An epic dirt ride along some of the best trails linking Tilden, Sibley, Redwood, and Chabot
Our friends from the EBRP let us know that end of the Honker Bay Trail is flooded, so to get to the Cameron Loop Trail, you’re going to need to dismount your bike, carry it past a bollard, walk across the the bridge, and then up a flight of stairs. Do not get in the water, there be trolls! Yeeeeew! Good thing you didn’t skip arms day, right?
How the hell are we going to account for this in the standings? No idea! But never fear – the C510 brain trust is on it!
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. www
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!
Registration is open for the 2023 East Bay Dirt Classic! We are stoked to release this year’s course and to announce an incredible array of prizes for our participants from the following sponsors:
Please join us again this year in participating in the EBDC to help raise awareness and much needed resources for our friends and neighbors in Alameda County who face food insecurity daily.
Check out this year’s course here: 2023 East Bay Dirt Classic Course
Register here: 2023 East Bay Dirt Classic
It’s that time of year when we think of cooler nights, perfect packed dirt trails and the East Bay Dirt Classic….
The 2023 edition of the East Bay Dirt Classic will see a return to a one day event with mass start at 9 am on October 14th. This year’s course will be more gravel friendly, covering 23 miles and 3,500 feet of climbing. Prizes from our sponsors will be awarded to top finishers of the entire course from start to finish. There will be one QOM/KOM segment with a separate prize awarded to the fastest cyclists on this segment.
There will be an after party with pool, hot tub, music, barbecue, libations and the presentation of awards at 2 pm on October 14th.
Course details and registration link to follow.
We hope to see you all there!
Your friends at C510
In preparation for future East Bay Dirt Classic events, please take 2 minutes to complete the survey below to help us deliver the event in which you’d be most stoked to participate. Thank you!!
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:
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:
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:
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