11 Jul 04
more of Darryl's photos from the start - see the results page
12 Jun 04
updated version of Corey's narrative - see the results page
22 Jan 04
Seng's photos from the start - see the results page
19 Jan 04
Darryl's photos from the start - see the results page
09 Jan 04
Kathleen's narrative - see the results page
28 Sep 03
Joel's narrative - see the results page
27 Sep 03
Pics from the finish line, Corey's narrative - see the results page
Oh yeah - and there's 2 Raid t-shirts left - one large, one medium. $15 for racers, $20 for non-racers (including postage within the US). first come first served.
18 Sep 03
Stories and photos starting to arrive - Lindsay's narrative and Joel and Kent's photos are up - check the results page...
17 Sep 03
Well, I'm back from CMWC and the Raid, and the results have now been posted. Rider stories and photos to be posted as they come in, so keep checking back! There's sure to be some pretty crazy stuff...
11 Aug 03
OK. I'm headed off to Paris to ride Paris-Brest-Paris on Wednesday. If any of you riders need to contact me while I'm out of the country, I will be checking email as regularly as I can manage at magpie@trackbike.com.
Check-in will open at 7am, and the start will be at 9am. I'm trying to work it out so that a mechanic will be available for anything last-minute, but dont count on it.
If you don't one or the other, or both, get them NOW. The cyclometer is key to proving your route, and the lights are for your own safety. Please don't come to the start line without a cyclometer and lights.
There are corner stores nearby the start site, which I beleive open around 8am, and a coffee shop or two right in the vicinity. I know I had said the start would most likely be downtown or SOMA, but in the end, I thought better of that, as I didn't want to risk any illegal assembly nonsense if someone complained about a bunch of bicyclists and hangers-on loitering in their neighborhood in the early morning hours. This location is a little more innocuous.
For the safety of everyone involved, it will be a neutral start until we get over the Golden Gate Bridge. This is in case anyone wants to ride along with us as we exit the city, and because beleive you me, riding crazy over the Golden Gate spells trouble. There is no good way to crash there. I know from experience. I know we'll be riding as a group, but please try to avoid the typical taking over of streets and whatnot - I don't want any nonsense to spoil anyone's start.
There will be a car (a station wagon) at the start, which will take luggage up to Portland for riders - probably room for about one bag apiece, provided it's not too huge or anything. If you've got more than that, try to make some other arrangements, because I can only really get so big a vehicle... The car will most likely arrive in Portland, at the finish location on NE 23rd Ave, sometime Wednesday. When I get back from Paris, I'll have more details on that, but it should be up there before the first riders arrive.
That about covers it for pre-Raid announcements. I'll be back August 28th in the late evening, and around all that weekend. Those of you who are riding the Raid, I'll be sending you all my phone number in case you need to contact me once you get to SF (and I get home from PBP). And again, any questions between now and the 28th, please send them to magpie@trackbike.com.
04 Aug 03
My current decision on the table is to finalize the start site. The top 3 choices are:
#3 is especially appealling to me, as it means I'll have to travel only a few blocks from my house first thing in the morning to set up the start :) I've also considered a start in golden gate park somewhere... Any thoughts from you guys?
Regardless, I'm anticipating a slow roll-out, as most (if not all) of us will likely be headed north over the Golden Gate Bridge, and it's probably best if we roll calmly out that direction until we're on the Marin side, since it will be quite busy on Labor Day, even in the morning hours.
Also, a couple questions that riders need to consider now that we have the final rider list:
If anyone has any questions about anything I may have neglected in the rules anywhere, or if any of you will not actually be able to make it, let me know.
02 Aug 03
If you haven't sent your money in by now, don't bother.
As of this moment in time, the list of registrants on the Racers page is FINAL. If you name isn't on this list, as far as I'm concerned, you're not registered for the Raid. No shirt, no patch, no nothing. I will not care what your excuse if, or how reasonable it may be. The registration deadline has been posted and declared to be absolute for almost a full year in the only place information has been available about this race. That is all.
33 paid registrants is pretty good - i said in Copenhagen that I'd be stoked if 25 registered, so I'm pretty surprised, especially considering that a week ago there were less than half than number! Hopefully I'll be able to make it all worth your while when you get to Portland, but I think the trip itself is going to be the greatest reward for most of us. Thanks for deciding you wanted to be a part of my crazy idea.
As it stands now, barring any last minute postmarked-by-the-deadline arrivals, we have 3 teams, 2 women riding as individuals, and less than 5 non-messengers. The teams will of course be ranked separately, but be thinking about a) whether we should just rank all the solo riders together or split out categories (women, non-messengers, whatever) and b) whether or not to allow team riders, if their team doesnt make it to Portland together, to shunt themselves into the individual category. These questions I will ask of you riders at some point.
31 Jul 03
Registrations not known to me by the time I go to sleep tommorrow, August 1st, 2003 will not be accepted!!!
OK, so really what this means is - have your entry fee in my hot little hands by the end of the day tommorrow, one way or another. By "the end of the day" I mean 12 midnight Pacific Standard Time. If your payment is on the way, email me your registration info! I will accept payments that arrive late in the mail, provided they are postmarked not later than August 1st! Paypal payments must be received by 12 midnight Pacific Standard Time as counted by the clock on my computer - not yours!
Do not think I am joking about this. I am the Iron Fist of Registration, and you have had nearly a full year to find out about this event and get me 20 measly dollars! Absolutely no exceptions will be made to the August 1 registration deadline. Registrations received postmarked later than August 1, or via Paypal after August 1, will be sent back to their senders. Period.
30 Jul 03
Probably a little late to say this, but 6 of the last 7 registrations I've received have contained checks or money orders made out not to "Joel Metz", as I thought I stated clearly in the registration page, but to "Raid Californie-Oregon". I CANNOT deposit these. If you have sent payment made out to anything other than "Joel Metz", get in contact with me NOW, because it's gonna make my life even more panicked than it is already, with only 2 weeks before I leave for Paris, and only 1 month before the Raid. Without $, T-shirts and patches are sketchy. I will not alter checks or money orders, because this just has the potential to get fouled up with my bank and take more than 2 weeks to straighten out. Please get in touch with me ASAP if you think you've made your check or money order out incorrectly.
I'm still working like mad on prizes - I wish I'd had 25 registrants months ago, cause it would have made getting prizes easier. I'm doing the best I can, but it may be sparser than I would like. If anyone has ANY leads or contacts, I'd really appreciate the help.
23 Jul 03
Woo hoo! The first of what will hopefully be some tasty prizes have begun to happen - RELoad bags will be coming up with some sooper-special bag for the winner... I'm going out prize-hunting this weekend, so hopefully things will really start to pull together on that front. I know I've been kinda quiet in terms of information, but all is well, im saving up for a big blast of info after the registration deadline on the 1st of August and before I head to France on August 13th or so... I've still got this fear that there'll be people showing up on the weekend of the SF CMWC pre-event wanting to run the Raid, and I'll have to turn them away... Anyone out there thinking they'll do this, please think again - cause I will not bend on my registration deadline, and guilt does not affect me.
Oh hey, and Paul Kazemi - contact me! Email to you is bouncing!
16 Jul 03
AUG 1ST WILL BE THE LAST DAY TO HAVE YOUR REGISTRATION IN MY HOT LITTLE HANDS! i fear there are people out there still waiting, and I WILL NOT MAKE EXCEPTIONS to the rules in the event of late registrations!
Rik van den Bosch is looking for a 3rd member to fill out his team - contact him at the linked email
14 Jun 03
Maria (formerly of SF, now living in Portland) has generously donated 3 of her original Bum-Ease pillows (handy carrying size for your messenger bag, back pad when youre riding, butt pad when youre sitting) as prizes! woo hoo! prizes!
22 Mar 03
A bit of clarification, because I've had several questions about it lately:
When I refer to "the I-5 route", I'm speaking of riding up the actual highway itself, which is what I was looking to prevent. There are multiple routes along this same corridor which can be used - the main idea was to keep people off the highway proper. As things stand now, I'm refraining from doing anything within the rules to ensure this, as everyone who has so far registered has voiced their disinterest in riding this route, as, well, its boring and dangerous.
08 Mar 03
OK, a small bit of consternation here from me...
Now, when I was talking this up in Copenhagen at CMWC, a whole bunch of people were talking like they'd be down for this... As someone who's been involved with messenger events for a while, I know you all are last-minute types, but dammit it's only $20! Without a decent amount of entrants, it makes it hard for me to find prize sponsors - not a whole lot of people get all excited about races with less than 10 registered racers...
So... you people who sounded all enthusiastic back in September... PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS! Don't make me heckle you for being pussies. :)
And I'll work even harder on prizes, something usually not available in rides if this type.
24 Jan 03
Given the response to my query about what people thought of banning the I-5 route, I think I will refrain from doing so. My reasoning is that every rider I've spoken with isn't interested in riding this route, no matter how fast it may be. I will still recommend against this routing in the racer packets, but you can all give yourselves a pat on the back for largely seeming like the type of rider i had hoped would be interested in this event.
Also - I'm currently moving into the realm of working on prize and general sponsors - if anyone has any recommendations for such, I'd love to hear them. While asking for free stuff or money isn't my favorite thing in the world, I'm going to make a concerted effort to make doing this ride worth your while. I know a lot of people are doing this as a somewhat non-competitive event, but the competitive aspect is still going to be there, coming in from the alleycat side of its parentage.
12 Jan 03
Oh yeah - a decision that I made a while back, but havent mentioned here:
The idea of chartering a Green Tortoise bus to carry travellers from SF to Portland (as well as luggage for the Raid entrants), while perhaps a good one, did not got the initial response i would have liked - and as such, I cannot afford to put up the advance money for this. I've decided that a better alternative would be to rent a one-way U-Haul van and trailer, and transport the entrants' luggage that way. More on this as race time approaches. If there's anyone headed to SF for the pre-event who'd be willing to be the driver, let me know.
06 Jan 03
Well, It seems the race is getting substantial attention from the local randonneur community, but not so many of the messengers who sounded interested when i was talking to people about this in Copenhagen have stepped up... Come on, kids...
My big decision for the time being is what to do about Interstate 5 - the obvious fast route up to Portland, but also the most dangerous route, due to heavy car traffic both day and night. I want to discourage people from using this route, not only because it's dangerous, but also because considering the territory this race covers, I think people should try and take a route that will allow them to see more of what they pass - it's a beautiful area, and you shouldn't get so caught up in the racing that you forget to notice and enjoy that. Granted, it is possible to ride alongside I-5 on other roads most of the way, so taking the central route isn't barred by a ban on I-5...
The basic decision for me is whether or not to make a pair of fixed checkpoints in Zone 3 or possibly Zone 4, to force people off of running a completely straight shot up any of such possibilities... I'm interested in people's thoughts on this - some of you I've talked with concerning this, but I'd like to hear from more.
23 Sep 02
Such excitement! We have our first non-me registrants!
Also note that the rules, as of today, are "final". Any changes after today will be specifically noted here in the news section.
22 Sep 02
Seattle has just announced that CMWC 2003 will be held the weekend of September 12-14, 2003, which gives me the data I need to establish the date of the Raid Californie-Orégon start to be 01 Sep 03. Mark your calendars.
18 Sep 02
Ooooh excitement, a logo! If you've gotten this far, you've seen it plenty already. This'll be the basis for the finisher patches, and probably some element of the racer t-shirts...
17 Sep 02
Figured out my resolution to the open/messenger class thing - once there's a good number of entrants, I'll let the racers decide for themselves whether to rank the classes separately. Simple enough, and democratic, to boot!
13 Sep 02
More thoughts on the issue below...
Perhaps the better way would be to split the entries into two classes:
Messengers: racers riding the bike they use for work, or intend to race at CMWC, and
Open: racers not currently or formerly employed as messengers, or riding bikes not used at work.
Again, please do let me know what you think of this idea.
10 Sep 02:
I'm currently mulling over a couple things about the rules - whether to exclude recumbents, and whether or not to run non-messengers as a separate class.
The first issue comes up because I have had a friend openly declare that he fully intends to ride the race on a recumbent, which i think, given the particular riders capabilities, could result in a fairly set outcome, and it's not really fun for anyone if you know who's going to win before the race even starts.
The second arises because I've gotten quite a bit more interest from the randonneur community than i had ever expected - I had conceived of this originally as a messenger race, and I am beginning to fear that with an influx of experienced randonneurs, any chance of messengers winning prizes might be completely out the window. Perhaps I have too little confidence in the messengers, though.
Let me know what you think on either of these issues, please!