Race the Rails is in its third year. 2019 was my first year participating. I had friends that attended it the previous year and said it was a good time. You board a train with your bike, mountain or road, and are transported to the starting line. It's a fun ride on an old train where you mingle with your fellow riders and enjoy the views. Once you're dropped off at the starting line the goal is to race the train back to the station, hence the name of the event. Road portion is 20 miles and the mountain bike course is 10. I chose to do the mountain bike course, which breaks off about a mile in and you make the choice of beginner or intermediate trail. Because a friend had done the intermediate course last year and said it was fairly difficult I played it safe and stayed on the beginner trail. The beginner trail could have been done on a gravel bike as it was more fire road than anything else. After the ride I heard the intermediate course was not that challenging either but that is all relative to rider skill level. This is really just a fun event so I think no matter what path you choose it's a good time. In addition an event organizer had emailed me with further description the night before detailing the course and climbing. Honestly if not for that email I would have done road so I was happy with my choice. This event is only three years in and the trails are still being built out so it's no surprise the course has changed since its inception. Upon arriving to the train station a BBQ is part of your entry fee along with some musical entertainment. The entry fee also includes a shirt and raffle ticket. This is where the event loses a star. When we first arrived and picked up our packets we were told there were no more shirts available. That is fine but then I should get a discount on my entry fee. At the very least even if I signed up late don't ask my shirt size and info on the website. I've signed up for a lot of events at this point and some will say if registration is paid after a certain date a shirt is not available, which I think is reasonable. This one mentioned only size limitations after a certain date. In the end they did have some additional shirts at the end of the race. As far as the raffle ticket there was a jar at the finish line with tickets in it. We wrongly assumed we were supposed to fill our tickets out and put them in the jar. Our bad but two event volunteers witnessed us fill them out and put them in the jar right in front of them and didn't stop us. We even used their pen. Turns out we were supposed to hold onto the ticket. At the BBQ an announcement was made that there was a group ride planned for Sunday morning as well. Had I known that I might have stayed an additional night. In the end the positives outweighed the negatives and I would do this ride again. It is only in its third year and I'm sure every year is a learning process and things can only get better. Plus any time I'm riding my bike and hanging out with like-minded people is a good time. read more

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