Kris Schamp
Hey Everyone,
For those of you who didn't receive the email I sent out yesterday, here are a couple updates about the Six Hours of Mount Hood (this Sunday at Skibowl East) and the Short Track Series.
First Six Hours of Mt Hood (http://www.portlandracing.com
1) Course Conditions: all systems are go!
Earlier this week, Erik Tonkin, Sean Babcock and I went out to Skibowl to ride the course and get a feel of how the rainy weather of late has impacted the trails. The good news is that the rain has helped melt most of the remaining snow on the course. There were still a couple sections that had snow, but they were all relatively short and Petr (of Mt Hood Skibowl) has vouched that they will get it all cleared by Saturday, so the course should be fully rideable! Even better news: the Optimator and Rhododendron singletrack trails (on the back of the Multorpor loop) are in near perfect riding condition! In Erik Tonkin's words: "The tread is tacky and smooth. I was able to easily clean everything in the large chainring on a clockwise ride. The Powerline Trail descent is in rough shape -- big tires at slightly high pressure are in order." Overall, the Mutorpor Loop has some great flow and is a blast to ride, with plenty of room to pass riders or let others pass. While the loop inc
ludes some decent climbing sections, the singletrack is so much fun that you won't get tired of it, even after 6 hours of racing! In addition, you will get a chance to recover (or catch up with others) on the second, flatter loop out to Skibowl West and back to the start/finish at Multorpor Lodge. This loop will follow Lake Road, then send you down the XC Trail, and loop back via the new Summit Trail, which is another fun and flowy singletrack trail.
2) Weather Forecast: summer is finally here!
The latest weather forecast calls for sunny skies throughout the weekend with highs on Sunday in the low 70's. In other words: near-perfect conditions for racing your bike and hanging out on the mountain with friends! But don't forget it's the mountain, so make sure to bring proper/warm clothing. For those who plan to make it a full weekend deal, just a reminder that the course will be open for pre-riding on Saturday from 2pm to 6pm. There are various lodging options close to the race venue, including the popular Collins Lake Resort (less than a mile from the start) and various Forest Service campgrounds (the closest ones are Camp Creek and Trillium Lake).
3) Registration:
Mail-in pre-registration has closed, so if you just made up your mind and decided to come out and race, you will have to register and pay on Sunday. A friendly reminder that we do NOT accept credit cards and the day-of-race fees include a $10 convenience fee (aka late fee), so the rate fee will be $60 for solo racers and $50/person for 2-person teams. To save our registration folks major headaches with the team number plates, we decided that we won't provide the option to register multi-person teams (3 or more racers) on race day. However, if that's what you were hoping for and you haven't pre-registered yet, just send me an email (before end-of-day today) with all the required info on the registration form, and I will add your team to the list. You can then pay your race fees ($40 per person) on Sunday.
Note: day-of-race registration opens at 7:00 am and closes at 9:00 am. If you haven't registered yet, please make sure to be there by 8:00 am the latest, in order to avoid that you get caught up in a waiting line and don't get through registration in time. We plan to start all races - staggered with 30" breaks between categories - at 10:00 am.
4) Sponsor Update:
In the last week, we had two additional sponsors who stepped up to support this race: Hammer Nutrition will be our official sports drink provider and Andrew Page of Deep Tissue Massage Therapy (in Portland) is throwing in a bunch of free massage sessions for the raffle. And of course, we'll raffle off a bunch of other real cool prizes provided by Sellwood Cycle Repair, Chris King Precision Components, Nossa Familia and Hopworks Urban Brewing. Thank you sponsors!
Second, some updates about the Portland Short Track Series:
1) FREE Trial Night on Monday 6/14:
This Monday between 5 and 7pm, we will host a FREE trial night night at PIR where people can come ride the course, register for their first race (or the whole series), and pickup their race plates. Make sure to spread the word with friends (especially novice riders) who might want to give Short Track a go...
2) FREE Women and Junior Short Track Clinics
Pro Women Rider Sue Butler has volunteered to teach a free women's short track clinic at Monday's trial night. If you are interested, just shoot me an email, so we know how many riders to expect and whether we need any additional instructors.
Later in the series (starting on July 5th and running through July 26), Northwest Trail Alliance will be organizing free clinics for junior racers. These clinics will take place from 4 to 5:30pm. For more details, contact Joel Holly (joel@nw-trail.org).
3) Last call for Series Passes!
We extended the deadline for series passes, so if you haven't mailed in your check yet, you have still time to do so. HINT: they make for real cool Father's Day gifts!
More details: http://www.portlandracing.com/registration.html
4) Volunteers:
We are still looking for a couple volunteers to help with set-up, registration, course-marshaling, lap-counting, and clean-up. If you are interested in helping out as a volunteer (which is a ton of fun), just shoot me an email.
That's it. If you have any questions, just shoot me an email.
Looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday!
~Kris
Kris Schamp
www.portlandracing.com