I’ve been meaning to hammer out a treatise on the Butte 100, especially contrasting my experience at it (my first supported 100) with the numerous unsupported races I’ve done over the last 3+ years.  But between having fun with people, writing lots of cover letters for job applications (which is really draining), and the impending three days of outdoor fun, that is not going to happen.  So I’ll settle for the following.

-The course felt like an unsupported race.  Even though I didn’t do the whole things, the Butte 100 seemed like it was on par with stuff like the Rim Ride or Kaibab Monstercross.  It got into that deep level of fatigue where steady forward progress is reasonably yet battle-like, and the war becomes a war of attrition.  I’ve never gotten that feeling from easier 100s, even ones I rode fairly hard.

-People were scary unprepared.  I worry that the combination of the hard course and big entry might create a level of dissonant expectations that will be hard to resolve.  Most racers seemed to have 2-3 bottles, snacks in jersey pockets, CO2, no rain coat, no pack.  That’s fine if you only flat and have a bad cartridge, or get lost, or get caught in a gnarly t-cell.  If two or especially three of those things happened, I think a lot of the racers had no safety margin, as they felt they didn’t need to.  Which leads to..

-People got lost.  In at least two cases (first turn on the fifty, initial 8 miles of hell section) it seems that sabotage/pranksterism was indeed to blame, but I think that a lot of the rest can be blamed on folks not paying attention and/or having excessive expectations for course markings.  I found every turn to be blindingly obvious, but not only did I have tracks to follow (except after the rain), I consider myself pretty good to excellent at on the bike navigation, and have had a lot of practice at following courses with no markings at all.  A lot of the whinging going on at the race website may well be sour apples with not much substance behind it.  That being said..

-The atmosphere of organization was not confidence inspiring.  Stuff got done, and the 100 started on time, but a lot of things seemed like they barely made it.  Aid 4 was almost out of water when I was there, which was a pretty unforgiveable oversight.  But beyond actual instances of neglect, that vibe just didn’t bespeak of good planning.

In conculsion, I’m left wondering how ideal it is to have really challenging courses presented as fully supported.  I think the demands and expectations may almost unavoidably come into conflict.  I don’t think it’s an all or nothing proposition, however.  With a tight GPS, minimal to no course markings only two aid stations (and the midpoint opportunity to revisit your vehicle), and a much reduced fee, things could go off much more smoothly, and with fewer complications.  When you charge a fee comparable with other fully supported races, folks will expect in kind, and doing otherwise creates problems.

Will I do it again next year?  Hard to say.  Will I ride in the area again, soon?  Definitely.  One thing stands above the rest, and that is that the course is superlative.  True blue mountain biking,

For know, I’m going to explore the North Fork of the Blackfoot tomorrow.  At high water it’s a gnarly class V creek, but I have faith that at 250 cfs it’ll make for good packrafting.  This is in the name of the next big trip, which is down Moose Creek and the Selway with Forrest McCarthy and Luc Mehl in a few weeks.  Have to make sure I don’t look like too much of an ass in such illustrious company.

Jill agrees: packrafting rules.

To finish on the issue of jobs, things have been going quite well.  Some good application for good prospects, both here and elsewhere.  I’ve put so much into knowing Montana that I’d like to stay, but moving to Durango or Flag (both on the table) wouldn’t be so bad.