I figured I have to post about the race today.
I did last years race and was VERY disappointed by the bike course, the apparent lack of officials, and the related blatant cheating. I was not planning on doing the race again since it was so bad. It was actually the worst race I've ever participated in. When I heard the bike course was changed for this year, seemingly for the better, I thought I'd give it a shot.
Let me just say that the race directors Roch Frey and Paul Huddle should be congratulated for the race they hosted this year. It was absolutely fantastic. The new bike course was great, really great, not to mention brutal, although the brutality was primarily due to the wind. In my opinion there were ample Marshals. (I counted 12 Marshal motorcycles before the race) I also saw very little drafting. As a matter of fact, the drafting I did see, I'd qualify as incedental and not at all blatant or excessive. The race was superbly run and hopefully these two will continue to run it in the future. The volunteers were great, course support was great, just an all around good race.
I do have a couple small complaints/critiques, but they're pretty trivial.
1) The finish area was pretty confined, I liked the ampitheater finish they had last year, but I'll take the one transition area format of this year over 2 transition areas any day.
2) There were a TON of non-racers in the transition area after the race. This tends to piss me off. The people I saw were certainly NOT picking up a bike for the competitor they came to watch. They were just milling around, and didn't belong there. BUT, the volunteers were vigilant about matching people's wristband numbers with the gear the were remoiving from the transition area, and I appreciate that.
3) The post-race food sucked compared to last year. It was basically pizza and bagles. I actually don't really care about this and would prefer a great race over decent food any day. Just thought I'd throw it out there.
4) And finally, what's a brother got to do to get a ripe banana on the run course? This was quite funny actually. I grabbed a half banana at one of the aid stations, and the thing was as green as a granny smith apple. I usually just bite into them to peel the rind off, but this thing was way too green to "peel". When I finally thought I could take a bite, I ended up with a mouth full of the meat and the chalky, nasty-ass tasting peel. It was the last thing I wanted to taste while running. It actually made me laugh out loud. I ended up gargling water and gatorade at the next aid station.
Anyway, my complaints are trivial. The upshot is that if these guys are hosting the race next year and if they have the same course, I highly recommend to anyone that it's worth making the trip. Especially if DeBoom is gonna do his thing again...
I did last years race and was VERY disappointed by the bike course, the apparent lack of officials, and the related blatant cheating. I was not planning on doing the race again since it was so bad. It was actually the worst race I've ever participated in. When I heard the bike course was changed for this year, seemingly for the better, I thought I'd give it a shot.
Let me just say that the race directors Roch Frey and Paul Huddle should be congratulated for the race they hosted this year. It was absolutely fantastic. The new bike course was great, really great, not to mention brutal, although the brutality was primarily due to the wind. In my opinion there were ample Marshals. (I counted 12 Marshal motorcycles before the race) I also saw very little drafting. As a matter of fact, the drafting I did see, I'd qualify as incedental and not at all blatant or excessive. The race was superbly run and hopefully these two will continue to run it in the future. The volunteers were great, course support was great, just an all around good race.
I do have a couple small complaints/critiques, but they're pretty trivial.
1) The finish area was pretty confined, I liked the ampitheater finish they had last year, but I'll take the one transition area format of this year over 2 transition areas any day.
2) There were a TON of non-racers in the transition area after the race. This tends to piss me off. The people I saw were certainly NOT picking up a bike for the competitor they came to watch. They were just milling around, and didn't belong there. BUT, the volunteers were vigilant about matching people's wristband numbers with the gear the were remoiving from the transition area, and I appreciate that.
3) The post-race food sucked compared to last year. It was basically pizza and bagles. I actually don't really care about this and would prefer a great race over decent food any day. Just thought I'd throw it out there.
4) And finally, what's a brother got to do to get a ripe banana on the run course? This was quite funny actually. I grabbed a half banana at one of the aid stations, and the thing was as green as a granny smith apple. I usually just bite into them to peel the rind off, but this thing was way too green to "peel". When I finally thought I could take a bite, I ended up with a mouth full of the meat and the chalky, nasty-ass tasting peel. It was the last thing I wanted to taste while running. It actually made me laugh out loud. I ended up gargling water and gatorade at the next aid station.
Anyway, my complaints are trivial. The upshot is that if these guys are hosting the race next year and if they have the same course, I highly recommend to anyone that it's worth making the trip. Especially if DeBoom is gonna do his thing again...