The BearScat 50!!!!!!!

mr.chainsaw said:
I missed the turn. Maybe the markers were up too high??? I couldn't see it thru the brim of my cap. I DQ'd but went back out for another lap....44miles.

FTR the course was SICK and I'll gladly take JimV's free ass spot next year
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SS is Stoopied.................................................................................................................................................😉
 
The race kicked off with the Open Men/ 45+ mix at first, then the promoters did the right thing by waiting a minute** and letting the rest go(45+) **keeping them close together. I guess people weren't paying attention at the meeting when Jeff Stickle clearly went over the order. The SS group left 5 min later, 6min behind the open men. Sean Cav and I were cranking out a nice tempo and trying to get past 100+ riders on rock bridges and loomy ST. Not the most fun🙁. Sean and I seperated on rattlesnake and I just kept it steady.

Somewhere on Hofferline?, I herd a snapping sound and noticed my rear braking was messed up. When I hit the Start/Finish area I worked on fixing it. I lost the only bolt on the slider dropout of my Superfly SS. I thought I could steal one off the other side, only to ride away and feel everything loosen up shortly after. After the bridge, I attemped to fix it again, but I lost one of the nuts in the leaves. At this point I was pissed😡. I wanted to finish this race and get my 50 miles in. I ended up finding the nut and came up with the idea of stealing my brake bolt to fix the issue. It wasn't long enough to fit on the Drive side, but I made it work for the non-drive! I was back up and rolling and probabliy 2-3 min. down on 2nd place Sean Cav and way back on eventual winner and really on form Doug Jenne, but there I was happily rolling again. I didn't drive a whole 15min to DNF in what might be called 'my back yard'😉. I tried to keep my head in the game and rode fast when I could. I ended up catching back up with Sean, but Dougie had checked out. At the finish, I was elated to have competed the course given my adversities, and had felt I put in a solid ride. Somedays everything works out and other days you have to put your head down and just finish. Today was the later, and it was a good day.

Many thanks to the Black Bear Crew on setting up and running such a great race! I'm ready to sign up for next year!😀

-R.Fizzle
VTC Prez
 
So sorry about the DQ's . . such a bummer. My heart goes out to you guys.
I want to thank the Jeff & his crew of volunteers for putting on a bear of a race!
Great to finally ride the other side of the park. . awesome
 
Yes many thanks to Jeff and the Black Bear crew. They put on a great race with awesome support and organization. The missed turns were not their mistake. People need to keep their heads up at all times and check for turns. This place was over-marked compared to a bunch of races I've done. Nice job with everything fellas. When does registration open for the 2012 version? 😀
 
Well run and well marked. Though I understand how you could miss that turn, there wasn't a great place to mark such an dramatic and unobvious change in direction. The folks at Black Bear put on a great race. It was well supported, stocked, ran pretty smooth (I think they posted my results while I was crossing the line, they had mtb patrol). This race had a great atmosphere, Sorry some of you missed the turn. At least a few had the good sense to ride it out and enjoy yourselves. looked like you were having a really good time. maybe a better time than some of us that didn't miss the turn! Having said that, I had an absolute blast and I'll be back next year. Nice riding with you guys-

Jeff
 
Thanks Black Bear for an awesome course that offered the best technical riding in NJ. The results were posted quickly followed by awards, great job.

I wish someone had a camera for when soundz came through the finish line...i've never seen hair sticking out of a helmet like that.

Thanks to some of the guys I road with today, Roger Racer, Chris Weber, Dave(DC29), Utah Joe. You guys definitely help make my day more enjoyable, At the end of the day I took 4th in 45+ class.

I'm looking forward to doing this again next year, I am grateful to Black Bear for putting on an endurance race in NJ at wayway.
 
I swear missing that turn saved my life. I was pretty beat down towards the end of MY race. I couldn't squeeze my brakes anymore and my legs were going into shut down mode. The rest stations were stocked nicely, the course was SICK and in great shape....so many trails I've never seen before an the parts from H2H course were in the opposite direction (loved that) I'd do it next year for sure
 
Btw, did anyone else see the huge bear on the red trail? Second lap, right before the big fire road climb he was standing right on the side of the trail. Im usually 95% sure that a bear will never do anything, so I didnt even slow down and just stared at him....as I expected, he ran off. Looked like a bear anyway, his legs were too hairy for it have been dustin 🙂
 
Awesome race!
Super fun course!
Perfect weather, perfect trail conditions... t'was a great day to be a mountain biker!

Major props to Dustin and the others who DQ'd under iffy circumstances, but kept a great attitude and threw down another lap anyway!

Thanks Black Bear - Can't wait till next year!
 
sorry for anyone that DQ'ed...
well marked and well organized.
and i just wanna say thank you to few peoples that are really kind and willing to sacrifice their race for a fellow racer.

first to a guy who rode a yellow cyclocross bike who gave me his Co2. thank you.
and to a father and son who also pump me his C02.

then to my fellow racer mark water,thank man!

and also to a halters jersey guy.who willing to stop and helping me out.

and william weismantel who gave me his sealant,thank you!

woody..thanks for lend me your pump!

and to a race marshall at the rodd crossing.also gave me his Co2.thank you,sir!

what happened is,...when i roede behind pooriggy for few mile,right on the pipeline area.i felt low air or feel soft in my rear wheel.but i didn't realize until get into singletrack that has lots of fern.
so,.i fix them.i only bring patches and 2 Co2.
it's a slow leak.
but it kept leaking...i have to stop like 8times to put C02.
coz,,i just want to finish no matter whatand peoples been good to me.
thank you.

and thank you.to blackbear for putting this great race.now all NJer don't need to drive to another planet to do endurance again.
we have it in our backyard now.
my wish is,..that someday blackbear will change to bearscat 100
 
My BearScat 45 experience:

Overall, I had a great time. Obviously from the heading I was one of those who missed the turn and was disqualified. It was my mistake and I accept full responsibility for it, but I will say the following:

-Though it was definitely marked, I would have missed it again the second lap if there hadn't been two people at the turn. On foot I was able to see it, but in the context of the descent...not so much.
-The course was overall extremely well marked, so maybe this led to my sense of complacence 😱
-The race director told me that I should have realized my mistake because I didn't see the pipeline section. I had no idea where that section was on the course, so I kept expecting to see it right up until I reached the start/finish area on the first lap.
-Upon making the wrong turn, there was another arrow a few hundred feet up the trail (a byproduct of the course layout) so I didn't really doubt that I was going the right way.
-Spoke to the leading female who had the same mileage that I did, so I figured I was good (she was DQ'd as well).

Yesterday I took it in stride, served as "neutral support" for those still in the race on my second lap, and was happy to finish just like everyone else. Today I'm pretty bummed. But I have to remember that this race was the reason that I worked as hard as I did the past few months. It gave me a focus that I would not have had otherwise and I'm a much stronger rider as a result.

On a final note, I will say that I don't understand some riders' lack of self-sufficiency. I didn't mind helping folks on my second lap because my race was over, but how can you realistically expect to run a 50 mile mountain bike race that's been advertised as technical/challenging without so much as a 5mm allen wrench? Not trying to single out anyone in particular and perhaps his multi-tool fell out of a pocket or whatever, but, in general, I don't understand the lack of preparation from obviously very experienced riders.
 
Thanks to the organizers and especially to all of the volunteers out there yesterday. It was certainly an epic race!!!

THANK YOU to Jason from Halter's!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I crashed around mile #4 (a tribute to my superior technical skills...lol) and mangled my chain and derailleur, making it pretty difficult to ride and oh yeah, shift!! lol

If Jason didn't come along and help me out, I would have been forced to drop out. Instead, I finished and grabbed 6th place in the women's open division.

Jason, thank you, thank you, thank you for saving my day!!!!!!!!!!
Stacey
 
TriChick said:
Thanks to the organizers and especially to all of the volunteers out there yesterday. It was certainly an epic race!!!

THANK YOU to Jason from Halter's!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I crashed around mile #4 (a tribute to my superior technical skills...lol) and mangled my chain and derailleur, making it pretty difficult to ride and oh yeah, shift!! lol

If Jason didn't come along and help me out, I would have been forced to drop out. Instead, I finished and grabbed 6th place in the women's open division.

Jason, thank you, thank you, thank you for saving my day!!!!!!!!!!
Stacey
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Glad to help. I was way out of the race at that point from an early flat (1st flat in years!) so I was not missing out on much by lending a hand.


Go buy a new der hanger. Your chain is also longer than you need.

You have the legs, you just need to work on your cornering. Some time @ 6mr should help.



I managed to pull back to 12th spot in the end after a horrendous 1st mile. I was super happy w/ my finish after coming from dead last.

This spot is brutal on the body and mind. It is so hard to get a good flow going. I thing there is 2 corners in the whole loop that had any flow to them.

I love high speed swoopy turns and there simply were not many.

Such a good day.

j-
 
Jason,
Looks like stopping to help me cost you 11th place. Sorry.... WOW, you certainly made an amazing recovery.

Thanks for the pointers along the way. Unfortunately, it looks like I've become a roadie (shhhhhhhhhhh) as you can tell from my terrible technical skills. I definitely need to do a lot of work before my turning can keep up with my legs... 🙂

The bike is still in the car, ready to go to the shop.

Thanks again, Jason!!
Stacey
 
I had a blast. Thanks Black Bear. That was a true test to any mountain biker. I hope this becomes an annual event because the ride is truly epic.
 
ebarker9 said:
On a final note, I will say that I don't understand some riders' lack of self-sufficiency. I didn't mind helping folks on my second lap because my race was over, but how can you realistically expect to run a 50 mile mountain bike race that's been advertised as technical/challenging without so much as a 5mm allen wrench? Not trying to single out anyone in particular and perhaps his multi-tool fell out of a pocket or whatever, but, in general, I don't understand the lack of preparation from obviously very experienced riders.
Click to expand...

Ha! That was me! I had as small multi tool with a 5mm that fell out of my camelback somehow. I was grateful to get in the extra lap and for your generosity.

-rf
 
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