lisa graham

weather, and changing conditions are part of racing.

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Me after a long ride ^^ l

> Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:53:14 -0700
> From: butler.sue@comcast.net
> To: obra@list.obra.org
> Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] upfront
>
> WOW! I have read the posts about Bear Springs and I have to say I am a bit shocked at so much of the negativity and the actions some are willing to take to to get $25 back. Mountain biking is an adventurous sport. Conditions can change at the drop of a hat. Mother nature does not always allow us to have perfect conditions and perfectly clear trails. In fact, I would put money on the fact that that the trail yesterday is in the BEST condition of ANY singletrack near Mt. Hood right now. Yep, there was snow. Yep, you had to get off your bike. I hate walking/running my bike just as much (if not more) than the next person, but I had a blast!!! It is all about attitude and epic conditions definitely test that. But there was no blow down, and that was a nice treat. Yes, perhaps a warning would have been nice. I was fortunate to have been up there for short track on Saturday, so prepared by wearing my winter shoes plus embrocation. But really, this is grass roots racing. This is not
> about money, as I am sure Petr does not make much, if any. You want to see more races disappear? Well, don't appreciate the ones we have and the efforts taken to make them happen, despite less than ideal conditions. Do you think he wanted to be shoveling for 10 days??? I know a lot of people had a miserable experience, and that really sucks, because we need to grow this sport, not scare people away. These were exceptional circumstances with late snow. Should it have been postponed? Was it even possible? Well, you could have been riding the trails with motorcycles if it was too much later in the season. I think there is a short window that this race CAN happen and for the early season, I think the it was pretty great. What was not covered in snow (which was the majority) was super fun. The snow was challenging, my knee is hating me today, but it reminds us that we need to be able to do it all. Every ride I joke, "if you aint' hike-a biking, then you really aint' mountain biki
> ng". Let's keep in the spirit of good clean fun. No law suits, no court dates. If you didn't have fun, please come back and try again. I hear it is even more fun without snow. (This was my first BS). I know the Jim Treviso tour in summer covers some of these same trails in different directions and they are a blast. If you had fun, thanks for supporting mountain bike racing in Oregon, in any conditions. I think we have some of the most fun races in the whole country! And remember, as some wise man said once, "that which does not kill us makes us stronger."
> Thank you to Petr and the Sellwood Cycling/Team S&M crew for all of your hard work. Hopefully next year winter will end sooner! And if it doesn't, please let us know to prepare for snow!
> Cheers!
> Sue Butler
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Sue Butler

WOW! I have read the posts about Bear Springs and I have to say I am a bit shocked at so much of the negativity and the actions some are willing to take to to get $25 back. Mountain biking is an adventurous sport. Conditions can change at the drop of a hat. Mother nature does not always allow us to have perfect conditions and perfectly clear trails. In fact, I would put money on the fact that that the trail yesterday is in the BEST condition of ANY singletrack near Mt. Hood right now. Yep, there was snow. Yep, you had to get off your bike. I hate walking/running my bike just as much (if not more) than the next person, but I had a blast!!! It is all about attitude and epic conditions definitely test that. But there was no blow down, and that was a nice treat. Yes, perhaps a warning would have been nice. I was fortunate to have been up there for short track on Saturday, so prepared by wearing my winter shoes plus embrocation. But really, this is grass roots racing. This is not
about money, as I am sure Petr does not make much, if any. You want to see more races disappear? Well, don't appreciate the ones we have and the efforts taken to make them happen, despite less than ideal conditions. Do you think he wanted to be shoveling for 10 days??? I know a lot of people had a miserable experience, and that really sucks, because we need to grow this sport, not scare people away. These were exceptional circumstances with late snow. Should it have been postponed? Was it even possible? Well, you could have been riding the trails with motorcycles if it was too much later in the season. I think there is a short window that this race CAN happen and for the early season, I think the it was pretty great. What was not covered in snow (which was the majority) was super fun. The snow was challenging, my knee is hating me today, but it reminds us that we need to be able to do it all. Every ride I joke, "if you aint' hike-a biking, then you really aint' mountain biki
ng". Let's keep in the spirit of good clean fun. No law suits, no court dates. If you didn't have fun, please come back and try again. I hear it is even more fun without snow. (This was my first BS). I know the Jim Treviso tour in summer covers some of these same trails in different directions and they are a blast. If you had fun, thanks for supporting mountain bike racing in Oregon, in any conditions. I think we have some of the most fun races in the whole country! And remember, as some wise man said once, "that which does not kill us makes us stronger."
Thank you to Petr and the Sellwood Cycling/Team S&M crew for all of your hard work. Hopefully next year winter will end sooner! And if it doesn't, please let us know to prepare for snow!
Cheers!
Sue Butler