i think the organizers ought to at least issue a statement in response to some of the postings here. feels like we are talking at a wall.

where the hell are the results? it only took one day to ride the race, how long does it take to make an excel file? Ii am wondering if this is being purposely put off because of the really large percentage of DNF's.....

I was a 100 miler and really had a great time until Whiskey Gulch. But, my troubles in Whiskey Gulch weren't Bob or Gina's fault - it was the blasted sun. Good lordy that was a long, hot section.

Having ridden Leadville, other smaller MTB races, and run a few ultramarathons I thought it might be helpful to share some suggestions:

WEBSITE - the site could really use some organization help. sites and templates are available and can be hosted free on wordpress or any number of other platforms so your cost shouldn't really go up. i am not a developer, but work on the marketing and usability side of sites and would be happy to provide some wireframes or feedback on ways to make the site better. just holler if you need help.

RACE INFO - along with the lack of site organization, the type and amount of info available would certainly solve most of the problems encountered in this year's event. We were asking for profile and map information for months leading up to the race and never got it. Determining fuel needs and number of drop bags was really a last minute guess after the racers meeting. Without knowing distances between aid stations beforehand we were asking the RD at the meeting for distances and bless her heart, amidst everything else she was trying to do, the distances she gave us added up to like 168 miles. Not much help in the end.

Being told by the rec-spec mc guy at the racers meeting that we had to be at mile 82 by 7:08 to make the cut-off, I assumed 82 was the end of the 8 Miles of Hell and thought when I hit mile 77 at 5:07 PM that I was golden. Alas, when I got to mile 82 and heard that i still had 8 miles to go and only 1 hour to do it - then to hear that the very fastest times over that 8 miles was an hour, I thought I had no shot and rather than go through another debate about how to sleep through the night while fighting off bears in the MT wilderness (see below) - I dropped at station 7. Then to hear later that they extended the cut-off time at station 8 I was really, really bummed out. I had the legs, but being an out of towner had to rely on info from the race crew on the course.

MAPS - you gotta have maps and profile info at least a month before race day. check out what the Park City Point 2 Point crew just posted at the bottom of the Course & Maps page on their site here: http://thepcpp.com/race/the-course/. Detailed Garmin Connect links broken out by Legs and Parts (or sections of the Legs). Gives you distance, elevation gain, elapsed time, and maps - you could make elapsed time relative by disclaiming that "the dude who road this section is fast as all get out" or "the dude who road this section is beefy and slow, but really loves marking a course". At least, we know what to expect in each section and can prepare for it.

Something like this would help reduce the number of folks yelling about getting lost on the course too. They also have a really well organized and easy to use site - info is very easy to find. This is only their second year putting on that race - observing what they do could really help your race.

MARKING - i thought for the most part the trail was really well marked. The notable exceptions were the Nez Perce and the CDT. I wondered if only the ATV trails were marked because there was a motor to take you there (didn't know about the no marking rule on the CDT). That said, if it was mentioned during the racer meeting that there would be no Butte tape on the CDT and to rely only on the CDT markings, I missed it. Normally a mid-pack rider in normal races I was a back of the pack rider on the beast that is the Butte 100, i was coming across the CDT in late afternoon and having not seen yellow tape for a VERY long time i started looking for shelter to hunker down in and a sharp stick to fight off bears during the night! on top of that, after the big rain storm there were some sections of the CDT that were wiped clean of bike tracks - i was like sacagawea off my bike and brushing off debris trying to find which direction to go. Better pre-race communication on the unmarked sections would be much appreciated.

For critical turns, a great way to mark the turn is about 100 feet before the turn, heavily flag with two colors (heavily meaning 3-5 flags in a 15 ft distance) the side of trail a rider/runner should plan to turn. So take your Butte 100 tape and add some green tape and double flag the left side of the trail so racers know a left turn is coming up (flag right side for right hand turn). Then right after the turn have another Butte 100 ribbon so racers know they made the correct turn. This is how they flag turns at the Squaw Peak 50 trail run and it is some of the best marking I have seen.

AID STATIONS - for the most part the volunteers at the aid stations were money. i had heard that some stations ran out of water last year, and to see some out of water again this year was discouraging (although seeing bob deliver water to stations shows how much he cares about the race). It would be a good idea to have a detailed write up of the next section available for each aid station volunteer. during most of the day we were given inaccurate distance and terrain info from the volunteers at the stations - after 70 miles that gets really frustrating. all in all the volunteers were really great to be around, just ill informed. thanks to all who volunteered, especially the guy on the ATV directing us where to turn onto the CDT.

AID STATION P.S. - as an aside to the aid station volunteers and as a plug for the ladies from Draper - HOW ABOUT THOSE LADIES FROM DRAPER, HUH? If you were lucky enough (or slow enough) to roll through an aid station when the Draper crew was waiting for their riders you had a pretty awesome experience. They've been to a lot of races and really know how to crew. They not only help their riders but anyone coming through. Plus they are pretty easy on the eyes! A huge thank you to the ladies from Draper!

STEEP - and for the love of all that is holy, can you not have so many damn hike a bike sections. like i said before, i am not fast, but feel like I am a reasonably strong rider and from aid station 6 onward the course was filled with hike a bike. we brought 9 riders in our group and only 2 finished. the two that finished are really fast riders and they finished among the last 5 riders of the day. With other pros finishing in over 12 hours and the top female finisher at 12:45 i think it is safe to say that unless you are an elite rider, the Butte 100 is going to be one long sufferfest that you probably won't finish. Maybe that is what you are going for, but you'd get more racers by taking out some of the ugliness over the last 36 miles of the race. That said, I realize I need to get faster and that I eat too many Krispy Kremes.

MOSQUITOS - is there something you can do about the mosquito population there? maybe like they do in China - only one baby mosquito p/ mosquito couple. Would you mind looking into that?

All in all, you have a great setting for a race (the mtns around Butte are beautiful). A better website, with more info, and more timely maps would go a long way in helping the racers and your aid station volunteers.

Posting a DNF has really messed with my head for the past 4 days and I was pretty bitter driving back to SLC. I wasn't planning to come back, but now that I have a few days under my belt I plan to watch and listen how your race goes next year and if what I see and hear is better than what I experienced this year. I'll be back. [said in your best Schwarzenegger voice]

Thank you Bob for all you and your staff (not sure it is big enough to qualify as a staff) did to put the race together. Your name was Mud to me on Saturday, but I saw how hard you worked the day of the race and realized how much you really care - even though at the time I thought you were trying to kill me.

Good luck next year!

Eric B (@thezeph)