PCPP was no Butte100 and that’s a good thing! Everyone is comparing the PCPP to Leadville, but let’s take a different angle as I haven’t written a summary of the debacle known as the Butte100. Here are the comparisons between the two races:
- Both were hard
- Both races had sections of bone rattling rocks and roots
- Courses were single-track, for the most part, but Butte100 had a section of mind numbing pavement on a frontage road for 20 miles
The following is how the races differ:
- PCPP was world class organized, Butte 100 was a cluster from the start
- PCPP had an accurate trail map, profile and even a GPS file, Butte 100 had nothing, even up until race day there was no map or profile of the course
- PCPP had aid stations that were stocked. The Butte100 had a few water bottles, and river water purified for the late comers
- PCPP had great trail markings; Butte had few trail markers leaving no question why the vast majority of the racers got lost at least once. There was a turn at mile 98 that the trail came to a T. Prior to the T a local told me that I needed to go over a log, cross a river and then take a left at the T. He went on to say it’s not marked. How do you not mark a fork or a T in the trail?
- PCPP had a legit racers meeting that defined the race rules, the Butte100’s meeting consisted of “I was getting around to print the race rules tonight, but the copy shop I was using was having CYBER ISSUES and I couldn’t get the rules printed, so just finish the race on the bike you start with”. First of all there were only 120 total racers, why not print them at your house, and secondly who uses a copy shop?
- Butte was advertised as a 100 mile race, with 16000ft of vertical gain. PCPP was advertised as 80 miles and 14000ft of vertical gain. In reality PCPP was 78 miles with 12000ft, and Butte was 109 miles with over 25000ft of vertical gain. The mileage is after I subtracted out the mileage that I rode while getting lost TWICE. Erik Reissen’s GPS cut out at the 103 mile mark, so I don’t have exact vertical for the Butte100. It is better to over-estimate the mileage and climbing than under-estimating.
- The trails of PCPP were ridden by organizers prior to the race day, The Butte100 trails were partially ridden, but on 4-wheelers.
- I had an immediate finish time at PCPP, it has been over a month and Butte 100 hasn’t issued a finish time for me yet.
- PCPP organizers are awesome with communication. Jay responds with a complete answer within minutes of a question being asked, the Butte 100 organizers average two-weeks to respond to a question and answer by saying “it was ???? fault, I will get right on it” not only was the buck passed and fault directed at someone else, but I have NEVER received an answer to any of my questions.
- At PCPP the podium places get prizes, at the Butte 100 prizes for the top 3 spots were advertised, and promised, but 6-weeks after the race I haven’t seen or heard anything about my prize.
- The PCPP had an elaborate finish area with an actual finish line, Butte 100 had a few cars in a dirt parking lot with no finish line. I guess they were using a black Chevy truck as the finish line?
- Finish time for PCPP 9:13; finish time for Butte 100 14:17, although right now I show a NTA for the Butte 100
There are many more things I could trash the Butte 100 on, but the real question is would I race either event again? Considering the Butte 100 trail is like the PCPP course, only 30 miles longer and 11000ft-12000ft more climbing, the organizers were a joke, the course wasn’t marked, the aid stations were bare, etc, etc, etc, I wouldn’t race the Butte 100 again even if I was given $1000. PCPP was a great experience. Everything was top notch, the people were great, and I would definitely race it again.
