There is a covered pavillion area with seating and a kitchen area. Last year there was a pizza station and beer.
There are bathrooms with showers as well.
Have them bring food for themselves, last year the pizza place sold out. Town is about 20 min away and there are plenty of places to eat as well as a HEB.
Any trail condition updates?
Dry, sandy, and loose AF. Basically no significant rain in a couple months. I haven’t been out there in a couple weeks, but will do a final pre-ride this Sunday.
Long term forecast shows 40-50% chance of rain next week thursday through race day, so fingers crossed. The course doesn’t get muddy or slick, so rain only makes it better as things firm up. Only downside if it’s actually raining during the race is that it’s really hard on equipment. If it’s wet enough, you get a slurry of abrasive grit getting everywhere. Hopefully it rains hard on thurs/fri AM and we get a dry overcast day on race day.
Are you still thinking Ikon’s or something more grippy in the front?
Depends on whether we get rain or not. My tire history with this race has traditionally been to run something aggressive in the front (like a forecaster), but then kick myself on race day when the course has been much firmer compared to the pre rides. This year, I’ve run fast xc tires on my 2 pre rides and they have not been ideal. But for some of the really loose sandy stuff, it’s just gonna be slow regardless of what you run. I’ll make a last minute decision this year based on rain. If we don’t get much rain, I’ll run the forecaster up front.
How do you know where to seed yourself? I have plenty of marathon race expierence and have been training like a crazy person so on the fence between 1 and 2. Can you change the corral once you’ve chosen one? How many people are in each corral?
The first year I did the race (2022), it seeded me in Corral 2 since I hadn’t done it before. Given my experience, I didn’t think that was ideal but I thought I didn’t have an option and didn’t want to break any rules. I was expecting to be with a lot of people of similar speed who are in the second corral just because they hadn’t done it before. I lined up on the front row and took off at a very reasonable pace (for me) when the gun went off. Within about 30 seconds, there was nobody near me and by the time we hit singletrack just a few minutes into the race, I probably had 15-20 seconds on the next closest person. It was truly odd. I ended up catching a lot of guys from the first corral and had to snake my way through lots of people on the second half of lap 1 and most of lap 2. I ended up finishing in around 5.5 hours.
Last year I was happy to start in the first corral since I had a good finish from the previous year. I didn’t get there early enough and started further back than I wanted to - probably 60-70% of the way back - lesson learned. It bottlenecked really bad when we hit singletrack and I had to walk a short ways, but the thick traffic didn’t last too long. The climbs really separate people. If you’re an experienced racer, I highly recommend you start in the first corral if you’re allowed to as a Rattler first timer. Maybe reach out to Life Time and see if they’ll allow it. I’m not racing it this year so haven’t seen if there’s any verbiage when registering indicating what you can/cannot do.
If you end up starting in Corral 2, line up at the end of Corral 1 so you can roll up to the start at the front as soon as Corral 1 takes off. This is what I did the first year and it put me on the front row. Most guys in Corral 2 are more timid racers, though, and getting to the front shouldn’t be difficult as long as you’re there on time. Corral 1 lined up really early last year so if you want a decent start in that group, I recommend getting there at least 20 mins before start time. Can’t say exactly how many people were in each Corral but seemed like several hundred in each.
This year’s rider’s guide stated that corrals are self-seeded.
Fingers crossed on the rain, just glad the temps are going to be reasonable. Even pushing 80 on race day will have some folks suffering, particularly if the sun comes out.
We’ve had a super hot October and it’s been in the 90’s and sunny this week. Had an epic heat-induced implosion yesterday on a long ride. I’ve been avoiding hard efforts in the heat the last couple months and have clearly lost my heat acclimation (ride wasn’t that hard and it wasn’t that hot, but it went sideways in a hurry).
I got my final pre-ride in today. No rain yet, but pretty decent chances through saturday. Course has gotten much faster just from folks pre-riding (better lines without rubble/rocks), but still very loose & sandy in places.
I’m probably going to run a forekaster front and ikon rear even if we get rain. Probably too much tire up front if we get some rain, but I’m just out there for fun and looking to keep it upright and no flats.
I’ve been pre-riding on a fast trak and renegade (came with the new bike) and I like how they roll, but I question the durability. I had my 2nd sidewall cut today on the rear renegade and have only ridden maybe 6 rattler laps this year on them. I’ve never flatted out there previously in 50+ laps running a variety of maxxis tires, including at race speeds. Maybe just bad luck, but I think I’m done with the renegade. The cut was big enough to stick my pinky in. I actually got it to seal with 2 stans darts and 3 bacon strips (and probably every drop of sealant in that tire). 100’s (maybe thousands) of goat heads sticking through that tire, so a tube wasn’t an option. Really surprised it held, a plugging masterpiece.
I’ve been riding Maxxis Rekon Race 2.4s and planned on using those for the race. I do have a standard Rekon I could put up front but thought that might be too aggressive. I also have some Rocket Rons I’ve used in mud, but heard Schwalbe isn’t great for rocky terrain.
In my experience if you’re comfortable in a Rekon Race, it’s a solid choice for out there. I’ve raced it the last 4 years and will be in Aspens and don’t expect much issue. Most of the really loose stuff is so big/golf ball sized that volume trumps tread and you just need a decent casing to hold up.
For the “crewing” area, how big can your bag be that is supposed to have all your extra supplies? What’s the bag drop area look like?
For those who had the chance to try them, how does the race route this year compares to bluff creek or rocky hill ranch? It seems like RPR got more elevation per mile(with all the punchy climbs mentioned above) but trails themselves look more like bluff creek than rocky hill, would that be right?
It’s a coned off are just past the start / finish line. Not terribly big, maybe 15ft by 10ft, so the advice of “keep your bag neat” is well warranted.
I used a re-usable shopping bag that easily holds 6 bottles and a bunch of gels
That might be the “official” spot to drop things off, but there a very long stretch along the race course as you approach the start/finish where a lot of people drop stuff. There are usually folks set up with chairs and popups that are happy to keep an eye on stuff if you are worried about leaving it unattended. I personally wouldn’t want to cram my stuff into a small area and possibly deal with other folks getting their stuff at the same time.
Our van (grey sprinter) will be parked right on the other side of the lake along the course if anyone wants to drop stuff there, my wife will be watching stuff. A bit of a hike to get over there in the AM, but just a quick ride if you can haul everything on your bike.
Hello, I’m a new guy here on the forum, have lurked off and on for a while. I’d like to extend my gratitude for your timely tire report about the Renegade, which very likely will save me from some aggravation on race day. It reminded me that I’ve also had one puncture on a pretty benign section of trail where I ride in Virginia, and after reading your post I went straight to my LBS, got a set of Maxxis Ardent Race (best of options available) and mounted them up. I also appreciate your offer to set a drop at your van and may take you up on that since this is a solo outing for me (and first Rattler).
Anyway, thanks again for sharing your observations and the hospitality, hope to meet you there.
Mark
If I’m just going to be picking up water (planning to have all my carbs onboard from the start), do you think it would be faster/easier to leave bottles in the drop area and pick them up, or just fill up a bottle I already have in my bottle cage at the aid station (assuming they have a water dispenser there)? Hoping to be competitive in the top 20 or so if that makes a difference as far as how much traffic there will be at the aid station.
It’s always faster to grab a full bottle.
