Well Tevis 2011 is finally over and it was not without challenges. The WSTF board of governors certainly had their work cut out for them this year. As most know the original ride date of July 16th was cancelled because of the tremendous snow pack still on the trail. So the new date of October 8th was finally selected and that was not easy, there are loads of different obstacles the have to be over come when time is short to make changes. Then way out of normal came an early storm that dumped 22 inches of snow on the very location that the ride normally starts, Robie Park. That made starting at Robie impossible. So at the 11th hour the leaders with less then 48 hours till starting time changed the trail route completely and started in Auburn rode out as close to fifty miles as they could muster at that late time and turned the trail around and brought the riders back to Auburn. It was basically two fifty mile rides back to back. What are the final consequences of this predicklement? Let's talk with respect to the foundation as well as the riders. First the foundation had already spent a lot of money in preparation and the financial loss would have been catastrophic, meanwhile riders had gathered to do the ride from all over the world at no small expense. I personally had a rider from England as well as one from South Africa, so I know personally some of the challenges. The BOD did make it clear that anyone who did not want to ride could either get a full refund or roll their entry over to the next year. A few did that but nearly 200 took on the challenge. When all was finished the riders were pretty much satisfied and everyone was absolutely astonished at the efficiency of the foundation as well as the hundreds of volunteers that made the ride possible.
So Tevis 2011 will go down in History hopefully as the biggest challenge ever and also one that demonstrated that once again "Anything is possible". However Tevis without Cougar Rock is like salt without pepper, so the few new riders who earned a Tevis buckle this year say they will be back again to take on the Cougar Rock Challenge.
