One We'll Always Remember

[SPLASH]

Thanks to all of the FORC'ers, volunteers and racers who came out and braved the less than ideal conditions to make the 5th Sylvan Island Stampede a success. The Stampede was the brain child of Jim Ghys and John Blair and I hope I did her justice. 155 brave souls endured the rain and mud in what one corner marshall called a rolling "minstrel show" on account of all of the muddy faces.
I can't thank JB and the corner marshalls enough for standing in the rain for hours to help keep the racers on track and safe. The ladies in the registration tent proved yet again that the best thing I can do is stay out of their way and let them keep everything running smooth and on time. The Schwag tent ran like clockwork and the members of the NMBP did an outstanding job helping out with the cuts and scrapes that are inevitable in a bike race in these conditions. Set up and clean up crews were more than any organizer could hope for.
A special thanks goes out to John Bernard for designing a course that would not only be fun but would stand up to today's conditions.
`To Karen, Bexter, AG, Rage, and all of the others who got to experience the "joy" of listening to me vent over the past few weeks..................I owe you big time.
I hope to see every back again next year and remember....the weather has got to be better than this year!!!!!!!!


PS Don't forget the ScoCoPa Frenzy and the ScoCoPa Chase on July 18th & 19th. Check the website for updates.

[Rage]

A follow-up Thank You to all of the volunteers who endured a beyond-soggy day, and Big Props to Scot for handling this edition of the Stampede (for his Race Director "baptism") with aplomb. Well done.

And Thank You to all of the racers who took a chance on Mother Nature, for better and for worse. I seriously doubt you will ever race in conditions like this again. One we'll remember indeed...

Rg.

[Vibrato]

As a MTBer who heartiily discourages the "dumbing down" of mtb trails (making them so easy your mom could ride them on a 3 wheeler) I've also got to give credit where credit is due-

And This weekend FORC took HARDCORE MTB Club honors for the year!!-

The last time it rained this hard, Noah built hisself a boat and started collecting pairs of stuff- but FORC says whassa lil rain among friends? We got a park that can take it and we're gonna have a hardocre race that will be the topic of legends- AND WE DID!! THIS CLUB ROCKS!! (It is SOOO cool having a park that can be rode on in these conditions! Most parks would have been correctly shut down in these conditions.)

Riders worked, fell, slipped, slid and got dirt on their teeth BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T STOP SMILING!! My Nobbies- I am VERY proud of this club- a well executed race in conditions that send most clubs to the internet to dream about nice days. Volunteers, planners, riders- next year you'll have to do something else to earn your hardcore designation- but the 2009 hardcore designation has been earned by this years Stampeders in ONE DAY!

Great Time, Everyone, and GOOD JOB!

[mtnbkn1]

Had a blast racing, sorry I couldn't stay longer... Any coincidence I ended up 4:19 behind the novice winner on 4-19? Who knows if I'd have actually been at the start line.....