[-BB-]

It's not that far from SoCal, and it's pretty close to lots of places, sort of anyway. Vegas is about three hours away, Salt Lake is about a four hour drive, Boise is six, Grand Junction is probably five, two or three from Flagstaff, and I think San Diego is about nine hours out. It's actually a pretty good spot as far as equal access for a lot of different parts of the country. As for actual population demographics, that's a different story.

If Vegas is 3hr, and it is 4hrs to Vegas from here... 7 hours isn't "close".
I'm sure it will be a good race and all, but I don't think that many SoCal'rs will go.

 

[narlus]

what are their other options, though? plenty of new england riders take the same sort of drive down to snowshoe.

 

[-BB-]

I could make it up to Northstar in 6hrs...
Nor Cal guys came down to BigBear too, but Brianshead is gonan be about 10 hours away for them.

 

[Metal]

If Vegas is 3hr, and it is 4hrs to Vegas from here... 7 hours isn't "close".
I'm sure it will be a good race and all, but I don't think that many SoCal'rs will go.

But you would rather have a race up in Northstar. It takes longer to get to Northstar than to go to Brianhead. Are you scared of crossing state borders, or is it just the mormons?
I think this race will be super cool, especially if the course is anything like the pictures that Michael Diamond just posted. Hello Spider. I love whoopin' people on XC bikes.

 

[heikkihall]

It takes me about 45-48 hours to drive to Big Bear every year. And Idaho is about the same, maybe alittle further.
Mt Snow is is by far the closest to me at about 3 hours, and Snowshoe is like 12 hours if Im hauling. All in all I think this schedule really does work out best for people from all regions of the country.

 

[leprechaun]

i'm sure that NORBA/TBB put out bids to a number of west coast resorts,maybe no one in the SoCal region wanted to pay up.I thought N* would pick it up,or another resort at Big Bear Lake would.Brianhead might have been the closest resort to Socal willing to put on the big show.I would think that would have been a factor in chosing a venue.
TBB has been putting on 12hr XC races there and the Epic 100 XC race there too for a few years,so there is a connection.
I feel a little guilty having 2 nattys in my home state,but at least they didn't just shorten the series.
It is the closest Nat to socal so why wouldn't they come? Other than it's at 11,000 feet!

 

[James | Go-Ride]

If Vegas is 3hr, and it is 4hrs to Vegas from here... 7 hours isn't "close".
I'm sure it will be a good race and all, but I don't think that many SoCal'rs will go.

I feel bad for you SoCal guys. The first time EVER that the series hasn't had a race at your doorstep. We've been driving 13 hours to get to Big Bear and Mammoth, and Idaho for that matter, for the past three summers, so I can understand how for one summer driving for a quarter of a day to get to a race would be rough.

7 hours is no sweat, and the race is going to be sick. Be there.

 

[-BB-]

I feel bad for you SoCal guys. The first time EVER that the series hasn't had a race at your doorstep. We've been driving 13 hours to get to Big Bear and Mammoth, and Idaho for that matter, for the past three summers, so I can understand how for one summer driving for a quarter of a day to get to a race would be rough.

7 hours is no sweat, and the race is going to be sick. Be there.

LOL... I know... We have it SO rough down here.
Shoot... It dropped all the way down to 60 degrees today!! :nuts:
And the surf was down!! Plus, the Skiing (about 2 hours away) was a little icy. neaky:

 

[-BB-]

But you would rather have a race up in Northstar. It takes longer to get to Northstar than to go to Brianhead. Are you scared of crossing state borders, or is it just the mormons?
I think this race will be super cool, especially if the course is anything like the pictures that Michael Diamond just posted. Hello Spider. I love whoopin' people on XC bikes.

Yeah... it is the whole state line thing. Since I moved here 8 years ago, I haven't left the state. They might not let me back in!!

 

[James | Go-Ride]

Here's some shots from the '03 and '04 racing at Brian Head from the Utah DH series, hopefully you'll be able to see the terrain for what it is. This is basically a race course that Scott built for our series, and I don't have any idea if they'll want to use an existing course, but this illustrates some of the potential for the mountain.

 

[James | Go-Ride]

I also found this picture of the '04 Big Bear DH winner, in the middle of his run. At least, based on the protective gear and challenging look of the terrain, I'm pretty sure this is what all DH racing in SoCal is pretty much like:

hahahahaha oh man I kill myself sometimes.

 

[Zutroy]

Nice pics James, I'm sure it'll be a blast to race. Although I'm more excited about getting to have national at PC again.

 

[heikkihall]

Nice pics James, I'm sure it'll be a blast to race. Although I'm more excited about getting to have national at PC again.

Im so psyched there is a race in Park City again. Ive never raced bikes there but I love that area. Ridden there many times and skied there a ton. I have lots of very good friends in the area and cant wait to hang out there for a race. But scheduling might be hard for me to get there. Unless I miss out on St. Anne the week after that event (which I really really want to race this year) I dont know if I will be able to get to both. Im working on it though.

 

[MikeD]

I also found this picture of the '04 Big Bear DH winner, in the middle of his run. At least, based on the protective gear and challenging look of the terrain, I'm pretty sure this is what all DH racing in SoCal is pretty much like:

I call bull-**** on that pic. We NEVER run stems that short here in SoCal.

 

[leprechaun]

The original artical on VeloNews says Mtn X