It has always been okay to ride mountain bikes at Iron Cross. BUT, this is Iron CROSS. It is designed to be experienced from the saddle of a 'cross bike and was designed to be that way from the very beginnings of the event. That was a point of the post.
Three Peaks => mountain bikes are banned. Regular 'cross races everywhere around the world, mountain bikes => banned; heck they even mandate that a person can't use a tire more than 33mm wide. If we ever do it, we would ban MTBs not because we don't like them (in fact, we all ride mtbs a lot) or the people who ride them. We might eventually ban mountain bikes because of our intent and philosophy that this is a very special sort of cyclocross experience and because it is more fair if everyone is on the same style bike. Those reasons should not be seen as an insult and until we do make that rule we hope mountain bikes remain a part of Iron Cross.
The point of this event is that it is 'cross race. The point of the post is to tell one and all that a 'cross bike is THE way to ride Iron Cross. And, if a person who has both a 'cross bike and an mtb to choose from comes with the mountain bike because they think it will give them an advantage then that person is missing the point of the race and the experience of Iron Cross. If a person is not part of the particular group which could choose to use an mtb for a perceived competitive advantage then that bit doesn't apply to them. If a person rides an mtb b/c that is all that person has, as we say, 'That's cool because the race is fun either way. C'mon out!'
I apologize if you found the post insulting personally or to the mountain bike community. Many people who might visit this site don't know me and may not yet have experienced the irreverence of the event or slightly off-kilter minds of its promoters. I should not have assumed that the post would appear humorous even if written in such a was as to be so outlandish ('the Shack calling'...'your mom riding IC on a 'cross bike and calling you a pansy'..."seriously seriously seriously") that it couldn't possibly be real or genuinely reflect a negative attitude toward mountain bikes due to the nature of internet postings. Those of you who emailed with thanks for the laughs - well, I do appreciate that and am glad my twisted humor wasn't lost on everyone.
Please try to re-read the post in the tongue-in-cheek manner it was written - you may even find it amusing. Then come out and join in. Those who come out will have a heck of a time and find out that IC is about as far from "elitist" as it can be.....
One last thing. It is not constructive to post anonymous personal insults or curse profusely at someone in the comments section of a site. The ability to post comments has been removed from this site. If you have concerns about the event feel free to contact me directly at the information listed at the bottom of this page. If you expect or would like a response please be courteous. Posts that warrant it shall be given a disclaimer.
