To whom it may concern,
The 20th anniversary of Bike Monkey’s existence is nigh, with celebrations commencing on the night of Friday, May 2nd, in Boggs Demonstration State Forest.
Just four days ago, we got done acting all mature and shit with the production of the first live road bike race broadcast in America in over half a decade! It featured a $156,000 purse, live commentary, motorbikes, British accents, and the utilization of f***ing satellites.
Levi's GranFondo is now officially the polar opposite of the Boggs 8-Hour Mountain Bike race, and right now, an entire industry is wondering who in the hell we are and how we could have achieved such a feat. We did something that has never been done before in America. It wasn't the first time either, nor will it be the last.
While everyone is busy being stunned, we're loading a trailer full of pancake batter, breakfast sausages, a fog machine, and lasers because we're about to go on a bender to celebrate the fact that a bunch of people without marketing degrees have been bamboozling the rest of the world for two decades now.
The last event had hotels, a VIP tent, restaurants, food trucks, live music, and frozen lemonade. Not at Boggs. There are no jumbotrons, no running water, and if you (yes, you) shut the hell up for just one minute, you'll hear the sound of nothing but the jet stream above you.
This is our center of the universe. In 2006, we hosted our first event there and shared the experience with just 80 people. It grew a lot over the years, and as it did, we learned how to tie knots, tow trailers, move lots of water, and just basically survive our own ideas about what the next party on bikes should look and feel like. Now, here we are with a little grey on our chins and wrinkles on our brows. Wiser, older, but even more playful than ever before.
Come raise the pines with us next weekend, and help us fill our shoes.
HILL CLIMB++
This year's event brings back a Friday hill climb for both men and women. It's a separate race entirely, and we're going to give it such an old school vibe that we don't care if you're registered to race all day on Saturday or not -- you can sign up. The course will be longer and tougher too, with the climb being a total of 4 miles long, and comprising almost 1,100' of elevation gain. Here are the hill climb categories:
8-HOUR COURSE FEATURES +2 MILES AND NO ADDITIONAL ELEVATION GAIN!
Our 20th anniversary 8-hour course will have some familiar parts, but it will also eliminate the toughest climb by adding two miles. This configuration brings about two things: 1) there will be a figure-8 configuration where the course crosses over itself. You'll have to merge right the first time, and then merge left the second time through it. The first time through, you will follow a different colored arrow than you will the second time through. We'll make this super obvious. All you have to do is keep your head up, and the world will spin in your preferred direction. 2) This year's racecourse doubles back through the center of camp, which means you'll be able to see people start, at the halfway mark, and at the finish. We hope this makes for an action-packed situation the entire day!
RIDER GUIDE
The Boggs Rocks website features an informative rider guide with most of what you probably need to know about the race. So if you haven't done so already, please read it.
Tell your friends to get their camping gear out and come join us for the celebration of our 20th trip around the sun, and we'll see you next weekend!
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