Race Report Kenda Cup West #1

From Cynthia's phone, relayed to you from my office sitting, race flaking, heater enjoying butt at home.​

 

^^ Holy crap!

- shud

 

Ha, I took the same picture while waiting in the slowest moving line ever.

Mixed feelings on the course. Mud fest everywhere but the pavement ''climb''.

Lots of people taking pictures after the race, everyone was caked in watery mud. Very little actual dirt to ride on, and the only rocks were in the river crossings. Mud everywhere...picture a cx race with no hiking.

 

I heard the pavement climb was not included, but rather they did multi loops around a flat elevation meadow. 4 laps for sport and below, 5 for pro. Was that right David?

 

Yup. Little to no climbing, multiple laps around the bottom area, just under 4 miles a lap. No snow by the time the race started, just mud and lots of it

 

yeah the course wasnt ideal but would you have rather had someone die out there today? I'd rather have a less then ideal race course and everyone come home in 1 piece then someone die out there so we could ride the original course.

 

Wasn't there but totally agree. There is only so far you can go when putting events like this together. Safety has to come first!

 

Whoa! Did anyone suggest that the original course should have been ridden? I don't see how we got to a discussion about wanting people to die.

Anyways...back to the original thread...

 

wasnt directed at any one person. calm down.

 

Responsable posting is a way of life. You'll see when you've been here a bit longer.

 

That was probably coming from the fact that there were a lot of pissed off people at the race that the original course wasn't being ridden. In the end, I think the vast majority understood, but when it was first going around that the course was changing most people were less than excited about it.

 

A buddy asked me how the race went, i said imagine riding your bike thru mud with the consistency of wet concrete. I had a ton of fun. First cat 2 race ever.

 

Great Video and an excellent rider. Thanks for sharing !
What bike were you riding ?

 

Mud fest for sure .....ice cold waist-high stream crossings added as extra bonus!

 

As Chris B. and his wife and I drove up, I needed to put my truck into 4 wheel high on the freeway because of the ice on the freeway. As we arrived at the course, totally bummed from the looks of things, shoes wet from the snow, wondering what kind of havoc the race course was going to do on my bike and body, then the sun started to shine. The race organizer made a fast, executive decision to change the course completely. It was an excellent choice, even though the laps were short it was hard. Tons of mud (but ridable), 3 water crossings about 2.5 feet deep. I saw many fall over half way through the creek because it was flowing pretty darn good. Definetly not ideal, but looking back it was cold, wet, dirty, and most of all fun. All in all, a good day of racing. I think the people that were disappointed need to look at the big picture and understand what the promoter needed to do with the best intrest of everyone. Sitting back and looking at the day, it was a fun time! Not ideal, but fun.

 

we arrived on sat night in the middle of snow storm it seemed. the pass was super slow. i had to put it in 4x4 on the pass and just to get up the dirt road to the race course. then i almost got stuck just looking for a place to set up camp. it snowed all night and i was getting pretty unsure about the mornings race. i woke up to this, it was so beautiful. and yes the course was changed but it will be one to remember for years to come :lol: what blows is, i had my go pro ready to go and i forgot to put it on my bike#-o

 

Anyone know who the photographers were?

 

funnest race ever!! i've raced tons of times, but wont forget this one in a while. sorry i missed the epic single track, but super glad we didnt have to hike our bikes through feet of fresh powder in the back county. probably need a new drive train from all the mud and sand, but i guess wrenching and spending all your dough is part of the sport. those mud bogs and stream crossing were wild! 16 miles and ~500 ft gain (according to my gps)... can i say i have now raced cycle cross? exciting start to the season!

 

Animal! Congrats, you earned that Maker's Mark!

 

Like everyone else has already stated....

• Arrived to the race site and saw lots of snow on the ground. It was cold, but the sun was shinning and warming everything up.
• Race start was pushed back an hour from 11am to 12pm.
• Course was changed last minute and you could tell a lot of people were annoyed/mad.
• The top of the road was really icy and was dangerous to ride on, plus the race personnel had no was of getting rescue vehicles to certain parts of the course in the (highly likely) case that an accident occurred. Hence, the course change was necessary for liability reasons.
• Regardless of the course, it was a blast. Everyone had a smile that I saw and everyone I talked to during the race said they were having a blast and that is what it is all about.
• I was surprised my bike held up with all the chain suck and machine gun sounds my drive train was making.
• It was my fist Kenda Cup race and I think I am going to do them all. Much better competition that the 50 people that show up for the Southridge series XC races.

Here are just a couple pictures I got.

^This was what at least 50% of the course was like (The rest was pavement of stream crossings)


^This is what everyone looked like after the race.