Bikecicle 2011 - February 12th - planning thread

[Sal Atticum]

Sanders and I will be going out tomorrow afternoon around 3.  There may be a group going out Wednesday afternoon as well if we don't get things done.

[OUWxGuesser]

Just saw this now (not sure how I missed it).  I won't be there today, but can help out tomorrow. 

[OUWxGuesser]

Looks like we will hit at least 30F on Sat.   What's the status for tomorrow? Do you guys need help, or did you finish things up today?

[Sal Atticum]

Sandman and I cleared what could minimally be said to be the last section that needed to be cleared.  It's pretty sweet.  Thanks to Liz for lending us shovels!

We were also talking about cutting the course in half and having people do twice as many laps to get the same distance.  Unfortunately, this doesn't happen in the perfect spot.  Sanders, I don't know what you want to do about this: in the attached image, I marked a cutoff that would give us a course that's 2 km instead of 4 km.  This would be another section to shovel, but would also give us a tighter course that requires fewer volunteers (meaning more people get to race!).

The cutoff would be about 100 m of singletrack shoveling.  It took Sanders and I about an hour to clear the section we did, which is a 64 m according to the map I have, so if we had four people still go out at the same time it could be an hour or so work.  I'll cruise by on my way into school and see what the terrain is like through there.

What say people?  Can we gather a crew either today (remember, spin 3-5 pm) or tomorrow afternoon?  I have to work at 5 tonight, otherwise I'd go out later on.

[sanders]

attached? Im not really a big fan of the six lap course really, but just maybe.

[Sal Atticum]

attached? Im not really a big fan of the six lap course really, but just maybe.

I'm not even sure what you are trying to say.

[OUWxGuesser]

I guess the question is how the snowmobile trail will hold up with it possibly being mid-30s.  A shorter course with more laps should pack down pretty quickly.  Could also turn into a slushy mess.  I really have no opinion... I think either will work out fine. 

[Sal Atticum]

If it gets too warm to ride the snowmobile trail, the only alternative we're going to have is to decide on race day to run the same course we ran last year.

IMHO, I think we should make the course the best we can and plan for rideable conditions.  If it's too warm, that's the breaks.  This is pretty much how it can work in cycling, especially mtb and 'cross races: you ride what you end up with.  Riding (or pushing) in slush is a heck of a lot more interesting and memorable than riding your bike around on the bike path.

I'll most likely be out tomorrow working on this.  I've marked both ends of what the cutoff could be with bamboo poles with blue cloth tied to them, and then my tracks should be followable in between, if you want to ride by today and give me your opinion.

[Plantains]

If it gets too warm to ride the snowmobile trail, the only alternative we're going to have is to decide on race day to run the same course we ran last year.

IMHO, I think we should make the course the best we can and plan for rideable conditions.  If it's too warm, that's the breaks.  This is pretty much how it can work in cycling, especially mtb and 'cross races: you ride what you end up with.  Riding (or pushing) in slush is a heck of a lot more interesting and memorable than riding your bike around on the bike path.

I'll most likely be out tomorrow working on this.  I've marked both ends of what the cutoff could be with bamboo poles with blue cloth tied to them, and then my tracks should be followable in between, if you want to ride by today and give me your opinion.

QFT

Basically, put out the course that you all feel best represents what we have to offer. If the weather gets too warm and it causes the conditions to deteriorate... tough. Thats racing.

[Sal Atticum]

I was waiting for you to chime in.  You're much more succinct than I am.

Sanders has this idea that an extra half kilometer (500m) isn't all that far, and might make things work out better if we didn't try to dig a shortcut (leaving the short course at 2.5 km) and ran 3 laps for the short race and 5 laps for the long, making the total distances come out to 7.5 (rather than 8 ) km for the short race and 12.5 (rather than 12) for the long.

Is this within reason?  I already made sure with Larry that we could change the number of laps as long as the distance was the same, but is 500m too far to stretch things?

Part of me wants to (next year) make it a mystery distance prediction race and not have to worry about all of this, then we could make up the course the day before and nobody would be the wiser

[Plantains]

Frankly, I don't think that 500m is too far to stretch things. Worst case scenario you can just say that we mis-measured or something? I mean... whatever... stuff happens in the winter and some sections just plain aren't going to be rideable and some sections are going to be better. In the end, the silly rules (like the one in question) should take a backseat to having a great event.

If a rider wants to complain that the course was .5k longer or shorter than they expected, then kindly invite them not to exist in the real world. Or tell them they should've tried harder.

[Sal Atticum]

What the slogan would have been if we'd known the weather a long time ago:

"35 degrees?  You might as well race naked!"

[OUWxGuesser]

Birthday suit could be the winning costume....

[Sal Atticum]

Some of us need to go to SBS and buy prizes before Saturday afternoon!  Logan, do you have any free time between now and then (so we can use the checkbook)?

[Sal Atticum]

Volunteers I know about should have just received this email:

Hello Bikecicle Volunteers!

This ought to be my last email to you until Saturday.  Please let me know if you are unable to show up, or if you have any other input.

The Super-News:
* Last minute people who want to do the USAC officiating class on Friday from 5-10 PM need to get in touch with me ASAP!  The class costs $35, and depending on what happens you may have the opportunity to officiate on Saturday and get some experience.

The News:
* The course is done; we don't need any more help shoveling.  Thanks to those who came out!

* We shortened the course, so there are no road crossings.  There are, however, intersections that may be confusing to tired people.  The prep group will do their best to mark everything well, but if you are marshaling we still need you!
** In case people ask, the new course is a little over two kilometers long.  We're adjusting the number of laps to keep the same approximate distance, so the first race will be three laps and the second race five laps.

* In the attached spreadsheet, I've marked which stations (numbered on the new map) you are assigned.  This is not binding, I just wanted to make sure I could fill every spot.  We'll figure out on race day where everyone can go, but you need to show up for volunteer meetings at the following times:

You should show up at The Blue Moose (we'll probably be in the Back 40 Taproom) at these times so we can be organized:
Setup: 10 AM
Registration: 11:30 AM
Race 1: 1 PM
Race 2: 2 PM
Teardown: anticipated around 4:30 after awards

* If I don't have your number, please get it to me.  My number is 802-922-3696, call me if you have questions on or before race day.  If anyone wants to bring some radios for communication, that would be sweet but not required.

* By all means, bring your bike!  The weather is supposed to be FANTASTIC on Saturday, so who knows: maybe you'll ride the course in the morning and want to race in the afternoon?

* On that note, you'll see that we have a few extra people for marshals during the second race, and even then we could cut back to one marshal at each position if people don't mind standing alone.  You know what this means?  If you want to race, feel free to sign up (online deadline is midnight tonight) and let me know.  Maybe we could get some more collegiate riders out there.


Seriously, you guys are great for helping out with this event, which gets the club a lot of exposure and might even make us some money.  Thanks.

Matt

[Alaska Unicyclist]

yo beek. im free the rest of today, and tomorrow afternoon before the class at 5pm

[Sal Atticum]

A HUGE shoutout to everyone who helped put this event on: it could not have happened without YOU!  Even if you felt a little superfluous standing out in the cold, you helped bring riders through safely and without getting completely confused, and that's what matters.  We had a great day, and I hope you enjoyed it!