It is with much regret that I am canceling the Rocktober Challenge Marathon and
XC events scheduled for this weekend.

Unfortunately this race takes a large number of volunteers to staff in order to
keep everyone safe and on course and I can not ask thirty volunteers to give up
their time for 30 racers. One solution would be to run with fewer volunteers,
but the first time I ran this event I did it with a much smaller staff and had
someone vandalize the course sending people in all directions through the forest
in a pretty remote part of the state. That was not a good day. As you can
imagine, I am not comfortable running the race with fewer staff and would rather
cancel the race than run it with a skeleton crew and risk rider safety.

This is really tough for me because I love this race and this course and I truly
believe it is one of the best places to mountain bike anywhere. Unfortunately I
can not seem to convince many other people that the riding here is worth the
drive.

The family and I are still be headed up to RB Winter this weekend as we have a
campsite reserved and I'm planning to ride the wonderful trails anyway. Mike
Faust and I are going to do a lap of the course on Saturday and you're welcome
to join me for part or all of it. We're going to keep rolling, but certainly not
at race pace - nice and steady pace. We just want to get out and enjoy the work
we've done so far to get the trails in condition for the event. Please let me
know if you're coming out and will be joining me for the lap so I know to expect
you. The ride will depart at 9AM from the main pavilion if you're coming out.

Get out to RB Winter and Bald Eagle some time this summer. If you've not been
there you're missing out. If you have get back and find some of the new trails
we've opened because it doesn't get better than this. And, this race will be
back in the future in some form - we're not leaving this place alone.

On a different note - look for Festival registration to open in the very near
future - the next 48-72 hours and get on it quick for the special early
registration offer.

Mike