Shane Gibson
Jeff,
Thank you for all of your hard work in bringing these (this) venue to us.
It was (finally!) my first year at the Hood River Double Cross races, and I
thoroughly enjoyed the race. It's such a shame that 10% of the population
constantly screws the rest of us.
Please keep up the great work. Even though I mechanicaled both days - I had
an absolute blast, and both courses were excellent early season challenges
to tune up the skills (and, apparently - the bike!). I look forward to
whatever venues you can bring to the table for next year!
~~shane
--
"Opportunities multiply as they are seized." - Sun Tzu
On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 1:22 PM, Jeff Lorenzen wrote:
> After I announced that this would be our last year at Hood River Valley
> High School, a number of people emailed me about why we were losing the
> venue. It really comes down to two things:
>
> 1. We're victims of our own success. We had our biggest fields ever this
> year (800+ racers over the two days). If each racer does an average of 4
> laps, that's 3200 individual laps over the course. We were able to split
> that out over the two days by having different courses, but we still have a
> pretty big impact on the grounds. The school has been very supportive of
> the use of the fields, but the Indian Creek Trails are community owned and
> managed and some members of the community are very opposed to our race and
> the impact we have. 1600 individual feet doing 3200 laps did cause some
> damage on the run-ups and we will do some follow-up trail repair.
>
> 2. Try as I might, I can't keep bikes (and dogs) off the fields (football,
> practice, and baseball) and the track. This is the real frustration of the
> school and athletic director. It is a condition of our use of the property
> that we not ride bikes on the fields and the track, just as it a condition
> of use not to have alcohol at Alpenrose (and Hood River, Barlow, Rainier,
> etc.). The property owners reserve the right to revoke our permits if we
> violate the conditions of use. I know many of you have gotten the message
> and helped all weekend long in keeping bikes off the track. However, the
> school does not see the 400 people not on the track, but the 10 people on
> it. The dog issue is somewhat newer but the school has had an increasing
> problem with local dogs pooping on the fields. Imagine finding that during
> football practice. They asked us to more strictly enforce the no dogs rule
> for our event.
>
> I spent some time talking with the athletic director and the groundskeeper
> this morning, and we discussed a plan for coming back in a couple of years.
> The high school is a great venue and I know many of you love the courses. I
> think we'll take a year or two off and certainly hope to be able to come
> back. In the meantime, we're on the schedule for two great days of racing
> next year and are working on several possible new venues. Wherever we are,
> we promise to offer quality races and a great atmosphere.
>
> We hope to see you all for two days of racing next September! Have a great
> season!
>
> Jeff Lorenzen
> Hood River Double Cross
> Port of Hood River Criteriums
> 541.490.6837
>
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