Bob and Gwen Waggoner / Guy Vesco
2601 Bayard
Butte, MT. 59701
(406) 490-5641
(406) 494-3577
Butte, MT. 59701
(406) 490-5641
(406) 494-3577
TripleRing Productions
Promoting endurance mountain bike racing throughout Montana
When: July 31st, 2010
Contact: Gina Evans (go to contact form and select "Gina" under "Category")
Terrain: 70% trail 30% road and jeep trail.
Profile: Elevation gain = between 15,000 to 16,000'. No usable profile yet. Soon though.
Maps: See Downloads / Attachments Below!
The 2010 edition is now in the books. We have preliminary results up at http://tripleringprod.com/results. Feel free to help out with constructive comments so that we can make 2011 better for you. See you in 2011!
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| butte100prof[1].JPG | 41.82 KB |
| race rules.JPG | 261.18 KB |
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getting lost
Agreed that course marking must improve, marshaling the course must improve and these are issues that the organizers are well aware of.
Let's try to take this all in perspective... (I'm a local, and thus up on the dealings on a yearly basis and know the struggles so I'll let you in on some perspective). I didn't get lost, but local knowledge of the course has it's advantages...
This is a 100 mile course. The logistics of flagging and keeping it all up is difficult given the VERY 4-wheeler/motorized bent of the local people. 4 years in a row of motorized users screwing with the course markings is getting pretty old for the organizers too. TRP is trying to constructively come up with means of dealing with this unfortunate situation (working with the moto groups, donating to their poker runs, volunteering with them... looking for multiple avenues of reaching the @$$holes who are the problem). Butte and area is hunting and fishing oriented, and if it uses gas it's acceptable. Put it this way, Robbie Knievel gets more press here than a world class athlete like Levi Leipheimer (both of which are Butte natives by the way). I hope you're starting to see the magnitude of what we deal with...
Look at the Cascade Cream-puff: a 25 mile course with 2 aid stations, 4 laps, and has been going 15 years? Ask them about their first 4 years... they had trouble too... The logistics of running 100 miles, 8 aid stations, and keeping people off the trails is enormous. Unfortunately for us, the moto's also know this...
This year nearly tripled the number of riders. With growth comes growth pains. They're learning, and it can only improve. This year Bob may have finally pulled out of the deficit run up the previous 3 years...
Volunteers: when you're small, nobody wants to be involved. When you grow, more people want a part of it. The race can only get more volunteers as it grows.
Race brain: it doesn't matter the course length, people miss markings. It happens. I've hosted XC races that people get lost on irregardless of how well marked, only to do the next lap wonder how they missed it the first time. There's lots to watch, and some things get missed. We'll discuss possibilities of putting stop signs up course from major turns to get people who miss them back on track. But... you can't prevent hundreds of riders from making simple mistakes, and there will be "the lost".
Stick with the race. Give feedback. Get involved. More ideas of what works elsewhere will trickle down and only improve the experience here. Next year we plan to have a supported pre-ride weekend at least 3 weeks prior to the race. That will help with course knowledge.
Warren Smith, Butte
I agree...
If riders got lost last year, too, then I would have hoped for some changes this year to course marking, marshalls, etc...
Thanks
I would like to thank everyone for a great time, what an epic ride the 50 mile course was. It's unfortunate that people got lost, but route finding is part of the game. I think the organizers did a great job and hope to be back for next year.
thanks everyone
What the hell!!!
I just drove seven hours back home to Salt lake and was excited to bring up the web sight to see what people had to say about yesterday...This is what i was excited about a bunch of complaining... serously? Yeah i ran out of water because i did not know how far between aid stations..SO WHAT I wasnt at work.. i was riding 100 MILES OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL, HARD TERRAIN ANYWHERE...and how is it i rode for 14 hours straight without getting lost? I know I wasnt on a different course then anybody else..SAD
Nick
I'm pretty sure they fixed
I'm pretty sure they fixed the course markers after the front group(s) of the 50 got lost. Blaming the organizers entirely for removed markers isn't fair, but neither is it fair to blame the racers who got lost since they had no markers to go off of.
Yeah, after a bunch of us in the 50 got lost
they fixed the course markings so those in the 100 wouldn't get lost, too.
Race Organization
Well, I thought I would add my two cents.... I know a race like this is tough to pull off and I truly appreciate all efforts that went in to it. I did get lost 3x, 2x of which were due to unclear marking and 1x which was my fault, I believe. I had an especially epic day of riding much more than the planned 50 miles. I have raced for several years, and I know that part of mountain biking is the adventure and spirit. Sometimes you get lost, and sometimes things don't go as planned. That's all part of it. With that, a few suggestions to take or leave as you wish:
1. Have course marshalls/vounteers at all critcal turns. This eliminates the issue of people pulling flagging, which happens, unfortunately. I couldn't beleive that the only time I saw course volunteers was at aid stations and road crossings.
2. Have mileage posted on the course, at least occaisionally. Have a course description that matches the mileage. So many of the great, enthusiastic volunteers at aid stations gave me inaccurate information, which was really frustrating. They were all nice and friendly and I do not blame them at all. They probably would have felt more useful if they had accurate information.
3. Post the mileage from aid station to aid station to help participants meter their fuel.
4. Invest in some large Gatorade coolers for the aid stations. It was tough to see so much plastic all over a beautiful course.
5. If possible, it would be great if the drop bins/bags were sorted by number, at least roughly. With over 200 racers, it was tough, I am sure, for folks to find their stuff. If you really want it to be a self-supported event, this would make it a little easier for racers to accomplish this.
6. If the awards are going to be much later than planned, make sure this announced and clear. So many racers hung out for hours on end waiting for awards and got frustrated. I realize there were unplanned issues but an announcement/aknowledgement would have been so helpful. The winners ceremonies ended up being such a let down after waiting around for so long. Their accomplishments were so big in my mind that I wanted to see them honored properly.
This race has sooooooo much potential. It was super tough with amazing riding and up there with the most challenging things I have attempted in my life. With just a few "cleanups" of details, it could be fantastic.
Thank you!
Thanks for such a cool race and a great day
Thanks for organizing such a stellar race. The trails were full of challenge, and the scenic beauty of this day was off the charts. CD trail is unbelievable. Thanks to the many volunteers. Thanks for the extended cutoff time for station 8! My first 100-- loved it. Peter
MT Standard article
Does this article contain a bunch of errors?
-fletch
errors
This article for sure contains errors. Zephanie (100 mile female winner) was not second overall. Her time was more likely 12:45. She still killed it, but she wasn't at 10:45! The timing folks took timing to a whole new level of difficulty and had themselves so confused that they couldn't make sense of anything....