New for 2024, Bell Lap Productions is partnering with The Line Experience for a Race Ready program focused on Swan Creek, Soaring Eagle, and Henry’s Ridge. You can find out more information and register on The Line’s website. If you have already registered for one of these races, just forward your receipt from The Line for either experience to hello@belllapproductions.com and we will refund you the duplicated registration!

We offer day-of registration for Westside mountain bike races from 6:00 AM to 30 minutes before that race wave starts on Sunday at a slightly higher price. You will need to complete registration on your own device, even if on-site at the race.

Yes, please email us before registration closes before either race. If you are ill, please stay home and email us, we can move to to another race.

Totally! Email us before registration closes for your next race or stop by in person the morning of. You maybe need to get a new number plate. There is more information on the Westside Series page about how this impacts your season points.

We sat down and compared average lap times across the different categories and reconfigured some start times to ensure at least some of the racers in a category are completing the posted number of laps. If all racers in a category were being lapped by the leaders of another concurrent race, it was likely we grouped that category differently in 2024.

You can sign up for an official work-trade and receive a free entry for a future race on Sign Up Genius. If you want something less formal, swing by Registration and ask if anything needs done.

We don’t include camping as part of the race, but many locations have options nearby. You can find State Park camping on their website.

Much like cyclocross, you’ll see all sorts of bikes at cross-country races, with most being short travel full suspension XC bikes. That being said plenty of people do just fine on bikes with significantly more or less suspension. It depends on your riding style and the course. Each of our courses has a link to a previous or planned route which gives elevation profile details to help you choose the right bike.

Woof, this is a hard one for us to answer. If you have raced other disciplines, especially cyclocross, we recommend racing in a similar category. If you are totally new to racing and tend not to “go hard” out on rides, start in Beginner/Cat 3. If you are new to racing but a QOM/KOM hunter, maybe try Sport/Cat 2 Open.

Due to space constraints, some venues require a time trial, rather than mass start. How these differ:

Mass start
- Classic racing, most venues
- Each group starts together at a designated time
- Everyone finishes on the lead’s last lap, so if the leader lapped you at any point in the race, you will do one less lap

Time trial
- Individual starts, used when the venue doesn’t have a safe way to mass start
- Your time begins when you begin
- Since there’s no way to know for sure if you’re lapped, you should complete the planned number of laps

Soaring Eagle and Dash Point are usually run as time trial starts. You can still expect a fair amount of passing throughout the course of the race.

It depends on what category you are, lap estimates are included on each race-page. If you get lapped on a mass start race (most of our races are mass start) you will do one less lap then estimated. For 2024 we are doing shorter laps and keeping the estimated race duration the same as previous years.

We post results after the last racers has crossed the finish line and Michael has had a chance to check the results for anomalies. You can access results via the QR code posted near registration and the white trailer. We give people about 15 minutes to dispute the top 3 results if needed and then commence with podiums. For most of our winners, this means you have time to cool down and put on some post-race clothes. But don’t forget your podium jersey for photos!

Stop by registration and we will do a tiny awards ceremony for you, timing allowing! Either way, we are happy to make sure you get your prize!

To be honest, it is hard to say. Things happen during races and your experience of an interaction can be fundamentally different than theirs. That being said, no on here is a professional mountain bike racer and everyone should be treating one another with respect and courtesy.

If you are passing: let the racer in front of you know! If you are being passed: yield by pulling off to the side of the trail as soon as it is safe to do so! If you are part of a group of people overtaking a racer: everyone should be communicating with the racer being passed, as it is very unlikely that they somehow psychically detected your presence.

If someone is a repeat jerk, please bring it to our attention.

We love racing bikes and encourage you to check out more local racing, this is a handy resource for 2024.