Yeah not on Friday
A lot of us had figured out by XC day that it was not being enforced. I got in with my regular backpack but had a backup bag that met their requirements in the car just in case. I did not bring food and only brought an empty water bottle because I do want to support the vendors and I enjoy food truck/festival type food. But I found nowhere to fill the bottle, and buying food/drink required careful planning if you didnāt want to miss half the rides because it was all so far from the course.
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It must have been a challenge to manage a huge event with the supply chain issues weāre having and the shortage of workers, as well as unexpectedly high spectator turn out.
Perhaps they were concentrating more on the participants than the spectators. After all, if the competitors that have flown in from Europe have a poor experience they wonāt come back and it seems the event really wants to attract international riders, not to only have U.S. participation.
Iām sure theyāll improve the spectator experience. It seems as if they really want this to work. Nice that they are surveying to see what improvements are wanted.
Iām a bit envious of those who were able to attend, what fun that must have been to be there for Boydās win, but am very happy for the live stream. Mars is certainly generous in their sponsorship.
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I attended three days of the event and overall had a great time. Kudos to the organizers. It canāt be easy putting on a āfirst timeā event of any sort. They did a lot of things right and Iām sure will learn from this first year. As an event planner myself I am sure the organizers are having many post mortem sessions to dissect the event from every angle so as to improve next year. Hopefully they will listen to the feedback of the spectators. My biggest issue was the unmarked seating. It kind of got resolved on Sunday but not quite enough. Go USA!
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I know, thatās why I mentioned it 
