The Tapeworm is the major trail near Seattle in the city of Renton. It’s been there for about 12 years and consists of about 6 miles of combined trails on a few acres of land. It’s tight, twisty, fast, slow, and above all super technical. Not many can complete the trail without dabbing. Fastest time wins.
6 miles of racing, fastest time we’ve clocked is somewhere around 45 minutes. Singlespeeds and hardtails are king usually, but run what you brung.
$15 gets you race, bbq, pasta and refreshments. Cash prize to the winner for men’s and women’s!
There is no cross or football on the 30th, so be there.
How are the categories organized?
Men’s & womens! racing the clock. good luck.
Fun race. Thanks for organizing it. It was a little frustrating that several people either didn’t do the course as it was laid out or got lost. I realize that the markers were taken down and had to be re-done but it still was lacking a bit. This was evident by how many people either came out at the wrong point or finished ahead of others that they didn’t pass. Instead of just complaining, I’ll try to offer some solutions:
1. Assign numbers and have course officials at key points(charge $20 a head to pay officials). Probably too expensive and complicated.
2. Have a bright colored bag at key points of each section with a color coded ribbon to grab.
3. Require an Odo and check mileage at completion.
4. The honor system although it didn’t really seem to work yesterday.
Any chance you’ll post results via time and last name?
Also, how do we find the link for the course photos?
Thanks for all your efforts and this fun event. Hope to do it again soon.
Pete
Pete, Thanks for the constructive feedback. I realized that in the Parasite trail some branches were crush or riding through making things confusing as well as on stake removed coming down from under to power tower headed towards the parasite. I will assign check point officials next time and also lead a preride before hand would be cool to. I will be posting all results soon. I will also post a link once I hear from Mark. I appreciate all this and hope to see you next time. Most likely in March.
best regards,
Messmann
Thanks for putting this on. I had fun, although I to was a little confused at times by the trail markings or lack thereof. Good times overall.
Josh, thanks man. I’m glad for the feed back. It will be dialed in next time around. I will put you email on the ttt list and update you with anything that comes up….
Please put my email on the ttt list. thanks
I tough the course was marked pretty good and it never happened anyway.
The World Champ always wins!
Super fun, twisty, technical and fast. Mmm mmm goodtime time trial! Thank you to all that are responsible for putting this event together. I would like to tell all those racers being so critical we just had a race in Jan. In Washington! What is their really to complain about. Be happy we were able to get dirty! Can’t wait for the next one. thanks again you guys ROCK!
Here is my write-up of the race.
http://www.powerogre.com/2010/02/02/riding-the-tapeworm/
Great event. Course was clear and well marked, and everyone was courteous on the trail. Post-race naysaying was disappointing – maybe cx tape across suspect areas might help preempt these discussions in future iterations. Agree with Love the Tech above…big thanks for organizing.
Brendan, thanks for the input. I have taken all construction criticism into consideration. I will tape off arrows next race in March. Nice job.
i wanna race it on the 27th! do i just have to show up and sign up or can that be done by mail?
yes thats it! just show have fun ride bikes. Race the clock or yourself.