Last week, I mentioned the new Alaska Birkie bike race. I wrote that even though I thought it sounded like a fun race, I wouldn’t be able to do it this year. I also thought they should change the name of the race.
Well, I just saw an announcement that this year’s race is cancelled because of low registration numbers. So much for my attempt to promote it! But get this – they will be changing the name of the race for next year:
We will instead focus on a 2010 race. Our website will be the source of official information for the next year. There will be changes for the 2010 event starting with the name of the race. The race will not be called Birkebeiner. Stay tuned…
I hope they come up with a better name than the suggestions I offered!
So maybe I’ll get to do the inaugural race after all. But then again, maybe not. Summer in Alaska is really short, and as I’ve said before, we’ve already got a ton of fun summer races. Not to mention the other non-racing activities to choose from (hiking, packrafting, road trips, etc). It’s hard for a new race to get a foothold. The Powerline Pass running race – a favorite of mine and many mountain runners – has bounced around for seven years , trying to find a date to call home. That’s why I think this bike race should try September, or even early October. Or maybe the first weekend of June, as soon as the trails open to mountain bikes.
But then again, what do I know? I tend to gravitate towards events that don’t have a ton of participation. So maybe I’m not the best guy to offer promotional advice.
Kinda funny – this bike race announcement was the skinnyski.com newsletter’s (a midwest Birkie-centric newsletter) number one bullet item in their last newsletter. “Yeah – another Birkie!”
I agree. Dumb name (for an Alaskan race). Funky course. I don’t get the bike racing on narrow urban bike trails when people are out pushing kids in strollers, folks are taking their visiting grandparents for a walk, homeless folks are lying in the trail, etc. “But Tim, the Tour of Anchorage ski race uses the same urban bike trails that are packed with people clueless to the fact a race is going on.” Yeah, I know.
Actually – do you know who the orgainers were? Names? Another red flag was that “$30 of your entry fee will go to the Boy Scouts”. But you can’t find out how much the total entry fee is unless you make an account on SignMeUp (which I didn’t do). So if race organizers aren’t up-front about the entry fee cost … that’s a bad sign.
Here’s the thread where I found out about the race. It mentions the race director and the entry fee ($50).
http://akspokes.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1301
I like the idea of a point to point race that uses varied surfaces (pavement, dirt, singletrack). But I agree using the bike paths would be dangerous, especially on a Saturday morning in the middle of summer. That’s where strategy comes into play. If you sit back and draft someone, not only will you get an easier ride, but they’ll take out grandma before you do!
Thanks. A Norwegian organizer name, so I see where the Birkie idea came from. $50 entry fee is not bad. A better route would be something like the Hatcher Pass store to Willow over Hatcher Pass. That’s a multi-surface race. And it goes over a mountain pass – conceptually somewhat similar to the Norge Birkie. Actually, in the 80’s they used to have a snowmobile race over that route. The called it the Alaska Motorhead Birkie. Just kidding. They had the race but I can’t remember what they called it. FWIW – There also used to be snowmobile races from Talkeetna to Eagle River and from Knik to Swentna and back.