Race Report Idyllwild Spring Challenge

Discussion in 'Racing and Training' started by allison, May 7, 2012.

  1. allison

    allison Active Member

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    Just wanted to extend my gratitude to Katie and Idyllwild Cycling (as well as volunteers) for continuing to put on such a great annual event up in Idyllwild. I know the past 2-3 years Katie has dealt with trail closures and course re-routes, but she holds the race and as far as I can tell - everything went well this year! Course was fun, classes were challenging, and it seemed like awards and the raffle went off well.

    Katie manages to get the biggest pro purse in CA (I believe?? show me another XC race with $1,000 to the winner and 3 KOM/QOM primes up for grabs) and EQUAL PRIZE MONEY for the women. Can't beat that.

    This year's Pro women's field was the biggest I think since the race started (8 women on the line!), with 2 tri/Xterra athletes, a few pretty new Pro's, locals, a Coloradoan, and all of us excited and ready for a long race.

    Awesome job to all racers. I had a blast on course. The trails were in killer shape, the aid stations were well-man'd, the course was well-marked, and every racer I came across had good sportsmanship.

    Hope everyone else that came out and raced enjoyed it as much as I did!!

    Until next year :)
     
  2. throttlemire

    throttlemire New Member

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    My second year out there and I can't imagine a better course, prizes, people and atmosphere. If you only do one race in your life or one race a year (like me), this can't be missed. The reroute went very smooth for my race and it was fun to power through the meadow and then bomb down the Keen climb. Hopefully Exfoliator will be back in the future. Thanks to Idyllwild Cycling for another great event!!
     
  3. IDY-Craig

    IDY-Craig Lake Arrowhead

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    I second that Allison! Seemed like the turnout was great and the professionalism high. Living here in Idyllwild I get many chances to talk with Katie and I know that this event is a lot for IDY Cycling to put on, it takes a tremendous amount of volunteer support and seems to always go off fairly smoothly...so kudos to her team and all that helped.

    Since this years courses touched upon the Living Free Animal Sanctuary (http://www.living-free.org/) Katie and I thought it would be a good opportunity for us to try and support them as well. We were able to set up an animal support booth providing day care for dogs belonging to racers and their families. We also were able to provide rattlesnake vaccinations, nail trims and microchip ID's thanks to VCA Rancho Mirage Animal Hospital (http://www.vcahospitals.com/rancho-mirage) and Dr. Shayda Ahkami! We collected donations for Living Free and VCA is going to match that amount. I worked the booth all day along with several other people and we were quite impressed at the overall turnout and how cool everyone was (maybe it was the free beer from Blackmarket Brewing!)

    A special thanks to Robert w/ Racers & Chasers for providing that neutral hospitality campus! Damn that set up is big!!

    Hopefully we'll see everyone again next year. Congrats to all the racers!!

    PS...stay tuned...we ran the GoPro on "Brown Dog" who captured some pretty awesome doggie-cam perpsective of the expo area. I'll post it up as soon as I can. Very cool.
    Endo and his owner
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    Our Dog Support Booth
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    You don't see this every day
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    Dr. Ahkami speaks with a racer and his dog about knee problems
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    More Q&A with Davee's owners about siezure control
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    Style Council
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    Good times all weekend
    LJ-small.jpg
     
  4. kirkB

    kirkB New Member

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    First time to Idyllwild, but will definitely not be the last. The open course was so much fun (well except for the road climb).
     
  5. BBBRAD

    BBBRAD New Member

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    Damn that was fun!!! Tough course, really well run event and definitely the best raffle ever (MUST buy more tickets next time)...
     
  6. Keith B

    Keith B Professional Lion Tamer

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    Super fun weekend - Thanks to everyone at the Woof Louge for looking after my terrified poocher - looking forward to seeing him on the Brown-Dog-cam!
     
  7. IDY-Craig

    IDY-Craig Lake Arrowhead

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    Keith...which one was yours?
     
  8. Keith B

    Keith B Professional Lion Tamer

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    Teddy was mine. He slept like a log from early evening onwards - too much bouncing up and down trying to escape!
     
  9. Vader

    Vader New Member

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    Thanks to Katie and everyone else who helped put on the race, and to Doggy Day Care for looking after Shadow and Barley. The weather was perfect, and the course was in perfect shape, though next year I'm going to have to change my gearing for that Southridge section. Doh!
     
  10. sauce

    sauce New Member

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    I've been extremely lucky - my first two Pro races were Whiskey 50 and this event. Both were amazing! Pro payouts, well-marked courses, FUN courses, nice people, a high level of professionalism, a really tough women's pro field, etc, etc.

    I'm really glad we went, despite the tiredness from Prescott. (With all the time/money it takes to race bikes, it's really nice of the race organizers to offer a Pro payout.)

    The Living Free doggie daycare was really cool - apologies for our yelping dog! Here is a pic of our dog at doggie daycare: ted.jpg
     
  11. sauce

    sauce New Member

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    The little blonde dog in the above pic. He was conked out under a blanket by the Mann's campfire that evening! :)
     
  12. BBBRAD

    BBBRAD New Member

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    Are there any photos from the race up anywhere?
     
  13. allison

    allison Active Member

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  14. BBBRAD

    BBBRAD New Member

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    Thanks Allison - found a pic of me making the ugly face...Congrats on your Pro win & Queen of the mountain - I've enjoyed following your exploits on your blog. Good write-up on the race.
     

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