Northern California - New Death Ride Registration Procedure

Looks like there won't be a lottery this year for the Death Ride. I already decided I wouldn't be doing the Death Ride next year. But I think the lottery system was a bit more fair and gave people a chance. It says below "Duplicate Registrations are transferable." I wonder if that now means you can buy a bunch of tickets in an attempt to scalp them.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Tour of the California Alps Death Ride - New Registration Procedure
Date: 29 Oct 2008 13:34:39 -0800
From: <noreply@active.com>


ATTENTION RIDERS

New registration procedure for the 2009 Tour of the California Alps - Death Ride, event date - Saturday, July 11, 2009.

On December 11, 2008 and January 14, 2009 registration will open on a first come first served basis.

1,000 available entries will be available on December 11th and 1,800 available entries will be available on January 14, 2009. Register, pay your entry fee and receive your confirmation the same day, no selection process, no waiting! Stay tuned for the link.

We will once again partner with The Active Network the leading on-line event registration company.


Helpful Hints for Registration Day:

*Event entry fee - $95.00 (this will include your postage fee for your registration materials to be mailed to you before the event)The active.com processing fee will be your responsibility.

*You will not be required to have an active.com user profile to register for the 2009 Tour of the California Alps - Death Ride.

*Declined credit cards could decrease your chances for a confirmed spot. You are not considered registered until your credit card payment has been processed.

*Make sure that your email address will accept the confirmation email from active. We have experienced problems with spam and bulk mail folders in previous years.

*The organizers of this event have a strict no refund policy. This will include duplicate registrations. Duplicate Registrations are transferable. Please refer to www.deathride.com for complete details.


Mark the dates on your calendar - don't miss out on this early registration procedure!


Alpine County Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 265
Markleeville, CA 96120
(530) 694-2475
FAX (530) 694-2478

I think that fact of selling tickets 7+ months ahead of the event...whether via lottery or not...will still allow for a significant number of last-minute "anyone want my Death Ride Ticket" offers, at or even below cost.

Seems like they keep increasing the number of entrants each year, too...2800?!? Wow. I thought 2500 was a lot a few years ago. Leave Turtle Rock early!

It was 2800 this year, too.

In a way I think this is more 'fair' because those who care the most will go out of their way to be ready to register on time. But you could also argue it's so early that plenty of people with a high interest level won't even be aware when the registration dates are. Maybe that's why they save the bulk until January, but it's still 6 months before the event.

As mentioned, it doesn't seem hard to get one at cost close to the event so obviously interest isn't TOO excessively high.

Thanks for the info.

I think I'll give it a try next year.

I didn't notice a time that the registration will be open.

Midnight? 6AM?

Yeah, no time listed. I just figured I'd shoot for midnight. Hopefully as the date approaches, Active will list a time.

This conflicts with Seattle to Portland, which I was considering doing next year with a friend. But who knows if I'll really feel like taking the trek (pun intended?) up to Seattle next July. Anyway, I've done STP before too. It's a fun ride but I think the death ride is much more enjoyable. STP, while scenic and cool, is just a pancake-flat double.

I'm going to sign up for this. Don't let me back down now. Here's to a lot of climbing training in 2009!

That first descent down Monitor pass makes every bit of training you've done over the course of months worth it.

We should do death Ride on the tandem to prep for our goal of doing Everest Challenge on the tandem ;)

Though it might be too soon after the wedding. We'll see.

We should do death Ride on the tandem to prep for our goal of doing Everest Challenge on the tandem ;)

Doooo eeiiiiiiiit! I need a wheel to suck between the lunch stop and Woodfords (~20mi).


That first descent down Monitor pass makes every bit of training you've done over the course of months worth it.

So true. Both descents off Monitor make Hwy 9 look like a speedbump. Much higher speeds, better sightlines, smoother pavement, .. did I say HIGHER SPEEDS? :thumb:

That first descent down Monitor pass makes every bit of training you've done over the course of months worth it.

True. I did this in 2006 and I am on the fence for doing this again next year but the thoughts of Woodford Grade are coming back clear now. It's enjoyable for the first 3 passes but man Woodford Grade of 6 miles at 7% - the thought makes me hurt. And its not even considered a pass lol.

So true. Both descents off Monitor make Hwy 9 look like a speedbump. Much higher speeds, better sightlines, smoother pavement, .. did I say HIGHER SPEEDS? :thumb:


To follow up on Woodfords being horrible to climb, it does make up somewhat when you can come down screaming like a bat out of hell in the double lane section. You know why they need double lanes there --- because it is freaking steep lol. My van has a tough time climbing that particular section. So yeah for higher speeds as you say, in this section - I hit 56mph on it in 2006. Talk about tunnel vision and every little crack in the lane looking like death valley :eek: You can at least for once be passing cars at high speed :thumb:

We should do death Ride on the tandem to prep for our goal of doing Everest Challenge on the tandem

You should. It'd be a good test.

To follow up on Woodfords being horrible to climb, it does make up somewhat when you can come down screaming like a bat out of hell in the double lane section.

I wouldn't know, it was drizzling, I was soaked and cold, and I was watching out for leftover hail. :crash:

I don't see how you can carry more speed down there than you can on Monitor, simply because the pavement is nowhere near as good.

should be awesome on the Tandem.

We hit 55mph on one of the rollers on HWY 1 south of Pescadero.

Could probably do 60 mph on the DR descents.

should be awesome on the Tandem.

We hit 55mph on one of the rollers on HWY 1 south of Pescadero.

Could probably do 60 mph on the DR descents.

If you start very early and hit the Monitor descents before the big crowd you won't have any problem hitting 60. After that it would be too dangerous. I started about 20 minutes before the official start but had to slow down on the backside of Monitor because of traffic. I was able to hit 50 going down the front side but only for a couple hundred feet. After it was way too risky, some riders have no sense what riding on a straight line means.

The DR would definitely be a good practice run if you are planning the EC. Although the EC on a tandem seem kind of crazy to me as some climbs are very steep.

I don't see how you can carry more speed down there than you can on Monitor, simply because the pavement is nowhere near as good.

Very right - this is why I made the comment of "every little crack in the lane looking like death valley." Those ruts on the road are really fookin' scary at 55plus because they come up on you so fast. The thought of your front wheel diving into one of those is a ..... uh never mind - ugly thought :innocent:

First round of registration (http://www.deathride.com/registration.html) begins at 10am tomorrow. Good luck!

I will be trying to register tomorrow.

I'm out...I don't get paid till the 20th : (

i will be trying to register tomorrow.

+1

Ssshhhhhh!!! :notamused:

j/k

... which is a pretty sweet setup when their systems are too underdesigned to handle an extra thousand or two concurrent users...

I'm already getting "site down" errors. Doh.

What is this, the Victoria Secret fashion show online? They should anticipate the amount of traffic..

I knew this was going to happen.

We are experiencing higher than normal volume and are therefore unable to process your request at this time.

Please wait several minutes and then try again.

We apologize for this inconvenience.

:notamused:

exactly. It's not like active.com shouldn't see larger traffic spikes for more popular events.

Deathride.com was down for a minute or two as well. Maybe I shouldn't have stayed at home late for this. Now I'm wondering when the hell I'll head into work. Maybe I'll just leave the laptop open on the drive in and click reload every minute or so and I can pull over if it starts working.. the bigger PITA is that once you get in, you'll probably get errors halfway thru too.

Damn!

Anyway we are not going. Too soon after the wedding. Might still be on the honeymoon, hanging with family, winding down, etc...

I tried to register by phone... Even the reps cannot access the system.

Please wait..........................

Five pass finishers should have a priority link.. !

Since there's a higher number of slots available for registration in January, why not wait until then instead of this mad rush today? Just curious.

After about 300 "site too busy" messages I am IN!!!!

Since there's a higher number of slots available for registration in January, why not wait until then instead of this mad rush today? Just curious.


Same thing will happen in January. Better to try right away than to miss out.

I was finally able to register.

Done!

I'm in too.

See you in the hills.

BR

I am in! Now I have to ride more...

So far 4 of my co-workers are in too. I was pissed when I heard one of them cheering while I was still frantically hitting the reg button.

MelissaM, that Bad Influence, is trying to talk me into joining the TnT group for the Death Ride. A good friend of ours is a coach up in the North Bay.

help meeee... http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/begging.gif (http://www.millan.net)

No idea. I finally got in, registered, entered my CC number, and then it told me an error occurred and to go back and try again. So i did, and it kept telling me "category not found" when I tried to proceed to the next page. Finally I started all over again, and it told me it was full. Also, the "email active" link is broken. Talk about incompetent. We'll see if my reg went thru.

No idea. I finally got in, registered, entered my CC number, and then it told me an error occurred and to go back and try again. So i did, and it kept telling me "category not found" when I tried to proceed to the next page. Finally I started all over again, and it told me it was full. Also, the "email active" link is broken. Talk about incompetent. We'll see if my reg went thru.

Sorry to hear that Reid. You should find out for sure if you got in; if you didn't you could try again in Jan.

But it's amazing how, even today, sites setup the herd registration but cannot handle the traffic.

I received a confirmation e-mail within 10 minutes of the registration acceptance.

No idea. I finally got in, registered, entered my CC number, and then it told me an error occurred and to go back and try again. So i did, and it kept telling me "category not found" when I tried to proceed to the next page. Finally I started all over again, and it told me it was full. Also, the "email active" link is broken. Talk about incompetent. We'll see if my reg went thru.

Same exact thing happened to me. You can see if you're in by going to your "transactions" page , that shows any and all succesfully active.com registrations you have under your login name.

I pounded the reload button twice a second for twenty minutes before I got in. I was trying both the Guest and the Member links. I talked to others who got in through Member link but not the Guest link.

I was madly reloading the page but then got called away from my desk with a work obligation. Came back afterwards and active.com said registration had closed. I guess I'll try again in a month.

Got one! It took 25 minutes of pounding on the site, but it worked.

I'm not impressed with active.com's servers. It's not like this is a really BIG event; just a few thousand roadies competing for 1,000 spots. What happens to them when they have to handle a large event?

It took me 20 minutes or so to get to the Active.com site and login then their payment processing system wouldn't take any of my three valid credit cards, just kept coming back with:
"Attention! Data validation errors, aborting payment request"

I email active.com and actually got a reply; a "Dear John":

Dear John,Thank you for contacting Active.com.

We sincerely apologize for any registration difficulties that you may have experienced. Our developers have been made aware of the intermittent issues that our site's payment page has been experiencing. Please feel free to resubmit your online registration as this has only been an intermittent issue; you may contact us at the number below to register over the phone.

The below steps should resolve the issue and prevent this error from recurring during your session:
1. Go to your Tools menu and select Options or Internet Options.
2. Clear Cache or Delete Cookies- you may have to click on the Privacy tab to clear cookies depending on your browser version
3. Close your browser completely and restart your session. It would be advisable to wait a few minutes before restarting session as this issue will resolve itself within a few minutes.

We thank you for your understanding and patience while the technical issue is being investigated. Please rest assured that this will be resolved as quickly as possible. Thank you.

But by then they were sold out. Wasted an hour at work.

jw

I was too late. :cry:

Well, I'm sure that I'll find a race or 2 to do that weekend instead.

Got one! It took 25 minutes of pounding on the site, but it worked.

I'm not impressed with active.com's servers. It's not like this is a really BIG event; just a few thousand roadies competing for 1,000 spots. What happens to them when they have to handle a large event?

Same thing happened too when I tried to register for an Ironman event through active.com. It took at least an hour until I was able to register, not to mention the constant refreshing of the page during that hour. There's got to be a better way to do this.

There are still 1800 spots open for the January registration date.

My suggestion (and what I already did) is to send an email to info@deathride.com asking them to get active.com to do a better job for the January registration day.