Nanaimo BC Cup DH

http://guschiggins.pinkbike.com/album/Nanaimo-DH-BC-Cup/

I personally thought it went pretty well. Results were posted within a half an hour of each class finishing, and the podiums were completed within an hour of the last racer crossing the line.

Shuttles were a little slow, but not too bad, and the organizer had two routes for people to do their own shuttles on.

Some "braids" on the course weren't taped, but everyone had the same options, so nothing wrong with that.

Racing started on time, and an accurate start list was provided ahead of time

Pretty well run considering they had way more people show up than expected and everyone is getting used to the way shuttles work this year.

Yep, timing went pretty smoothly, results were up quick, etc… We self-shuttled except for the race run so as to not waste time waiting for the shuttles.

I do think there are a few things the organizers could improve on for next time. One example, when you are dropped off at the top of the shuttle - no sign as to where to go; same once you were down the first bit of trail and at the logging road intersection. I realize for locals who know the trail this might not seem necessary but for those of us from out of town, was a bit confusing for the first run.

And as been noted before, it would also have been nice if the organizers actually followed the standard BC Cup schedule: http://www.cyclingbc.net/2010-bc-cup-info

Standard Schedule for BC Cup races:

i. Friday Night will be walking practice only

ii. Saturday will be open practice until last hour of training which is open to Pro/Elite and Juniors only and with no sessioning.

iii. Sunday (race day) runs will not be mandatory if 2 runs taken the day before. However if you do want one run, obtain a shuttle ticket from the registration tent.

Overall I had a good time, course was fun, good vibe and all. I'd definitely go back! :)

Did anyone get some good pics of the racers? I havent seen any posted anywhere yet.

i found a pic of you…..(not riding though)

^^ Wow - J Stubbs will you be in my band????

i found a pic of you…..(not riding though)

:lol: just missing the blue sunglasses

http://guschiggins.pinkbike.com/album/BC-Cup---Nanaimo-DH/

link no work.

also, it was my first ever dh race. i had a great time! i overheard a few people say that it was poorly organized. the only snare i encountered was when they temporarily stopped shuttling but there were plenty of trucks to jump in to get to the top. i walked to the top in about 20 min as well. no biggie.

any more pics out there? usually theres more photo coverage of bc cups, no?

oh ya, i heard someone got maced and lost their bike early sat morn while doing a practice run. whats the story on that?

any more pics out there? usually theres more photo coverage of bc cups, no?

This is a link to that photographers site

http://www.erikpeterson.ca/Mountain-Biking/BC-Cup-DH-Nanaimo/12326754_qRnQK#880272925_gU4jG

also, it was my first ever dh race. i had a great time! i overheard a few people say that it was poorly organized. the only snare i encountered was when they temporarily stopped shuttling but there were plenty of trucks to jump in to get to the top. i walked to the top in about 20 min as well. no biggie.

Get used to the whining, it's an integral part of racing.

So everything went off on time, no major complaints, yet it was poorly organized? What am I missing here?

So everything went off on time, no major complaints, yet it was poorly organized? What am I missing here?

I guess the race scene is like the forums - there's always a few complainers :lol:

i thought it was great! good job to everyone that helped.

oh ya, i heard someone got maced and lost their bike early sat morn while doing a practice run. whats the story on that?

i gave the organizer a lift down the 4x4 road during saturday shuttles and he mentioned that someone attempted to mace a couple younger competitors and snatch their bikes but didnt manage to get the bikes or injure anyone. The police were at the main gate when I rolled in and were talking to a couple riders.

as a non-rider, what i saw went off fairly well. aside from the one bike that somehow escaped from it's shuttle truck ahead of me (next time buddy, secure your bike and don't forget to say thank you when it is returned at the top of the hill)

hopefully next year there'll be another one in nanaimo and I'll be able to comment as a competitor…

I guess the race scene is like the forums - there's always a few complainers :lol:

i thought it was great! good job to everyone that helped.

DOn't get me wrong, I'm not slamming them. without them we wouldn't have a race. but…. a first time organizer XC guy could have been more prepared for a BC cup DH, maybe by running a smaller low profile race first.

-I guess you weren't driving around for 40 mins friday morning trying to find the race site, because the organizer firgured he didn't need to till put a sign out till 10 am.
- I guess you weren't waiting 2 hours for your first run because no private shuttles were allowed, and the original shuttle route wasn't looked at.
-Not a single piece of tape on the whole track, until the morning of the race (read the rules) cheat lines were everywhere!
-I figure you didn't have to move your pits after you just finished seting up, because the organizer didn't expect anyone there so early.
-getting yelled at by the organizer after offering some advice was pleasant.
-No concession was nice.
-And best of all I really liked having to take a friday off, to go practice so we can accomidate the XC racers

The bad:
I still do not understand the scheduling of this race on a Saturday. Don't you like us working folk? I understand the XC [HTML_REMOVED] DH use part of the same track but it's a long weekend - why not use it? Else have the XC Saturday morning and by early afternoon the DH is good for a few hours practice?

Didn't know where the track was. no signage.

The course wasn't taped until well into practice causing a lot of cut-lines until it was taped (I'm sure the trail builder won't appreciate this)

The shuttles were inadequate - somewhat like Kamloops, the only reason it worked was the number of people self-shuttling. I heard there was confusion on Friday with up to 2.5 hours to get up the hill!

The awards ceremony was crammed into a small space between a tent and a shuttle box van. I couldn't see or hear (unfortunately the generator powering the microphone gave out just at the wrong moment)
what was going on so missed my podium.

The Good:
The crew seemed to learn quickly from mistakes. Friday's shuttle problems were clearly ironed out by Saturday.

Shuttles didn't appear to rape the bikes. A good setup.

The timing was excellent (only a minor hiccup in senior men I believe)

The track was great. Nothing technical but great fun.

Saturday practice started at 7:30am! (Unfortunately by the time I found this out it was too late to change my travel arrangements)

Awards were done very soon after racing finished.

I'll go back, but PLEASE, have practice on a non-work day!

The race was ok but man is nanaimo ever a dump. Its got to be one of the ugliest crappiest towns Ive ever been in. And the bike cops are total assholes too.