New 2008 EFTA Course???

Towards the end of the season I got hooked up with Team Bums, racing the Tuesday Night Time Trials and doing some fun rides with these guys. After one of the TNTTs I started talking to Brett (one of the strongest riders) about the EFTA series. He mentioned that he was interested in organizing a race for the series somewhere in central Mass. I told him that after racing for the past 3 years, I would like to get involved with some of the behind the sceens efforts.

Brett lives about 10 minutes from Treasure Valley boy scout camp and he already had approached the camp about possibly building new trails and organizing a race on their property. They great thing about working with a boy scout camp is that they have all the tools and manpower need to build and maintain trails, and they will help us out where needed.

So Brett, myself and a few others meet up at Treasure Valley a week ago on a chilly 28 degree morning to explore some of the trails and come up with a sketch of the course. We discovered with a good loop that covers some good double track, about 3 miles of technical single track and a steep climb with a great descent on the way out. The total length of the proposed course is 9 miles. After riding this course I think it will be one of the most challenging courses in the series.

With the proposed course drawn up it was time to meet with EFTA organizers. I didn't make it to this meeting, but Brett sent me the update via email:

A lot has happened in the last couple weeks regarding the race I discussed below. Here's a rundown.

For the past 3 weekends I've been riding and at times bushwhacking all over Treasure Valley discovering what's there and envisioning a race loop. I've been assisted by the racing and riding minds of Paul Simoes, Chris Beriau, Mike Tonry, and Adam Bradley. Together we've pieced together a proposed race loop. I rode and GPS'd it last Sat and got a 9mi lap with ~717 ft of climbing/lap. There are still a few unknowns with the course, some things I might change to avoid certain things, but the basics are there. It was also on Sat, on the race loop, that I endo'd several times and must have pulled some muscles in my back. Fear not, as long as your bike doesn't skip the chain like mine does, you shouldn't be doing any such crashes.

That Sat. evening I went up to Manchester, NH to meet with the EFTA board and all the 2007-2008 race organizers. I was the only new organizer there so I got some good face time with all of the board members individually. I told them my plans (to also have classes for the younger boys in cub and boy scouts), showed the topo/gps loop map, talked about the strengths of the venue and date restrictions. All in all it was very productive and the dinner was excellent and free! At first I was thinking mid May for this event, the Treasure Valley Rally. But when we did the planning against all the other races in Root66 and with EFTA's Doug Peckham getting first choice in May, I looked into June. June had Fathers Day available, which might have been OK, but it also meant 5-6 EFTA races in a row...not so good. Now I'm still waiting to hear back on a final date, but Aug 24 came up as did September.

But the biggest news of all is that they contacted me tonight and are going to grant New England Championship Series (NECS) status to this race AND are considering it for the SEASON FINALE! The finale part is still being decided, but it is probably the highest attended NECS race in the series with riders cramming points in the series. To have it in central MA would be excellent. Either way, NECS status is huge, usually adds ~100 people to the attendance. There are some conditions I have to meet--I have to work one of Doug P's races to get experience, among other things.

I also have to secure permission from the state because parts of the Midstate Trail that we've planned to run the race on goes onto state forest land. If anyone knows someone at the state level for this, I'd appreciate a contact! I have to do that part ASAP to get an official letter of permission from all land owners. The scout reservation won't be an issue. The state, I don't know. It's certainly possible to avoid those sections but it'd be nice to run the whole stretch of single track.

But the great thing is the EFTA board and Doug Peckham have promised all the help I need. Additionally, Bums have already been helping out and probably will continue to help as this goes on. I know it's not a financial windfall for us, but it will help our image as a MTB club, help the scout reservation's image and awareness, help scouting and mountain biking in general, and hopefully get some new people interested in racing and/or mountain biking. Additionally, the new riding at Treasure Valley is quite good and can only get better.

So it seems we are well on our way to having a central Mass race next season and a NECS sanctioned event too! I will continue to post updates as we move along. It seems at this point our biggest obstacle will be getting the clearance from the state to use the Mid-State trail.

Get ready to Rally the Valley.