Greetings racers. I just got a note from the man himself and wanted to let you know about a couple changes coming to our fair event. Since I’m not that great of a spokesman (ha!) I’ll let Clayton fill you in on the details. Oh, and just as soon as I get the new map and a route description I’ll get it up for all of you to see in all it’s pixely glory.

“CARPe diem” means seize the day in Latin and that is exactly what we are doing with the racecourse layout. After hearing feedback from everyone we got the messages loud and clear:

#1: The Cat 1/2 course was just too damn hard to do 2-3 laps. With the fastest Expert times hovering around 1hr per lap this could have easily turned into a 3-4 hr death march and devoured the whole afternoon for many unwitting participants. We want the Sport & Expert racers to really dig the race not just survive it, they got to save their energy for dancing and telling newbies all about the magical wonders of ripping through the forest on two wheels.

#2: The Beginners (Cat 3) want more distance, 5.6 miles was just not enough.

#3: What about all those riders brand new to the mountain biking scene who really can’t handle much more than 5 miles?

#4: And what about the Children?

To resolve these worthy queries, we have some very important announcements:

We are getting rid of Advanced Trig and all that other jazz, in its place we will be utilizing Dan’s most excellent 5.6 mile Beginner course layout for multiple laps. Plus we’re adding a Novice option for the “True Beginners”

So how many laps will I do???

Kid’s Race ~1/3 mile, kicks off the festivities @ 9:30
Novice x1 lap (5.6 miles)
Beginners x2 laps (11.2 miles)
Sport x3 laps (16.8 miles)
Expert x4 laps (22.4 miles)

This will make the course much faster, flowier, & more fun. Plus the new course will be very spectator friendly. Racers can go “balls to the wall” and get back faster to enjoy their family & friends along with all the free food, the 3 rockin’ live bands, drum circles, dancing and all the other festivities. Make no mistake this is much more than just a race, this will be a festival the likes of which none of us has ever seen. It’s all about bringing new people into the sport, and this event is destined to do just that. Yeah, it will be a blast for all us experienced vets, but in the end it’s all about the children and the newbies.

Like Ron Burgundy, this race is “kind of a big deal,” so tell everyone you know (not that you’ll need to), call up all your biking buddies, drag your spouse out of the house, and go kidnap some random kids for the day. On October 18th @ Camp Robinson it’s goin’ down!!!

Let’s get all the emails goin around in a round table style, so reply to the group and let’s all work together to create the “Mother of all MTB Races”!

Clayton

PS: go register!

Hey Racers!

Just a quick post to let you know that online registration is open @ BikeReg.com. In the spirit of making this about the festival atmosphere and the love of mountain bike racing, we’ve also decided to cap registration fees at only 20 bones.  That’s right, you can get your shred on at a primo location, grub on some great food, and enjoy live music for ONLY $20!! This will not only be one of the best races of the season, but also the cheapest.  Be sure you register now, before it’s too late.

As a reminder, this event is on a military facility. To enter the gate you will need your drivers license, vehicle registration, and current proof of insurance. A CARP membership is also required. You can purchases yours here: http://carpclub.com or at the front gate the day of. The 1-year membership is only $10 and supports what may be one of the best trail systems in central Arkansas. We strongly urge you to plan ahead and get your membership before the race.

PS: go register!

So I know that everyone here is now on Facebook. I mean really, Facebook is the new black.  Even I have an account now.  We’ve just setup a CARPe Diem MTB Fest page, so fan us up, and spread the word!

Got some info up for our AWESOME sponsors too on the race sponsors page, so be sure you let them know how much you appreciate what they are doing. It would be impossible to have an event like this without them.

race map

We’re still hard at it to make sure this is a success.  I’ve just uploaded the first map for the course.  This means that any of you still on the fence can quite wondering now. =)  We’re still waiting on a better map from the USGS folks, but I’ll post it up as soon as I have it.  For now, here is the race map for ya.

The image @ left will take you to a larger version, so check it out!!

Hey Racers-

Just a quick note that we’ve got the AMBCS race flyer uploaded to the site.  As always keep your eyes open for any changes or additions.

Welcome. Thanks to everyone for visiting.  This is just a quick kick off post to get things rolling.  Noticed the following on the AMBCS message board today:

Fat Tire Aficianados,

I have a very important joint announcement from Bell & CO MTN Biking, Arkansas Cycling & Fitness, Chainwheel, and CARP. Coming soon to a trailhead near you will be the CARPe diem MTN Bike Festival. This unification of Fat Tire Desire will take place on Sun, Oct 18 @ Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, AR. Prepare yourselves for one of the sweetest XC trails in the state, rockin’ live music, delicious free food, awesome vendor booths, and even a Kid’s Race to kick things off. This event is gonna be HUGE! I don’t wanna get ya too pumped up just yet, but let’s put it this way: If your bike was a guy, he’d be a 29er rigid hardtail. image Get my drift…

Make no mistake, this is no ordinary XC Race, this is the Mothership calling all Singletrack Samurais to battle. See you at the trail…

Clayton

There will be more news, info, updates, etc. put up as I get them.