For those who've done Ripper relays....

[sAFETY]

I'm doing the DH portion of this weekend's Ripper on Pangor and wondered what the situation was with passing. I imagine there would be a lot of it.

Is it just leave the moment your team-mate passes you a batton (or tags you, etc)?

How crowded does it get? Pangor is pretty tight in places with no room for passing for long stretches unless the other rider goes to the side of the trail.

I've only done pure DH races with staggered starts.

So how do I handle both situations (holding up riders, and being held up)?

[atb]

if someone comes up behind you then you pull off too the side to let them pass.

[sAFETY]

Yeah, I got that part, same as any race.

But not many races start have people starting at the same time who may be better at certain sections of a trail than the other. I see much passing and that becoming a hassle, especially when there are multiple lines to be taken. Wondering if there's anything that will make it easier for those involved.

Anyone have some insight into how crowded it's going to get?

[mattj]

It gets pretty well spaced out. Also the climb up Old Buck is a tough one. Too steep to hammer all the way and not steep enough to justify taking it easy. Should spread things out nicely.

As far as passing, I was leap-frogging with Jonny-zee at the seventh ripper and we always let each other pass no problem. Same with the slower riders we came up to. They were off the trail before we even had to ask...


-m

[LeeLau]

It;ll be crowded but the vibes in the Rippers is so mellow like Matt said people will be jumping out of your way

[pete@nsmb.com]

I'm gonna be there! I fly in friday night, race saturday morning. Jet lag, borrowed bike, first shore ride in a year, and haven't ridden Pingu/Pangor since some new work was done (I have ridden the new wooden berms, however).

Anything to watch out for, besides killer arm pump and sudden bouts of narcolepsy?