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When the dust had settled, we saw a familiar face at the top of the KOM podium with Fun Ghi taking top honors followed by two newcomers this year: James Kinney in second and Cameron Bronstein in third. Fun Ghi took home the 2022 East Bay Dirt Classic belt buckle and a magnum of Obsidian Ridge Cabernet.

On the QOM side we saw newcomer Eleanor Wiseman slide into the top spot on Saturday after riding the course earlier in the week and suffering from a whack GPS track resulting in no record of her ride (sorry Eleanor! Blame Alex P of course). Two time consecutive second place finisher Ekaterina Rakhmatulina was leading until Eleanor’s ride and went to take a second swing at it on Saturday, improving on her time but just missing out on the top step. Yet another new face, Wild Iris stomped the course on her first attempt on Saturday slotting into third. Eleanor took home a magnum of Obsidian Ridge cabernet and the 2022 East Bay Dirt Classic belt buckle.

Prizes from our incredibly generous sponsors went 3 deep on the podium on both the KOM and QOM side and many more prizes were handed out in the raffle throughout the afternoon. Many thanks to:

• Bonk Breaker Nutrition
• Capo Cycling Wear
• East Brother Beer Company
• Fieldwork Brewing
• GU Nutrition
• Marmot Outdoor Clothing and Gear
• Mike’s Bikes
• Mountain Music
• Obsidian Wine Company
• Peak Design
• R&A Cycles
• Sports Basement

The best thing about this event is the community who participate in and support it. Above we have Reid Williamson and Andy Ward showing that there are many types of ways to ride this course. They were going for the no suspension bike-packing look here with bathing suits, beer and – I am told – baby clothing (which one was passing down to the other) in their baskets and packs. The common thread among all participants (many only after completing the course) is the obvious stoke on their faces.

Many thanks to our gracious hosts Chad and Kerryn for throwing the barbeque every year. The event wouldn’t be the same anywhere else!

Finally and most importantly, with the help of all of our particpants and the associated fundraising from members of C510, this year we were able to raise over $107,000 for the Alameda County Community Food Bank. We are grateful to all of you for your participation, great attitude and support of the EBDC each year.

Enjoy the off season and mark your calendars: The 2023 East Bay Dirt Classic will be held on Saturday October 14th, 2023!

– Your friends at C510

Twenty-six seconds. The amount of time it typically takes me to put my bibs on in the morning. That is the margin between first and second place currently, with Fun Ghi taking the title from James Kinney yesterday. There remains twenty six hours of racing…so I’m guessing we may see another attempt from a few people out there.

On the QOM side, Ekaterina Rakhmatulina continues to lead second place Sally Aldridge by over 12 minutes. I know there are a few other very fast individuals out there looking to test this mark within the next day. Keep an eye on this space.

We look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow. Scroll down to the previous post for details on the BBQ and award ceremony.

– Your friends at C510

On Saturday October 15th our annual East Bay Dirt Classic barbeque and awards presentation for all registered competitors kicks off at 12 PM. Top riders will be eligible for awards and there will be many other awards on hand from our sponsors for raffle winners.

Some important information about the barbeque:

• Date: Saturday October 15th, 2022
• Racing ends at 1 pm sharp. Any finishers completing the course after 1 pm will not be included on the leaderboard nor considered for awards.
• The barbeque will start and the kegs from our generous sponsors East Brother Beer Co and Fieldwork Brewing will be tapped at 12 PM.
• Awards and raffle winners will be announced at 2 pm.
• Address: 5656 Weaver Place, Oakland, CA 94619
• PARKING: PLEASE DO NOT PARK ON WEAVER PLACE OR DENTON PLACE. Please park along Skyline BLVD and walk down Weaver Place to the barbeque.
• Feel free to bring a bathing suit. There is a pool and hot tub.
• Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

The last rays of sun on the observation area above Bishop’s Walk signal the end of week one. What a week! As a recap, in the KOM competition James Kinney still holds a sizeable lead over new 2nd place holder Ben Arnold who has a 2 minute gap over Alex Peterson.

In the QOM competition, Ekaterina Rakhmatulina took over the top spot by a wide margin today. She had a crushing time last year as well and was on the podium at Wente back in June if I recall correctly. She holds a 12 minute gap over Sally Aldridge in 2nd and 17 minute lead over Rebecca Lewington in 3rd. Lots of time left in this competition, but great to see so many competitors signing up and getting after it.

We’d like to also take this time to thank our sponsors and remind everyone about the great prizes on offer this year. Thanks to our sponsors, some of our cyclists this year will receive:

• Mike’s Bikes gift certificates and clothing
• East Brother Beer Co. beer
• R&A Cycles bike service
• Fieldwork Brewing beer
• Obsidian Ridge wine
• Sports Basement gift certificates
• GU sports nutrition gels
• Peak Design gear
• CAPO Cycling wear

Enjoy your time out there on the bike in our beautiful local parks. And remember, your participation helps to support the Alameda County Community Food Bank! Hope to see many of your at the post-event party and award presentation next Saturday, October 15th!

– Your friends at C510

Here we are nearing the end of week one and there are two surprises at this point:

1) I don’t have an inbox full of emails about the difficulty of route-finding. I hope this means that most have found the route without too much difficulty. It could also be that I have mail-forward set up to send my emails to Hightowah during the riding period. Either way, I hope some of the details sent out this past week have helped.

2) That guy James Kinney is fast. I mean we may actually have a race on our hands this year. He bested the 2nd place time by 10 minutes. Now I know one sure thing about this event having watched it play out over the last couple of years: Fun Ghi will be throwing down some time in the next week. But he now has a high mark to shoot for. Well done James! There is rumored to be at least one other very fast cyclist jumping in next week to keep things interesting and I’m sure there are many others we have yet to meet who are getting ready to give it a go. Good thing I didn’t etch Fun Ghi’s name onto the belt buckle yet this year…

On the Women’s side, Piedmont High School coach Sally Aldridge holds the fastest time currently. Knowing Sally she’ll be out on course again in the next few days besting her current fast time.

Once again the weather looks prime for some great riding this weekend. The nighttime fog has decreased the dust so the dirt should be primo. Do your homework on the course and head out there and have fun!

– Your friends at C510

We’re closing out a gorgeous weekend and a number of cyclists took advantage of the weather to get out and give the 2022 EBDC course a go. For those interested in seeing the 2022 East Bay Dirt Classic Leaderboard, please click here.

In our last post I mentioned the tricky route finding parts. Despite being afraid of dirt, our tech wunderkind got out on a mountain bike this weekend and shot some videos of the sections I mentioned in my last post. I am including them below.

Segment 3: Badger’s Bump: This video shows the merge from the upper Sinawik Loop down onto the lower Sinawik trail and the end of the segment with the sharp left turn up to the observation area above Bishop’s Walk. The segment ends just before the quick left turn uo to the observation area.

Video of last 1/4 of segment 3, Badger’s Bump

Segment 4: Angry Ray’s Revenge: The first video shows the exit from Upper Palos Colorado, staying right after the final left turning switchback and exiting Upper Palos directly into the staging area where Big Trees and Sequoia Bayview meet.

Video of top of Upper Palos Colorado trail portion of Segment 4, Angry Ray’s Revenge

This next video shows the necessary left turn (instead of going up and right) midway through the Big Trees trail. Granted our fearless tech wunderkind stopped immediately after the left turn to chat with some other dirt fiend, but after 30 seconds or so of gabbing, he continues on towards the windy singletrack of the rest of Big Trees. Hopefully you get the point and can forgive the camerman.

Video of Big Trees trail left turn at intersection midway through the trail on Segment 4, Angry Ray’s Revenge

Route finding has been one of the difficulties every year and we hope these detailed explanations along with the videos and segments (which you can “favorite” and set as live segments in Strava) help reduce some of the challenges of route finding.

– Your friends from C510

Two things I heard today from C510 brethren who rode the course: 1)There is a lot of hard climbing. 2) Route finding on segments 3 and 4 are challenging, particularly on segment 4. So I’ll try to give as much detail for segments 3 and 4 as possible.

Segment 3 – Badger’s Bump is the upper Sinawik Loop in Joaquin Miller. It starts with a short steep loose climb and then settles into nice rolling singletrack. It merges with the lower Sinawik trail (BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS MERGE) heading toward the observation area at the top of Bishop’s Walk. Rather than pop out onto the road early and roll on tarmac to the observation area, follow Sinawik trail a little further to the abrupt uphill left turn which exits directly at the observation area.

Segment 4 – Angry Ray’s Revenge climbs Upper Palos Colorado Trail BUT (AND THIS IS IMPORTANT) near the top at the last left turning switchback, stay right (as opposed to continuing on the last bit of Upper Palos Colorado which exits a little further down Sequoia Bayview) and exit directly into the parking area/confluence of Sequoia Bayview and Big Trees and continue directly on to Big Trees. On Big Trees about midway through, there is an option to turn right uphill (shorter Big Trees version) or turn left downhill through some more windy singletrack (longer Big Trees version). AT THIS JUNCTION GO LEFT AND DOWN STAYING ON THE LONGER BIG TREES SEGMENT INCLUDING MORE WINDY SINGLETRACK.

I hope these descriptions help clear things up a bit. Please do look at the segments on Strava and ensure the above makes sense and download the course and “favorite” the segments to help with guidance along the way. Ultimately please be safe and have fun out there!

The 2022 East Bay Dirt Classic 2 week window opens tomorrow, October 1st! Weather should be perfect for testing the legs and the lungs with mid-70s temps for both Saturday and Sunday. If you haven’t registered yet, please find the registration link here. There are some great prizes on offer this year from our sponsors, including donations from GU, R&A Cycles, Mikes Bikes, East Brother Brewing, Obsidian Ridge Winery, Sports Basement and Peak Design! Many thanks to this year’s sponsors!

Year after year this event helps to raise money and awareness for the members of Alameda County who are food insecure. All of the net proceeds from the EBDC registration and our annual C510 fundraiser go to our friends at the Alameda County Community Food Bank. So thank you once again for your participation in the East Bay Dirt Classic and your help in supporting those members of our community who are most in need.

Get out there and enjoy the riding and share the stoke! – Your friends at C510

Registration is now open! Please click here to register for the 2022 East Bay Dirt Classic.

Also, we have been super fortunate to get some great awards from our sponsors for this year’s edition including magnums of wine from Obsidian Ridge, gift certificates and jackets from Mike’s Bikes, three full tune ups from R&A Cycles in Walnut Creek just to name a few!

Registration for 2022 East bay Dirt Classic: https://eastbaydirtclassic.com/registration/