[Borregokid]

This was the third race in the five race Indie Series and judging by the attendance the Indie Series is a definite winner. Despite the rainy weather and a ferry ride about 300 racers showed up on Whidbey for the Mudder. The course was as described a "technical" short course. It was muddy with a big mud bog in one spot. A lot of racers had drive train problems, I did the pre ride without problems but once the race started my chain started skipping. I ended up riding in two gears. This was a great course for the single speeders and women. Women with their shorter bikes definitely had an advantage on the tight twisty course.

The lap counts ended up being a big problem. From sport alone they messed up the SS, 30+, and 50+. The top five had to be settled by a consensus of the riders.

Enough of the skill builder courses-next race its Bike and Brew and Freund Canyon. This will put the mountain back into mountain biking.

 

[Knobularlife]

That course looked like fun....more soil than anything else! and kinda Bermy

 

[mattv2099]

The course was very fun.

I was running conti supersonic twisters which are almost a semi slick tire. I was having insane troubles in the mud. After a great start (2nd in the start sprint) I drifted back to about 9th place. But once the course dried and my tires started hooking up I passed a lot of riders to end up in 4th in sport men 19-29.

I was fortunate in that I had no drive train problems. I had full range on my cassette and there were places I was able to use the big ring. But it was mostly a middle ring course with zero granny gear usage whatsoever.

The course was unbelievably technical. It was extremely difficult to feed during the race. Everytime I would take a sip of water or take a shot someone would catch up to me. Also, the lappers all let me pass whenever I asked (politely).

Great course but not as great as the old mudder course.


This is my teammate Andrew who tore it up in the Expert 19-29 race.

 

[dwaugh]

But it was mostly a middle ring course with zero granny gear usage whatsoever.

Save that for the Lake Padden race, I should think that you will need it there.

 

[Gex]

2 finger braking so not gnar

 

[Borregokid]

That course showed the value of some good mud tires. I think half the racers out there were sliding on their tubeless Python tires or something similar. I think maybe a set of Kenda Kharismas (sponsor promo) would do well in the mud I stopped at Performance on the way home and got a killer deal on a new cassette-should have had it before the race. I cant get over how well the women did on the course-most of them stayed right in there with the men.

 

[RhinofromWA]

The lap counts ended up being a big problem. From sport alone they messed up the SS, 30+, and 50+. The top five had to be settled by a consensus of the riders.

Seriously....a check point would not be that difficult...and would have given you proof of who rode what # of laps. A tag on the bar and a hole punch is all you need. But I guess that is to unthinkable for MTBr's. What? Stop!

If you no got da punchies you no go the lap.

 

[Borregokid]

I hear from a couple of moto racers that they should have had two people recording laps. As it was one person was calling the numbers and one was writing them down. They missed quite a few laps with different riders. With two recorders they would have had less chance of error I am sure they will do something different next year. I did like running for the set amount of time plus a lap because on the last lap I did most of my passing-it took those young guys a while to get tired.

 

[RhinofromWA]

Just top for a second and take a punch.... Have 5-10 people punching and the hold up sill be nil

 

[mattv2099]

Seriously....a check point would not be that difficult...and would have given you proof of who rode what # of laps. A tag on the bar and a hole punch is all you need. But I guess that is to unthinkable for MTBr's. What? Stop!

If you no got da punchies you no go the lap.

This course was too fast to stop. It would ruin the race. I would slow down to take a sip from my water bottle and 5 dudes would catch up to me.

If someone came to a dead stop there would be an immediate traffic jam. I lapped a lot of riders and they caused traffic jams. Riders were going through way faster than anyone could manage. Would you stop roadies in a criterium??? It would be just as bad.

I think the race officials did a fine job. The only way to do a better job would be to use a sophistocated electronic timing system.

 

[Earthmover]

Unfortunately, I was the guy tasked with the timing. We had WAY more racers this year (over 3 times as many) as in the past, and our usual method just didn't cut it. However, every single rider number was recorded in order as they went through, seperately from the lap tally, and these are being compiled currently. Accurate results are on the way, but it's time consuming. We're working hard though, and our next race will be better, promise!! Other than that detail, I think it was a pretty dang good race. Had nothing but positive feedback on the course. Too bad about the rain, I guess, but I loved the mud it made! Anyhow, all in all it looked like a fun race, just wish I could have ridden instead

 

[Borregokid]

Besides the screwed up scoring of the laps the music was terrible. I think at races it should be Def Lepard, AC-DC or some other 80's metal band. That is whats wrong with mountain biking, we need some decent music.

 

[mattv2099]

Unfortunately, I was the guy tasked with the timing. We had WAY more racers this year (over 3 times as many) as in the past, and our usual method just didn't cut it. However, every single rider number was recorded in order as they went through, seperately from the lap tally, and these are being compiled currently. Accurate results are on the way, but it's time consuming. We're working hard though, and our next race will be better, promise!! Other than that detail, I think it was a pretty dang good race. Had nothing but positive feedback on the course. Too bad about the rain, I guess, but I loved the mud it made! Anyhow, all in all it looked like a fun race, just wish I could have ridden instead

You guys put on a fine event and you should be proud.

There were only three issues I ran across. The lap counting has already been mentioned (I don't think it negatively affected me).

The other issues were registration and food!

The food sold out too quick! fortunately it wasn't long before reinforcements showed up.

Also, registration was a hastle. Obviously you guys didn't expect the ## of riders that showed up. It took 30 minutes to register. It really was not a big problem since the race start time was moved back.


Anyways, it was an extremely fun event.

 

[Borregokid]

You guys put on a fine event and you should be proud.

There were only three issues I ran across. The lap counting has already been mentioned (I don't think it negatively affected me).

The other issues were registration and food!

The food sold out too quick! fortunately it wasn't long before reinforcements showed up.

Also, registration was a hastle. Obviously you guys didn't expect the ## of riders that showed up. It took 30 minutes to register. It really was not a big problem since the race start time was moved back.


Anyways, it was an extremely fun event.

Point well taken on the food. I did manage to get a "hamburger" except I dont think it was a hamburger. Reminded me of Bellingham, they had turkey burgers and veggie burgers along with hamburger. The potato salad was good.

 

[RhinofromWA]

This course was too fast to stop. It would ruin the race. I would slow down to take a sip from my water bottle and 5 dudes would catch up to me.

If someone came to a dead stop there would be an immediate traffic jam. I lapped a lot of riders and they caused traffic jams. Riders were going through way faster than anyone could manage. Would you stop roadies in a criterium??? It would be just as bad.

I think the race officials did a fine job. The only way to do a better job would be to use a sophistocated electronic timing system.

It takes 2 seconds and everyone has the same task so no one has an advantage. You don't have one or two guys punching the tag....you have 5-10 side by side. If you think your race pace was fast, try a GNCC or harescrambles dirt bike race. When the going gets nasty you can't rely on visual callers and recording....a punch is actually proof you came through.

If the criterium made it so the laps couldn't be counted soemthing else need to be done.....as witnessed by this event. Not saying that system didn't work but it was over burdened and needed tweeking. If you added a ton of mud there would be no way to tell who was who. Check out how muddy it can get at a motorcycle event. You might have to click on it...
http://trav.smugmug.com/gallery/310838/2/12366636

We have used the punch tag and in our desert race we use a big white sticker on the helmet where a permanent marker is struck every lap to give a total at the end of the race.

 

[Earthmover]

The photo guy has photos of the Mudder up. Lots of them. Hope everyone finds themselves. Me, I'm under Sport, page 7, row 7....Rock On!!