Deep in the heart of the Cat Lake trail system, the 麻豆社国产Dirt Biking Association (SDBA) is hard at work.
For months the group has been working on perfecting the course for the annual Cat Scratch Fever race and SDBA president Ed Alder said he's hoping the changes will make the challenging course a little easier for riders to swallow on race day.
"Traditionally it's been a very difficult course," he said. "We wanted to make it more fun and less of a challenge and also want to have less people finish without injury."
Alder said volunteers have been smoothing out some of the more challenging parts of the course, removed stumps and "face slapper" branches and even taking out entire sections to make the course a little more relaxed.
"The effort is to make this a more racer-friendly event so that it's not a last-man-standing thing anymore," he said.
The date of the race also has been changed. Last year's event took place in September and this year the SDBA has moved the race up to May 6. Alder said a combination of factors led to the date change.
"Last year we originally chose a date of April but we had a late thaw and couldn't produce the course," he said. "This year we decided May would be a good time and aiming for spring will hopefully give us a better turnout. You get a little bit of attrition towards the end of the year with broken bikes and broken bones, so earlier is usually better. It's also better for our club members because they can move on with their lives and enjoy the summer a little bit."
Last year's race saw more than 80 riders take on the course, and Alder hopes for more than 100 for the 2012 race. He said the highest turnout he can remember was 125 racers several years back.
Alder said the SDBA is also hoping to improve the fan experience at the race, with an obstacle course for some of the "A" division riders right off the start line and the SDBA invited AdventureSmart to put up a booth during the race for information.
"The whole partnership with AdventureSmart came about because we're in contact a lot with Jim Lang and his group helps his out with some of our communication issues," he said, referring to the 麻豆社国产Emergency Program co-ordinator.
"They also help us out with first aid at some of our events so we wanted to give back to them in a way they could use. Instead of just writing a check to them, we're going to promote the program at the race and at our riding school later this year. It's also a way for our members to help out Search and Rescue in case of an emergency because we have a lot of knowledge of some of the backcountry around here. It's a natural partnership."
He thanked the many volunteers who do a lot of the work getting the course ready for the race.
"The amount of work that has been put in by our dedicated members is sometimes thankless but I can't tell you how much I appreciate it," he said. "As a group we always recommend everyone to buy a trail pass and if they don't do that then they should be getting their hands dirty on the trail. People need to get used to put something back to enjoy this sport."
The Cat Scratch Fever race is scheduled to take place May 6 at 11 a.m. at Cat Lake. For more information on the SDBA, visit www.squamishdirtbikeassociation.com.
