Cloudy skies and some tacky dirt greet the opening weekend of the virtual option of the 2023 East Bay Dirt Classic. This may be the weekend for those preferring the virtual option as the upcoming week reportedly holds a heat wave.
A couple of quick announcements and reminders: This year there are two options for how to ride the event: 1) Single day mass start on October 14th at 9 am; 2) Virtual ride any time between today and October 14th at 1 pm. As far as bragging rights, the virtual riders can track their rank on our virtual leaderboard whereas the one day event riders will only be competing with those also riding it as the mass start event on October 14th. View and download the course here. Register for this year’s event here.
We have made some changes to prior years based on feedback from many of our friends who rode it last year. This year is more gravel friendly and the course should be easier to follow. There are no printed maps or handouts. The best way to ride the course is to review it well beforehand and then download it via GPX file and load it onto your preferred GPS navigation tool. This not an enduro format; riders will be ranked on the time it takes to complete the entire course. Additionally, there will be one KOM/QOM segment on the Skyline climb from the golf course.
We have a great assortment of prizes this year from our generous sponsors. Special should out to our good friends at Peak Design, who donated a number of sweet prizes including their bombproof travel duffel, their travel backpack, their mobile out front phone bike mount, and several other great products. Prizes will go to the fastest times on the course for the one day event and the virtual event as well as the holders of the KOM/QOM segments. Once again the winners of the one day event will receive limited edition East Bay Dirt Classic belt buckles.
There will be a barbeque event with food, drink, awarding of prizes and an option to jump in the pool/hot tub beginning after the event on Saturday October 14th. The address for the one day event and for the barbecue is: 5656 Weaver Place, Oakland, CA 94619.
Finally, we originally started this event as a fundraiser for the Alameda County Community Food Bank. In the short time we have been hosting this event we have seen the number of Alameda County residents who use the ACCFB’s services increase from one in six to one in four. This incredible organization needs our support more than ever. All net proceeds from this event and associated fundraising go to the ACCFB. Over the last several events we have raised over $250,000. In addition to riding the event, please consider joining in our fundraising efforts here: C510 ACCFB Fundraising. Prizes will be given out to the top fundraisers for this event.
Thanks and happy riding from your friends at C510!
