Summer 2016 Is A Wrap

Thank you to everybody who came out to race at any point this summer! It was close at times (very close indeed last week) but we somehow made it through all thirteen (13!) races this summer without a single cancellation.

I'd like to thank Boulder Cycle Sport and Skratch Labs for being out there every week providing mechanical support and hydration, especially in these last few weeks with the extra hot late-summer weather. Yellowbelly also supported our endeavors by helping us out with this summer's numberplates and gift cards for prizes. Panache was also kind enough to provide us with an easy-up tent and gift cards. Last and certainly not least, we have RaceRite to thank for letting us use their timing equipment each week to provide you with instant and accurate results. A special shoutout must go to Matt Hudson who came out each week to run the timing system for us, as well as Dixon and Jenny who have been out there with us for the past few years running registration. Thank you all!

A couple notes: If you've won a Panache gift card in the last few weeks and it did not work, try again! There was a computer system issue that has now been resolved. With the storms that rolled through, things got a bit hectic last week and we did not get all the prized handed out. If you won a race and would like your prize, please contact me and we can arrange a way to get it to you.

"A" racers!! Like last year, we have cash prizes for the top three racers in the season standings. I am getting that organized and will contact each of you with instructions in the next couple of days. If you could send me contact info (email addresses) that would be helpful.

Series standings can be found via the link on the sidebar in the full web version of the blog.

Week 13--Costume Race!

Below you will find this week's final course, featuring The Corkscrew and the new section of trail next to it! Be sure to wear your best costume, as there will be extra prizes for the best men and women in costume. We may also add in a trick contest, so bring your A-game!

This race does count towards series points so bring your best race legs in addition to your costume. We do have some corrections to make to several results, so series results will be official by a week from Wednesday. We will announce the winners of the A men and women contests, and there will be a cash prize three deep. Winners will receive the details about how to claim their prize.

Week 12 Results

Results for Wednesday's races can be found here. Look here in the next few days for details about our final race on August 10, featuring the annual costume contest.

I also still have a few lost items, including the front wheel I've mentioned a couple of times. I'm not sure what I will do with it if nobody claims it, but most likely it will get donated to Community Cycles.

Week 12 Course

It's the penultimate evening of CU Short Track 2016! After a couple weeks of (mostly) flat courses, we will once again be going uphill.

Next week will be the big finale, featuring a costume contest and also a finish-line contest, so bring your A-game on August 10!

Finally, I'd like to remind everyone that we have a Garmin, a couple pairs of sunglasses, and a front wheel that have been left behind over the past few weeks. Please claim these by the end of the night on August 10.

Week 11 Results

Results are up! Something weird happened during the Women's A race and I am not very confident in those particular results, so if they are not correct, let me know and I can get it fixed. Other than that everything is good!

Also, somebody left a wheel behind last night. If you think it might be yours, please send an email describing it and we can get it returned. We still have a couple pairs of sunglasses and a cycling computer from the past few weeks as well.

It's official: we are going to add one more race to the series on August 10! So not next week but the week after plan on wearing your best costume (theme TBD) and work on your tricks--the best costume and best trick across the finish line will earn a prize.

Week 11 Course Map

Below you will find the course map for this week.

Week 10 Results

Results are up! Thanks to all who came out despite the threat of storms, I think that we might have had our most well-attended kid's race of the season! The clouds kept it cool, and rain from the last couple of days kept the dirt tacky for an evening of fast and fun races.

Two more to go with a bonus race on August 10 still in the planning stages.

Week 10

Below you will find this week's course map. After several weeks of long courses, this one will be a little shorter, sticking to the southern portion of the park.

Officially two races left after this week, but we are thinking of adding one more on August 10. More details as it develops.

I've seen and heard about a couple heated moments in the past few weeks (before, during, and after races) and would like to remind everyone that CU Short Track is a fun, independent, Wednesday night summer race series. As the Summer 2016 series comes to a close, please remember this. For many, this is a good opportunity to get their feet wet and try bike racing for the first time--not everybody knows all the rules and etiquette. If you feel somebody has made a mistake, let them know and help them improve so that they want to come back and try again. Bike racing is fun!

Week 9 Results

Results for yesterday's races can be found here as well as series results on the sidebar. Thank you all for coming out last night...the sprinklers made the earlier races just a bit more interesting.

Week 9!

Course map below. Looks to be another long one!

The end of CU Short Track 2016 is coming up fast, so watch this space and Facebook/Twitter for information about the last evening, featuring a costume contest, prizes, and more.

Week 8

Here's the course map for this week! Please help us out and let us know if your results are not showing up correctly; we're trying to work on this, but it's slow going and even slower if we don't necessarily know what to look for.

Week 7 Results

Results are up! Our lucky streak continued, with bonus cooler weather last night. Thanks for all who attended! Thanks to your feedback, we've been able to pinpoint some scoring issues that have arisen due to the way we've been handling category changes, and also a mostly unnecessary button on the rider registration page. 

We know why so many riders have been getting 5 points even if they weren't there, however if you have another scoring issue, comment or email with as much detail as you can if you've been affected, and we will get the issue resolved. For example "I'm number XXX, I raced the C race for two weeks then upgraded to B, my scores from the C race are still showing up."

Week 7 Course Map

Below you will find the course map for this week's race. No out-laps this week, but still trying to keep it a bit twisty, and there's climbing again.

Call-ups are planned for the A races again this week, and unlike last week we will run on time and actually be able to do them.

Week 6 Results

Thank you to all who came out and raced last night, we once again got lucky with the weather. Let's hope it continues! Results can be found here, and the link in the sidebar will get you the results for the entire season.

Thanks for bearing with us as we played around with the idea of call-ups. Even though they didn't end up happening, the benefit on our side was that it helped highlight a couple issues with results that we can now correct, which will help with the accuracy of overall series standings.

We will hold off on trying again until the last race of the season, with the exception of the A races. As long as weather and counting issues don't put us behind, we will do call-ups for the A races next week.

We've had a few photographers come out each week, making fantastic photos. For the past 5 races Greg Cooper has been setting up camp, and last night we also had Jeremy Alcorn out there. Thanks for all the great photos guys!

Update #2

As we look into this further, there are a few scoring issues that we need to work out before we can attempt to do call-ups for all races, which comes in addition to concerns voiced about the system favoring consistent attendance. As such, tonight we will only be doing call-ups for A races. Once we sort out the scoring discrepancies, we will attempt to bring the system to all races at least once next week.

Call-ups will definitely happen for the last race of the series on August 3.

Update on Call-ups

I've been getting a lot of great, helpful, feedback regarding the callups experiment we will be implementing this week, and wanted to put some information up here for everyone to see.

First, I do want to stress that this is a trial. As has been pointed out, this may not be a great thing for the B and C races, where many riders have a hard time making it out to race every single week, but are still strong enough to be front-row, top ten riders. This week we will see what does and does not work, and tweak things from there.

Second, because of the way we have been using the system, points for riders who have been upgraded by changing the category of their existing profile keep the points they have earned, and those points are then reflected in the new category, leading to examples of two riders apparently scoring 100 points in the same race. We will do our best to sort this out and prevent it from happening the rest of the season for a more accurate points tally.

Week 6 Course Map

Below you will find this week's course map. Like last week, the first turn on the full course comes up pretty quickly so we will be doing an out-lap. For the kid's race, we will be sending you straight onto the abbreviated course.

As mentioned last week, we are going to be trying out call-ups before each race. We will most likely be calling the top ten riders to the front. There do appear to be a couple scoring anomalies here and there, which will be sorted out by race day. If we have any updates you can find them here, so watch this space.

Week 5 Results, Trying New Things

It was a scorcher on Wednesday, but the course was great so what more could you ask for? Results are up, and the link on the sidebar should now send you to a permanent series standings page.

We are finally beginning to hit our stride, so next week we are going to try doing call-ups. These will be based on total series points, and the top 10 riders (or however many will fit across the starting corral) will be called to the front at the start of the race. This will probably take about five minutes and we will probably be lining you all up before the previous race ends. Keep in mind this will just be a trial next week and if we begin to run significantly behind schedule we will stop doing them.

Week 5 Course

This week's course map is below, now also featuring some lines for the kid's course. The turnout last week was great--tell your friends and help bring even more people out to race!

There's no new info this week, but we do have a couple reminders: if you're racing multiple races, be sure to either run the correct numberplate for each race or simply attach both to your bike at the same time. We try to have fresh, interesting courses each week, and welcome any suggestions. If there's a course you really liked in the past, or you have an idea for one, let us know and we can try to run it.

Week 4 Results

Thank you all who turned out last night, I think it was our biggest night of racing yet! Last night's results and series standings can be found at the link.

A big thanks to Skratch labs for being there providing drink mix and energy chews and providing prizes along with Yellowbelly Chicken and Panache Cyclewear.

Our race winners last night were:

Men's A: Chris Baddick
Women's A: Evelyn Dong
Men's B: Keegan Sotebeer
Women's B: Alexa Warner
Men's C: Simon Pendleton
Singlespeed: Tom Hopper
Junior: Riley Cotton
Kids: Alex Noerdlinger

If you didn't pick up your prize, please see us at the finish line next week to claim it.

Once again, we had photographer Greg Cooper in attendance, who took some great photos of everybody sending it at the bottom of Rivet. You can see his photos here.

Week 4

Short Track #4 is almost upon us, which means it's time for a new course! See the last post for a link to results and series standings if you want to know how you've been doing each week.

We continue to learn new things about the electronic timing each week. In addition to power supply issues, we've continued to face problems with entrants not attaching the correct numberplate to their bikes. This was mostly a problem with the juniors, many of whom have been racing twice an evening. To resolve this issue, simply attach all race numbers for the night to your bike. The system will read both numbers, bot only the one for your current race will be recorded. This will make it easier for you and our timer, Matt.

Finally, we would like to address a safety concern that was brought to us last week: while racing, please remove headphones/earpieces. You should have no reason to have anything in your ear--you can go 20 minutes without music.

Course map:

Week 3 Results

Thanks to everybody who showed up this week and raced! We got lots of compliments on this week's course--it's gonna be a tough act to follow for next week but we'll do our best! If you have any favorite courses from the past, let us know and we can always run them again.

We've had photographer Greg Cooper at the last couple of races, and he has taken some great photos of the evening. Photos from week 2 can be found here, and the entire series can be found at this link. Thanks Greg!

Here is the current results link: Race 3 and Series Standings. This link will likely change soon, and will be updated ASAP once it does. If it's not working don't worry, it will start working again soon.

Numbers: We've had issues with racers running incorrect numbers for the current race, especially in the juniors where many participants race another higher category race later in the evening. To resolve this issue, attach both numbers to your bike at the same time. The system will pick up both numbers, but since each one has it's own unique code only the one for the race you are currently in will be recorded in the results.

Week 3

The third race of the CU Short Track series is set for this Wednesday, 6/1. Below you will find this week's course, featuring Corkscrew in reverse (read: UP CORKSCREW)! The rest of the course is fairly open, with few tight and technical turns, so although this may be the longest course of the season it should be fast, with little time for recovery once you cross into the southern section of the park.

Again, please remember your bib number with its timing chip or you will have to pay $10 to replace it. Another important thing about the numbers that wasn't mentioned last week: if you are racing multiple races, you MUST race with a different number for each race! The way the timing system is set up, if you do not have the correct numberplate you will not be scored.

 

Week 2 Results

Results for CU Short Track week two can be found here. Series standings will be available soon, and the "overall series standings" link on the sidebar will link to that page.

As always, don't hesitate to comment or email if you have any questions. With the arrival of week two, a couple minor timing hiccups occurred, so if something isn't looking quite right, let us know and we can get it corrected.

It's Almost GO Time

Just a couple reminders as you all prepare to go racing tonight:

• DO NOT forget the bib number you were given last week. Since the numbers this year have timing chips embedded in them, it is not enough to just write your number on a paper plate like in previous years. You must get a new number with a chip. Replacement is $10.
• If you won a race (A race winners excepted, you've got a free entry), please come to your race director, Carl Sechrist, to claim your prize.
• We will have Skratch Labs at the event with drink mix, and Boulder Cycle Sport will be providing mechanical support.

Short Track Week 2

Race number 2 of the CU Short Track series is coming up this Wednesday, 5/25 and unless the forecast makes a u-turn it looks like it will be another great evening for racing! Below you can find the course map. Key features are that it will be around twice as long as last week's course and have an out-lap to spread things out before hitting the singletrack on the first lap.

If you won your race last week, contact the race director, Carl Sechrist at cucyclingshorttrack@gmail.com or on race day. Men and Women A winners earned a free race entry.

PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR BIB NUMBER. YOU WILL NOT BE SCORED IF YOU DO NOT HAVE YOUR NUMBER. REPLACEMENT COST IS $10. 

First Week Is In The Bag

Thank you to everybody who showed up, raced last night, and made the first evening of CU Short Track '16 a great success! We look forward to seeing you for the next 11 races of the series.

The electronic timing system provided by RaceRite worked flawlessly and results can be found by going to racerite.com, clicking the "results" tab and finding "CU Short Track" on the list of races. You can also simply click this link. The results link on the sidebar will also now direct to the correct place.

A special thanks to Yellowbelly Chicken and Skratch Labs for supplying prizes. If you won a race and have not claimed your prize, send an email to cucyclingshorttrack@gmail.com and we will be sure to get it to you at the next race.

As always, don't hesitate to comment or email if you have any questions, concerns, recommendations, etc. We always like to know not only what we've done well, but what could be improved.

The First Week Is Almost Here

Good news! This Wednesday will kick off the 2016 CU Short Track series at Valmont Bike Park, this season featuring electronic timing provided by RaceRite.

Since this is the first race of the season, things may move a little bit slower than usual as we get you all signed up to race for the first time and find our stride. Be prepared for this and show up 10-15 minutes earlier than you normally would to compensate for any hiccups that may occur. The race schedule can be found to the right, and we will keep to this as closely as possible.

Just like last year, the number you get on the first week you race will be your number for the entire series. Unlike last year, this season's numberplates have electronic chips attached to the back for use with the aforementioned electronic timing system. This means you must be sure you hold onto your number and bring it with you every week. Unfortunately, if you lose your number and need a new one, you will be required to buy a new numberplate for $10. If you plan on participating in multiple events in one evening (for example Men's B and Singlespeed), you must use a unique numberplate for each event. The benefit of this new system is that you will be able to see your results immediately after finishing the race, results will be accurate and correct, and final results with points will be up by the next day at the latest.

This week's course will stick to the southern portion of the bike park, going through the Skillz Loop and Glades.

At the time of writing, rain has closed the trails at Valmont. Hopefully the sun will come out on Wednesday and we will be good to go by 5pm; check back here for any updates should the weather choose not to cooperate.

CU Short Track Summer 2016

Hey all! It's that time again! CU Short Track will be starting up once again in a couple weeks at Valmont Bike Park. As weather permits, races will be held starting Wednesday, May 18 at 5pm and proceed according to the schedule in the sidebar. Check back here each week for course maps, results, and any other relevant information we may have.

If you have any questions feel free to email us at cucyclingshorttrack@gmail.com or simply write in the comments section of this post.