the fourteenth PAUL'S in the Ganaraska Forest Centre

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Paul's DIRTY ENDURO is a mountain bike event held annually in the Ganaraska Forest. There are four loops to choose from: 100k, 60k, 30k or 15k. There is also a Kids' race too. Over the years we have fielded hundreds of questions about the event, and we have tried to answer them all here. If you can't find the answer please feel free to contact us here at the Bloomfield Bicycle Company and we'll be happy to help you out.

	Paul Rush was a family member and good friend of many of the volunteers. He was also a kickin' mountainbiker who knew and loved the Ganaraska Forest and all its wonderful trails.
According to his pal JVK (who rode the 100k again last year) Paul and Tinney and Cushing and Hillsey and Coxey would get together in the Ganny for monster rides: always saying "today we'll ride 100k!". But they never did.

Paul's sister Mary-Lou wrote an excellent article for the Globe and Mail about Paul's suicide. [read it here.]

After Paul took his own life in 1996, Rob (Coxey) and Monique with Paul's Family and Friends started this event as a memorial for their friend. Fifteen years later, we run the enduro in Paul's memory. Instead of riding with Paul, we all share his favourite place, and passion, we help the CMHA raise funds to be used for suicide prevention, but mostly we get together to ride killer trails for a LONG time and to enjoy a great day out together in the Woods with our cycling friends.

Pre-Registration: PRE-registration is open
We recommend that you PRE-register (because it makes things easier for us). We REALLY want you to pre-register so we'll give you a free tshirt if you do! You can pre-register as a solo rider or as a family.

You can use a credit card to pay your Pre-registration fee at onlineregistrations.ca, or set yourself up to collect pledges and earn FREE registration!

You can mail in a pre-registration form. [print out a form here]. Make any cheques payable to the Canadian Mental Health Association. Pre-registration includes a short sleeve t-shirt (long sleeve upgrades available) a trip through the swag table, entry to your event of choice, lunch, and free camping. You can order extra t-shirts on your pre-registration form, as well.

Solo Pre-registration
BEFORE September 1, 2010 only $37
BEFORE September 14, 2010 just $45
ON September 17/18, 2010 still $45 (no shirt)

Family Pre-registration
BEFORE September 1, 2010 only $75
BEFORE September 14, 2010 just $90
ON September 17/18, 2010 still $90 (no shirt)

Collecting Pledges: Folks can click on your name in the Pre-registered riders list at onlineregistations.ca and donate electronically. You can also collect cash and cheque donations [print out a pledge forms here]. There are rewards for pledge level rewards! And prizes for riders and familieswho collect the most as a family or solo.

It's best to pre-register when collecting pledges: that way we can save the right size tshirt for you and make sure you get a trip through the swag buffet table. But it is not required to pre-register, you can bring your pledges in on race day and still get Free entry for sure!

Solo Rider Pledges	Family Pledges
$500 earns ENTRY and a very cool Paul's themed item	$800 earns ENTRY and a very cool Paul's themed item
$200 earns ENTRY and a very cool long sleeve T-shirt	$500 earns ENTRY and a very cool long sleeve T-shirt
$100 FREE ENTRY	$200 FREE ENTRY

In 2009 we raised over $17,000 in pledges. Proceeds from Paul's Dirty Enduro are donated to the Canadian Mental Health Association in Paul's memory. The money is used for Canadian Mental Health Association programs including suicide prevention in Ontario highschools. Our goal is to increase prevention and awareness about the tragedy of suicide.

Location: Paul's takes place in and around the Ganaraska Forest Centre. It is not hard to find [for maps click here!]. There's free camping on Friday and Saturday night at the Forest Centre. There aren't any electricity facilities, or water beyond a spigot for campers, but there is a nice, big picnic shelter in case it rains. First come, first serve for camp sites, no reservations required. There aren't any nearby stores, or restaurants, or bank machines, or public telephones; so come prepared.

Poison Ivy Protocol: Poison Ivy grows in the Ganaraska Forest like Ivy on pretty walls in England. It grows up and over the trail in some places. We do our best to clear it out of the Feedzone areas, but if you go off the trail at any point you are (ABSOLUTELY) walking in poison ivy. The oils on the leaves will cause you to have ugly, pussy, itchy annoying patches on your skin for WEEKS afterwards. It's not an instantaneous thing (or there'd never have had a second event). You won't know you've been exposed until three days later. We provide Poison Ivy Neutralizer at all the feedzones (along with buckets) and we RECOMMEND HIGHLY that you wash any exposed skin at the feedzone. A good wash will eliminate the oil before it gets beneath your skin. There are wash buckets at the finish as well. BE CAREFUL with your bike and tires, too. They'll be covered in that oil when you return.

The best defence against poison ivy is a good offence! Many experienced Ganny Riders will coat their skin with a barrier (like dish detergent or baby oil) and then some will wear knee socks as an extra guard against the evil weed. We're not wearing them just cuz they make us look cute!

The Course: You can have a look at what the Paul's Course looks like in a pretty rudimentary way [here]. There are five feedzones on the course (approximately every 20km) that each offer some fruit, some energy drink (to be named later) and some food of some sort, probably involving peanut butter.

At this time there are no downloadable maps available for the course: but you can see/download Carmen's 60k course GPS track on livemotion.com. The 100km course will NOT be open for pre-riding at any point. The 15km and 30km and 60km courses are open for pre-riding from Friday mornning to Saturday morning at 8am. We RECOMMEND STRONGLY that you take that map with you when pre-riding. If you would like to get a look at the course before riding the event you might come out and help mark and maintain the trails. Contact Rick for that schedule, or join the facebook group for regular updates.

The full 100km course is Tough. Pro/Elite tough. Winning times have been as fast as five and a half hours. Stig Somme of Norway holds the record, but it was an easy course that year. King Ben defended his crown last year with 6:10 and Heather with retained her crown with 7:12 but 100km will probably take you 8 hours if you are in the fast part of the field; ten hours if you are the slowest. A slow-ish speed for completing each event is 10km/hr-ish.