Timing is everything they say. And in the case of the Oregon Endure Series (OES), that's definitely the case. OES got started in 2012 by Devon Lyons after talking with a number of pro riders like Mark Weir, Ross Schnell, and Richie Schley. The timing was just right: the OES was able to ride the groundswell of the rising demand for enduro racing in the USA , and with four years under their belt now, the overall stoke factor remains consistently high: the prizes are good, the event sponsors are solid, raffles are tip top, and there's a heavy emphasis on maintaining a strong fun factor.
Heading into the 2015 season's first race in Bend, OR everything looked stellar: rain the previous week had given way to blue bird conditions for the week leading up to the race, and riders from across the USA were converging on Bend to race, including a field of 40 pro men with Kyle Warner, Curtis Keen, and Adam Craig all in the mix, as well as 7 pro women, and full fields of expert, sport, beginner, and junior racers—263 racers in all. Bend is situated in a high desert climate, though, so the rain soaked trails of the prior week quickly gave way to dust as riders trained on the stages the week heading into the event.
When asked about the somewhat loose trail conditions, Curtis Keene just grinned and said, "
Everything's running super fast out here. Sure, it's a little dusty, but it's so fast!"
The only potential downsides heading into the weekend were a forecast of unseasonably high temps for race day (
95 degrees F/35 degrees C) mixed with a few prescribed forest fire burns nearby. Heat is one thing—racing in the heat sucks; but the fires could potentially effect air quality. The wind played nicely, though, keeping the smoke well away from the venue, although the heat was just as blistering hot as had been forecast. After a quick pre-race meeting, riders started to head out to stage one to begin racing. That's when things went a bit awry: the night before the race, a chain reaction of failed computers and networking issues began, forcing a delayed start to stage one. The snowball effect of that initial computer crash and networking error created a delay in the OES' ability to move the timing system used on stage one to the fifth and final stage and have it set up before the first pro racers started descending. The net effect of that error forced the OES organization to nullify the fifth and final stage for all racers, which is a shame as that final stage might have shook up some of the final standings. More importantly, it also created a massive delay in establishing accurate timing for some of the stages, and forced some podium corrections—most importantly in the pro men's field—moving Kirt Voreis from the top step down to seventh overall, and moving Alex McGuiness (
aka "Krunkshox) up from fourth to first. The results are all now accurate, though, having been painstakingly rebuilt by hand (
thank God for dedicated OES staffers and Thump coffee as a sponsor).
The delays definitely upset some of the racers, but overall most competitors took the errors with a grain of salt and remained pretty stoked on the event—after all, no one could have predicted the computer failures that created the fiasco, and OES went the extra mile to ensure accurate results, even if it took them 24 hours of grinding to get it done.
Full results from the Bend, Oregon OES here.
MENTIONS:
@OregonEnduro /
@meagerdude
I did wish that they had more categories though. In expert my 39 year old ass was racing 20 year olds.
We set out to build a system that had:
- Accurate results to the thousandth of a second
- Remove human error
- Live results at each stage
- Live combined results in the Expo Area
We accomplished this from most of 2014 on a constant basis!
-We only had one short timing delay in 2014 (first race of the year at Hood River).
-The first year we used Jaguar (2013) we were set up for issues with an undeveloped, over complicated system that we tried to run ourselves with proper support on the software.
When we started doing enduro races in North America, we tried a few options in the first year. After over two years of research, we invested all of our resources in a chip timing system, Jaguar. The company claimed to be able to build a software solution to manage enduro timing. We spent the off-season scoping the needs of a high-end enduro timing system that was delivered days before our first race. Unfortunately, we attempted to use a software system that is not fully-developed and it produced inconsistent results over the course of last few seasons.
This year, we had an unfortunate multiple-stage equipment failure. But we were prepared with back up times. The equipment issues caused a delay in the race which then effected the 5th stage which was contingent on getting Stage #1 done quickly. Stages #2 and #4 where perfectly timed. We rebuilt stages #1 and #3 from back up times and released correct results.
We have had our timing issues, but it is not from a lack of trying. We have put a lot of thought and resources into building the best timing system possible. We had no other enduro events that we could look at or call for timing advice when we started. We came up to the best case scenario for enduro timing set out to develop it ourselves.
We set out to build a system that had:
- Accurate results to the thousandth of a second
- Remove human error
- Live results at each stage
- Live combined results in the Expo Area
We accomplished this from most of 2014 on a constant basis!
-We only had one short timing delay in 2014 (first race of the year at Hood River).
-The first year we used Jaguar (2013) we were set up for issues with an undeveloped, over complicated system that we tried to run ourselves with proper support on the software.
When we started doing enduro races in North America, we tried a few options in the first year. After over two years of research, we invested all of our resources in a chip timing system, Jaguar. The company claimed to be able to build a software solution to manage enduro timing. We spent the off-season scoping the needs of a high-end enduro timing system that was delivered days before our first race. Unfortunately, we attempted to use a software system that is not fully-developed and it produced inconsistent results over the course of last few seasons.
This year, we had unfortunate equipment failures on two stages. But, we were prepared with back up times. The equipment issues caused a delay in the race which then effected the 5th stage which was contingent on getting Stage #1 done quickly. Stages #2 and #4 where perfectly timed. We rebuilt stages #1 and #3 from back up times and released correct results.
What really gets me is the fact that I can race the whole series and if I place 21st or higher in all the races, I'll get zero points. That means that if someone takes 20th in one race and never races again, that person will have more points than me...
I think I'll run the CDC next year, they award points to the top 100 and you have to race four events to be placed in the series. They also have a 30-39 group so I don't have to race 19 year olds. Plus it's cheaper!
Sounds like cadcadia series has their act together. Anyone compare the two promoters?
Major liability and breach of contract.
I think OES does an amazing job of engineering a racing experience. They do mini-events all weekend like movies, kids races, cool venue design, best food truck in town, best coffee cart in town, amazing website & marketing, cool tee-shirt & hat design I want sport around town, amazing video’s to share with my friends, professional quality post race pictures… lets face it, they have the overall experience of an event dialed.
As for timing, it sounds like most Enduro organizers have focused too much on a complex timing system. Out of the 263 riders that showed up only 40 are Pro. I think the 223 other riders could live with slightly less accurate timing methods to have a smooth experience.
To be honest I was really pissed off on Sunday. I've been to three OES events and all three have had issues. For this event I talked two friends who are new to Enduro racing to fly in from out of town, neither one of them will ever come back for one of these events. I just love the idea of Enduro & I do think they put on a great event. I just want the events to succeed because they are cool - but I'm not going back this year - maybe next year. I'll spend my money on Mt. Bike Oregon or something else.
My main point of the post above was this: For me the most important thing is not having some stupid expensive & complicated timing system that can measure my results down to a fraction of a second. I'm happy with a simple timing system that is maybe 96-98% accurate like GPS. The product I want to spend my $100-200 on is a cool event, meet cool people, have fun, and HAVE A SMOOTH race.