The Jimmy B Classic “Hammerdown Norte” is done and dusted. All things considered I am very proud of what a few people accomplished on such short notice.
In total we had a 7+ mile course with a pro lap time of approximately 30 minutes. There were some pretty rowdy rock sections and we spent about 200 hrs walking through bushes and landing stakes for a Enduro GP type ribbon course that I personally dreamed about for years.
The happiness and good times created that weekend only happened because the Vogt ranch exists. Without the decades of hard work and energy that Mike and Kelly have put in we would not have had a “home” for such an unusual event. There are no words to describe my gratitude for all of those efforts.
I’m not much for celebrating birthdays and holidays but these events mean a lot to me and to see the number of people enjoying themselves makes all the hard work worth it.
Special shout out to The Man Jimmy B for all his time and efforts to get this done. He was out cutting bushes and building track and did a great job doing all the PR work that I don’t like to do!
Thank you all who participated, helped out, and spectated.
Here’s a couple of takeaways and improvements for the next one.
Hits:
- In total I believe the course ended up close to perfect. With a limited area to work with I set out to make the longest lap time possible and therefore limit the number of laps and reduce trail deterioration. Only a handful of guys did more than two laps of the 7 mile course. Success.
- We had a total of 56 riders and it seems like that was the right number. There were some bottlenecks but they were pretty spread out after lap one.
- Duration was close. I think next time we throw the checkers at 90min and save some guys from being out there for 2.5-3hrs. Somehow the leaders did 5 laps when I hoped they only completed 4, but they may have cut more time off than we anticipated. I’ll try to make sure pro lap time is over 30 min next go.
- For our first enduro and a crew of people who were new I thought everyone did a spectacular job.
Misses:
- With a crew of 4-5 people that actually knew the plan we somehow missed the fact that the track had dried out between practice and race start. I was pretty disappointed with the dust. This was an honest mistake as we’d thought it was still wet enough and did not think to send the water truck out. Won’t happen again.
- We had a couple sections barricaded by pink ribbon that didn’t last through the day. This caused some minor confusion. We will plan to have a more confirmed and consistent ribbon setup next year. I think it was 90% good but we can improve.
- Our paper backed arrows did not handle the rain/ wind and caused some to curl and be hard to ID. Plastic next year.
- Id like to see more people stay the night and enjoy a bench racing camp out. We had a ton of food leftover. You guys missed out!
- Hire a sweep crew! I rode sweep solo and missed the party, and we all know how I feel about parties. I completed 4.5 laps for the day and I was smoked.
- I had a comment box made up and ready to accept anonymous criticism. Unfortunately the cards fell through the cracks and were not available on race day. I encourage you to drop me a message and let me know your thoughts, the goal is to make the best possible event for the entrants and the only way we will know how to improve is to let us know.
Once again, thank you for your participation!