2010 Koppenberg Status Update

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

Deja Vu????

Koppenberg has been Postponed to April 3rd!

Koppenberg Circuit, Saturday, April 3rd
UPDATE 3/26/10 1:40pm -
We are postponing the race until next Saturday, April 3rd. Thanks for your patience. The snow did not melt as much as we expected and the impending weather keeps looking worse. We did line up a gravel dump to help our cause but after consulting with our soil experts, it may not have made much of difference if there was still some deep snow.

Next week's weather is much dryer so a much less chance of a mud issue. It's not much more work for us to delay one week, especially if we could avoid a cluster.

Next week, same plan. As we threatened last year, we will go ahead with the race no matter the conditions. Worst case, Sunday's weather looks great, so the 9:45am wave should happen and definitely the 11:40 and later waves will be on.

Here are the expected options ...
A. It will be dry and racing will proceed as normal.
B. Its sloppy but the racing still happens. The expectation is that riders will hike the bike up the right, grassy side and remount on top. So this means it is highly recommended that if it is wet outside, you bring Mountain Bike shoes and pedals. We will investigate footbath options (seriously) on top of the hill in case of mud on the cleats before remounting.

Refunds - If you preregistered for 3/28 and cannot make next Saturday, we will give you a refund.
On race day. if you show up and the hill is unrideable and you decide not to race, you will be eligable for a refund. If you start the race, no refund. If the hill is rideable, no refund. Refunds will be processed after the race (we managed this process very well last year).

Call it what you like, a road race with a potential hike, the longest cyclocross race with the shortest running section. Whatever, but at least we will be racing on a bike.

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25 Comments

Good call on postponing

Submitted by Chad (not verified) on

I rode the course on Friday and it was a good call to postpone the race. The lower and upper dirt roads were awesome. Smoother with less gravel than prior years. The hill was impassible and would require running up through the 8 inches of snow on the right side of the hill. It might have been runable for the early heats but would have been too chewed up for the later races ....even on cross bikes. There is something different about the mud there. It is the stickiest, most peanut butter mud I've ever seen. I tried to ride the hill and made it about 10 feet before everything on my cross bike was seized up. I pushed my bike (wheels not spinning) up the hill in the snow. I love tough conditions but it was too much to run a race.

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