year. The race -- in my home town no less -- is a wonderful thing for this mountain biker. John Bardsley

Women's 100 results are wrong...

I think most of these have been suggested already, but maybe I'll just reiterate based on the most frequently asked questions at my aid station (#7 Highlands Campground).

#1) "How much further, and how long will it take?" I honestly didn't know the exact figure to tell folks here. I had a pretty good idea, but I was just going on memory alone. I'll personally volunteer to fix this for 2011; I've got a perfectly good GPS that needs to be taken on a few rides, but I think in order to do this the 2011 course needs to be finalized ASAP.

#2) "Where's my stuff (i.e. drop bag)??" I'll take the blame on this one since I was responsible for running an aid station, but let me offer a couple excuses: There wasn't much time to get organized before the first racers showed up (damn you racers are fast...), and once the "peloton" arrived, there was no opportunity to continue organization efforts. Additionally, there wasn't any sort systematic labeling on the bags; some had numbers, some had names, others had no information at all. To remedy this, I would propose the following for 2011: Have a pre-labeled drop bag in each bin for each station. I realize this takes more up front effort, and that 200 racers * 8 aid stations = 1600 bags, but it would sure cut down on the chaos. If the number of bags is a concern, maybe just have pre-labeled drop bags at every other station.

#3) "Do you have any more Heed, Endurolytes, Perpetuem, etc.?" I think this should be an easy fix for next year... I really hated telling people that we were out. I estimate that at Station #7 we went through 5 bottles of Endurolytes (seemed like the correct amount), 50 packs of Hammer Gel (needed lots more), 1 Large container of Heed (could have used 3 containers and maybe different flavors), and maybe 25 individual packs of Perpetuem (it would have been better to have large containers, like the Heed).

#4) "Wow, that's a lot of plastic on the ground." I agree--the aid station looked terrible with all the individual plastic bottles on the ground. Additionally, there were a ton of half empty (okay, half full...) bottles left over. I would suggest that we use about 3 or 4 "Gatorade" containers next year and refill them using the large 2+ gallon water jugs.

#5) "Aw crap, what number was that?" I admittedly struggled keeping track of numbers, and I think racers were too tired to shout out their numbers by the time they got to #7--I don't blame them. Unfortunately, I don’t have a suggestion on a better. Being an Electrical Engineer, my mind wanders to things like RFID automatic timing systems, but I'm guessing that's too much $$$ for the Butte 100 to swing just yet.

#6) "So are you a volunteer?" There were a lot of spectators at Station #7 and I think there was some confusion on who was cheering and who was running the Aid Station. A simple fix would be bright colored volunteer tee-shirts.

And one more generic comment...

I think this is an amazing race with untapped potential, but it wouldn't happen without Bob, Gina, Guy, Gwen, et al. It was sure hard to get online after an 18 hour day and read the negative comments. Not all were negative, obviously, but the negative comments were the ones that stuck out in my mind. I only put in my time for one day; Bob and the crew have spent months preparing. Some people are understandably frustrated, but all the ranting in the world doesn't help fix the 2010 Butte 100. Some fantastic suggestions have been made for 2011, and that's the kind of feedback that everyone appreciates. Only constructive comments can ensure that 2011 improves, so if you don't have anything constructive to say, then keep your peace.

Ryan Munson

I posted them for TRP as excel spread sheets under "Attachment" in the http://tripleringprod.com/results page. When they are finalized I will post them on a results page. Until then please contact Gina Evans (go to contact form and select "Gina" under "Category") if you have any problems with these results. ~bill