was this the best organized race ever......no but thats not really the point as every thing was in place at go time. Was this one of the most fun races I have done HELL YES. Assume course, great venue and good people all around.
For those that complained about the course not being marked until late in the day I would say MANUP and ride. Even with all the chaos of organizing an event Evan had time to offer help (in the form of a wheel) to a buddy of mine who destroyed his front before even doing a single run.
There were timing issues? I was too busy riding and having an amazing time to notice. Super fun weekend. Great venue, wonderful people. Good job Evan. I cannot wait to see what you can do next year!
Evan, set aside the timing issue...This event frickin rocked!! I rode with my boys from ABS and that's all that mattered!! It was a great weekend, and thank you for the hard work!!
If i may point out...the 5th placed podium placer in the pro category is a 17 year old Marin Bikes factory rider named Matt Erbentraut....and you thought u were fast.
Not be negative... But I was very disappointed with the organization of this race. 4 timed stages, all riders' times for 2 of the stages were LOST. The courses werent taped until 1 hour before the lifts closed for practice day.
That being said, everything else went great. The courses were fun, two days of chairlift for the price of one race was nice, breakfast was good, great people.
Please keep in mind that this was my first race EVER. Timing and organizing 4 stages in one day with 197 riders, communication issues, not enough staff, and throw on top of that a timing system failure, and it is a MASSIVE undertaking.
I quickly learned from all my mistakes and will be back with 1,000+ improvements to next years event. I challenge you to find ANYONE who put on a race this big and complicated for their first ever event and had zero hiccups.
In the end, I hope you had a great time riding your bike with friends on challenging trails. That was what the event was all about and it seems like most, if not all riders had a great time.
I was unable to attend this round of the CES but want to know if these trails will be incorporated into the trail network this summer. I'll be up there over Labor Day and want to scope it out for next year.
California enduro series wants to brand themselves as the premier. enduro series but. has an event put on by someone putting on their first race ever. do the series organizers. support their individual race promoters? racers don't start in the pro class. promoters should start with local, small races before big. events. It sounds like people had fun but when I go to a race any pay good money to. do so, I would expect a timing system that doesn't drop half the times. once is an anomaly,, twice in a row. for. CES with screwe'd up timing is a pattern. if I want that experience I. might as well attend a USA cycling event. And yes, I have put on Lots of races and know how much work it is.
your incoherent rambling is not helping you out there bud... This race was awesome, yeah its a bummer that some of the times were lost but the race was still super fun and worth every penny and the 5 hour drive. This isn't a world cup event BRO, so how bout you chill out.
Incoherent or not, the I respect that people are trying to create a series that matters in California. Ultimately, what will make that series matter is good race courses and competent management. A race series doesn't have to be a world cup event to have competent timing.
Whatever floats your boat, but if I spend hundreds of dollars getting to an event and work my ass off to put my best result out there, I would have expectations from the organizers as well.
Having a good time at an event like this and feeling like your money spent was justified, managed well, etc. are two very different things and have nothing to do with one another in this case, in my opinion.
And doesn't matter if it's the first event you put on or the twentieth, common sense goes a long ways to avoiding the problems experienced, and you shouldn't be taking responsibility for thousands of dollars of other peoples money unless the outcome of said event is guaranteed to be an overwhelmingly positive one.
Overall a disappointing weekend for the new 'enduro' movement as it pertains to CES
agreed... it was the organizers 1st attempt at a race and it was very obvious that he was short-handed (his mom was helping him register people and she was lovely and hilarious; totally reminded me of myself being embarrassed of my mom with her in public). Even with that in mind, everyone had a great time and easily got their money worth and then some. and the timing issues happened in the previous cali enduro race as well and that one had much more race support.
Evan, glad to see that your race went well! Sorry to have missed the Enduro series, but thanks for doing so much for the ProGRT stop and being so amazing! You and everyone involved at China Peak we absolutely phenomenal.
For those that complained about the course not being marked until late in the day I would say MANUP and ride. Even with all the chaos of organizing an event Evan had time to offer help (in the form of a wheel) to a buddy of mine who destroyed his front before even doing a single run.
I will be back next year
Please keep in mind that this was my first race EVER. Timing and organizing 4 stages in one day with 197 riders, communication issues, not enough staff, and throw on top of that a timing system failure, and it is a MASSIVE undertaking.
I quickly learned from all my mistakes and will be back with 1,000+ improvements to next years event. I challenge you to find ANYONE who put on a race this big and complicated for their first ever event and had zero hiccups.
In the end, I hope you had a great time riding your bike with friends on challenging trails. That was what the event was all about and it seems like most, if not all riders had a great time.
Cheers,
Evan Turpen
Event Director - China Peak Enduro