Starting in 2025 registration won’t close until just before the race starts. The price goes up slightly at midnight on race day. For Kettles we strongly recommend completing your registration before arriving at the venue, as there is next to no cell service there and we do not provide paper registration as an option.

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 may 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.

For the current season, yes! Save and reuse it at each race. You’ll only receive a new one if you change categories since sorting you by color is very helpful for timing and general cat herding. You are the cat in this metaphor. Please remember to remove it when you transport your bike to and from the race!

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 (or even no suspension!).

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.

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.

Sure! Just make sure to keep them on a leash and under control at all times. If there is a chance your dog will be aggressive with humans or other animals, please leave them at home.

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

Mass start: Each group starts together at a designated time; this is most venues we race

Time trial: Individual starts, used when the venue doesn’t have a safe way to mass start, your time begins when you begin; this is usually used at Soaring Eagle and Dash Point

You can still expect a fair amount of passing throughout the course of the race. In both start formats you should still plan to do the stated number of laps for your category. Racers must start with their category and age/gender group to be scored, as passing and racecraft are part of the point. Anyone who starts outside of their category/age/gender group will be relegated.

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.

You can access preliminary and final results via the QR code posted near registration and the white trailer or by signing up for “Results Tracking” on your race’s RunSignUp page. We will do podiums after the following race has started or 15 minutes after results have been posted, whichever comes later.

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!

Up to you! We have a ton of great local teams. Our friends at MFG put together a stellar list of Puget Sound area bike teams, most of these teams also participate in our series!

We love racing bikes and are lucky to be surrounded by some amazing race promoters. For dirt, we recommend checking out Zone5 Promotions, MFG, Cross Revolution, Lemon Peel Productions, Dirt Abides, Sturdy Dirty, and Race Cascadia. We also love track racing at JBMV in the summer!