TNGA 2011

[davidmuse]

I'm pulling the details together for the 2011 Trans North Georgia Mountain Bike Adventure together.  This year I have to submit the route and rules to the Forest Service and get a permit.

So...  here are the rules I'm proposing for the event.  I'd appreciate any input you guys have.  I'd like to submit early next week.

Thanks,

Dave Muse


    * The 2011 Trans North Georgia Mountain Bike Adventure (TNGA) begins when the event director announces the start at the South Carolina border on Highway 28 at or near 8AM on September ??, 2011 and ends for a participant when they reach the Alabama border on Highway 20 at the end of the designated route.
    * There will be a pre-ride meeting, the start will be announced and results will be posted on the web. No other support will be provided by event coordinators.
    * Participants may receive neutral support from the owners or operators of establishments along or off of the route, on-premesis. No specific support may be arranged prior to the start.
    * In the interest of minimizing impact, sharing campsites and camp fires is permitted and encouraged. Similarly, sharing of hotel rooms and dining together is permitted.
    * In an emergency, rendering aid to another participant is permitted, however the receiver of the aid must withdraw from the event.
    * Aside from the exceptions listed above, participants must support themselves.
    * Participants may leave the course at any time, provided that they return within 100 feet of the point they left. For example, returning on the other side of the road is acceptable.
    * Participants must travel under their own power or the power of gravity unless riding an escalator or elevator.
    * In-person spectating is discouraged. Remote spectating is encouraged, including, but not limited to following along on trackleaders.com or the SPOT website, following blogs, podcasts, forum postings, or other reports by participants or non-participants.
    * There is one manditory hike section, the Darnell Creek Horse Trail from FS155 to the intersection with the Ramey Field Trail. Participants must dismount, walk and push or carry their bikes through this section. This section may be monitored.
    * Riders are strongly encouraged to portage (carry your bike over, rather than ride through) any stream crossing that is not crossing a road, even if the road is closed. The USFS, Georgia ForestWatch, and I are concerned about the impact of up to 40 riders riding through a stream that hasn't been armored for vehicle traffic, in a short period of time. To mitigate this impact, riders are again, strongly encouraged to portage applicable stream crossings.
    * Many of the roads and trails along the route are open to vehicular, equestrian and foot traffic. While riding, participants must yield to equestrians and hikers and follow all rules of the road.
    * Participants are required to finish with the same gear that they had 2 nights prior, like-kind replacements or more gear, excluding consumed materials and wrappers. For example, participants are prohibited from ditching gear on the last day to finish more quickly.
    * All participants must carry a SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger. No participant will be allowed to start without one. Progress of participants will be tracked on trackleaders.com and on the SPOT web site. Participants must provide their own SPOT Satellite GPS Messengers. SPOT Satellite GPS Messengers will not be provided by event organizers. Any participant who wants to use an alternative device may contact tnga@firstworks.com and request that their device be approved. Devices will not be approved which do not use satellites to transmit location data and messages.
    * This is not a race, but an adventure, technically a training event. Participants will be recognized for finishing ahead of or behind each other as in other training events, but there will be no prizes. Placement will be determined by monitoring the trackers. Participants who finish within the same minute will be given the same place. There could be a tie for any place, including first.
    * Participants may withdraw at any time. All withdrawn participants will be given DNF (Did Not Finish) status.
    * Participants will be disqualified, at the discretion of officials, for:
          o violating one of the rules listed above
          o unsportsmanlike conduct
          o littering
          o trespassing
          o riding the manditory hike section
          o riding on any trail or road designated as closed to bikes
          o failure to yield to equestrians or hikers
          o failure to follow the rules of the road
    * Participants will be considered withdrawn for:
          o leaving the course for more than 48 hours
          o failing to complete on or before 11:59:59 PM, two Sundays after the start

[Emily]

Hey David,
Good to see the event is back on the schedule in 2011.

Do you anticipate any route changes from last year? 
and
What are your feelings about spot tracked ITTs of the route?

[Mathewsen]

david, glad to hear you've decided to eliminate the supported category. i guess that makes brad kee and me the official TNGA course record holders...i tried to warn EO but he just wouldn't hear of it.

emily, regarding ITT, i'd like to do one sometime closer to solstice (mid may?). i certainly *hope* that's legal. i am internally debating start time, though. i'd like to hit dugg gap at sunrise instead of 1am this time around, but starting later would mean dropping into Helen in the dark (no fun if that downhill, hickory? chestnut? doesn't get brushed this spring).

thanks for all your hard work on this one mr muse. it is a heckuva route; nicely back-end loaded with singletrack, which is nice.

[davidmuse]

The route should be the same as last year.  I'm not anticipating any changes unless the Forest Service mandates them.

I'm thinking that maybe for each year, I'd track results for both ITT's the Event and either one counts toward the course record.

For example (BTW, most of these numbers are fictitious, for illustrative purposes only)...


Course Record:
Male Eddie O’Dea (2010) 2:07:33
Female Emily Brock (2011) 2:07:35

2011 Event Results:
Place Name            Time
1    Karlos Bernart  3:00:00
2    Don Meredith    3:01:00
3    Shey Linder   3:02:00
4    Lisa Randall   3:03:00
5    Charley Rome   3:04:00
6    Mark Donaghy   3:05:00
7    Stephen Huddle 3:06:00
8    ...
DNF Dave Muse
DNF ...

2011 ITT Results:
1     Matt Lee and Brad Kee   2:07:34
2     Emily Brock    2:07:35
DNF Dave Muse
DNF ...

2010 Event Results:
Place Name            Time
1      Eddie O'Dea    2:07:33
2      Matthew Lee and Brad Kee      2:10:10
4      Matt Fusco       2:23:26
5      John Hightower      3:03:28
6      Trey Woodall   3:03:32
7      Russ Marshall 3:09:11
8      Rob Roberts    3:12:16
9      Cricket Butler 4:04:35
10    Ruth Cunningham    4:11:48
11    Jeff Papenfus   4:13:10
12    Karlos Bernart 4:23:48 *
DNF Don Meredith   
DNF Shey Linder   
DNF Lisa Randall   
DNF Charley Rome   
DNF Mark Donaghy   
DNF Stephen Huddle

2010 Pseudo-ITT Results:
1      Johnny Garner, Norma Rainwater and David Muse - whatever our time was
DNF Shey Linder, Jim Smart, Rob Krantz(sp?)


And then just put the results of future years in there as they occur.  I realize that since support was allowed in 2010 and Ed set the record, with support, that it's not really comparing apples to apples, but I suspect that it will become moot in 2011.  He'll either beat that time, Matt or Brad will beat it, or somebody else will.  If that doesn't happen, then I'm not exactly sure what to do, but I'll address it at that point.  Cricket did hers self-supported so there shouldn't be any issue there.

What do you guys think?

[jhl99]

Not knowing if there other documents involved or not, here are some comments on the proposed rules:

If I was the Forest Service reviewing the rules, the first thing I would would want to be sure that the FS rules are recognized and it is known that they apply to participants.    Broaden the follow 'the rules of the road' to  Participants shall not break any applicable laws while participating in the event.  Follow this with the list cited (FS, trespass, trail closures, etc.)

I don't think any statements that  'encourage' or 'discourage' behavior carry any weight.  (Spectators & stream crossings).  Better to state the mandatory requirements using the words 'must' or 'shall'.  For instance, "any on-route spectators shall stay 30' (or whatever) from all participants.  Participants shall not except any tangible support from any participant or spectator."   


To me, the statement about it being a training event and then talking about placement seem contradict each other. 

Is it or is it not a race?  If I was the FS, and you a tracking time (recording a start and finish for each participant) and you
are recording year to year results I would say it is a race.  Call it race.  (probably some loophole I don't know about for not calling it a race?)

Or maybe just state that starting and finishing times will be recorded.  Elapsed time for each participant will be published.  There will be no prizes or compensation awarded.  (And don't mention training or racing)

"Placement will be determined by monitoring the trackers."   What does this mean?  Who is monitoring?  What if a tracker has a failure?   

Is there a liability waiver for this event? 

In the event that the designated route (road/trails) are  closed in an emergency situation by the FS... the reroute plan is ??

Maybe a rule that participants must carry a contact info sheet with emergency contact info if the participant becomes incapacitated?  (including phone/email/medication list/ allergies/ location of shuttle transportation, car make/model state, license plate #, contact person(s) at start/finish)

Maybe include and addendum that outlines a procedure of how a participant withdraws from the event while it is in progress.  Including who and how a to contact an official. (to avoid a SARs operation)

If I was the FS, I would want to ensure that the event coordinator took responsibility for sweeping any partipants from the course.  It might be good to have a written plan to ensure everyone is accounted for within the time alloted for the event.  And have a written action plan if a participant is MIA.

[davidmuse]

Thanks for the feedback everybody.

I've been advised to use certain language and not address certain things for liability-related reasons, and worked some of it out with the Forest Service last year, so some of the rules will have to remain as they are, even if they sound odd, but I do like some of the language proposed in the last post, so I'll take it into consideration.

Thanks again.

[donmeredith74]

Looks great, Dave. Excited and let me know if there's anything I can do to help in the coordination.

DM

[mmeiser]

good set of rules, I like the exception for escallators or ellevators, I know if one of those magically appeared in rural georgia I'd be hugely torn over weather to use it or not. Huge relief off my mind.

[bikpdlr]

Just wondering, who else is signed up and would any veterans like to post any tips or suggestions?

I can't wait to be chewed up and spit out ... hopefully in one piece.  Wish this "rookie" luck ... I'm going to need it.

Check out last year's Trackleaders webpage for the course ... http://trackleaders.com/tnga

Here's a link for the event's webpage ... http://www.firstworks.com/tnga/index.html

Good luck everyone ...

[driftwood]

I'm in 

No tips or suggestions from me as I'm a rookie as well. I really have no idea what I've gotten myself into and hope I can get myself out of it... Anyone doing it singlespeed? I can't decide!

[Emily]

good set of rules, I like the exception for escallators or ellevators, I know if one of those magically appeared in rural georgia I'd be hugely torn over weather to use it or not. Huge relief off my mind.

When I first saw the rules I gave Dave a completely uncalled-for amount of grief over them, and especially that one. Then I realized that it was his race, and he knew the trails and the trail users way better than I did, and if he thought this was the rule set that would keep everyone happy and minimize user conflicts, then okay. And based on race reports from last year, I guess he was right about the user conflict issues, so his rules on the whole seem pretty logical to me now. So, Dave, I am sorry for doubting you last year and kudos again for the incredible effort you've put into this route. I really wish I could race it, but the race date is mid-semester and I just can't get away for those days.

And... there is indeed an elevator in the La Quinta in Dalton, right on route. So if you stay there, try to get a room on the first floor, or carry your bike up the stairs. But if you sneak and use the elevator, face the wrath of Dave!  

EDIT: I see that the stipulation is actually Elevators=YES, and not Elevators=NO. So a racer may ride up and down the elevator at the La Quinta to their heart's delight. Again, thanks for the hard work on this route Dave.

[sluttyduck]

Have there been any course changes since last year, or an update to the cues?

[ONEPLUSONEEQUALSONE]

anyone coming in that wants to share a cabin at mulberry? looks like i have to book a 2 night stay since it's a 3 day weekend and sharing $ would be a help.

[DaveH]

Less than 2 weeks to the start and it's so quiet here! 

Just a heads up that I'll have http://bluedot.mobi setup for the event.  I'll have it ready before next Monday and will post up details here.

Good luck with those gear selections!

[sjanes]

Carey Lowery is racing TNGA and attempting to raise $1000 for Trips For Kids WNC.  You can't help her with the race, but you can help with the fund raising http://tripsforkidswnc.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=452688&lis=1&kntae452688=4CB1059986D24A709965F513761D946F&supId=331248301   

[naked indian]

My advice is carry as little as possible.

If you study the route well you will see that there are opportunities to seek shelter and avoid having to carry lots of sleeping gear.

I believe two riders last year went from hotel to hotel and did very well.

If I was attending this year, which I am not, unfortunately, what I would of carried was water, food, repair and only the things i could fit in my rear pack.  Ultra Ultra light.

no frame bag, no front bag, just the water in my cages, and my minimalist sleep kit and rain gear.

As well remember to stock up on water after dalton, there is no real water sources till you finish the last mountain and you hit the flats.  There is a creek immediately after the peak after the squirrel gap parking lot, refill there. I was able to drink straight from the creek no problems.  Thats your last water for a good long while.

thats it for my 2 cents good luck I will be watching.

[ScottM]

Hi all,

The signup for SPOT rentals ($50, SPOT-2), and privately owned SPOT tracking ($15) is ready.  Link is here:

http://trackleaders.com/tnga-signup

Excited to be tracking this race again.  Wish I were riding more though.

Any questions, hit us with email, info@trackleaders.com.  Thanks.

[ScottM]

Tracker is online and loaded with this year's roster!!!

http://trackleaders.com/tnga

Our two ITT riders (yellow dots), Matthew Lee and Brad Kee are already underway, as of 6am this morning.

Good luck with final preparations everyone!  We'll be following along.

[naked indian]

Looks like Matt's spot is not updating...

Bummer I cant be out there riding such a beautiful route this year, was not in the stars, hoping to be there next year maybe on a single speed, who knows.

Good luck to all the riders, I see lots of familiar names on the list!

[trebor]

Looks like both have been off route already... wonder what's happening out there?