Categories

• Cat 3: Beginner, new to mountain biking or bike racing

• Cat 2: Intermediate, rides comfortably at speed, rides (or at least attempts) nearly all features; might be new to racing bikes

• Cat 1: Expert, accomplished and confident at mountain biking, comfortable passing and being passed by others

Skills categories are further broken into age categories and gender categories (non-binary, men, women).

Registration and Timing

Register for a discounted Series or 5 Race Pass or register for each race individually. More day-of information including directions and a link to the Ride with GPS route are available on the individual race pages.

New in 2025, registration never closes, but it does go up $5 at midnight on race-day.

Timing is conducted via an RFID chip on your number plate. Please make sure it is not damaged when placing your number on your bike. The number should be legible by the timing team at the finish line; make sure your number plate faces forward, not up! Please remove your number plate while your bike is in transit to and from the races, otherwise it might go off on it’s own adventure down the highway without you.

Courses

All courses are posted to our RidewithGPS page as we determine them. If you don’t see a course for this calendar year, you can check out previous years to get a preview of that venue. All courses are tentative until race day due to the potential for unexpected trail closures.

Race Order

9:00am: All Cat 3 (Beginner), 2 laps ~55-90 minutes, Cat 3 U12, 1 lap ~35+ minutes

10:15am: All Cat 1 (Expert) and Singlespeed, 4 laps ~85-115 minutes

12:00pm: All Cat 2 (Intermediate), Clydesdale/Athena, 3 laps ~70-100 minutes

Start Order

Start order is a combination of previous average lap times, logical order, and some general principals we have based on prior experience. Unless something changes drastically, for the remainder of 2025 they are as follows:

9am start:
Cat 3 Open Men
Cat 3 Boys under 19
Cat 3 Men 40+
Cat 3 Boys under 15 (changed after Swan Creek)
Cat 3 Men 50+
Cat 3 Nonbinary (Open and age group together unless otherwise requested, scored independently)
Cat 3 Open Women
Cat 3 Girls under 19
Cat 3 Women 40+
Cat 3 Girls under 15
Cat 3 Women 50+
Cat 3 All Under 12 (All genders start together, scored independently)

10:15am start:
Cat 1 Open Men
Cat 1 Men 40+
Cat 1 Men 50+
Single Speed (all genders start together, scored independently)
Cat 1 Nonbinary (Open and age group together unless otherwise requested, scored independently)
Cat 1 Open Women
Cat 1 Women 40+
Cat 1 Women 50+

12pm start:
Cat 2 Open Men
Cat 2 Boys under 19
Cat 2 Men 40+
Cat 2 Boys under 15 (changed after Swan Creek)
Cat 2 Men 50+
Cat 2 Men 60+
Clydesdale
Cat 2 Nonbinary (Open and age group together unless otherwise requested, scored independently)
Cat 2 Open Women
Cat 2 Girls under 19
Cat 2 Women 40+
Cat 2 Girls under 15
Cat 2 Women 50+
Cat 2 Athena

Guiding principals:

• Open always start their gender category

• Age groups are all over the place and change dramatically from race to race, so besides the very youngest (Under 12) there isn’t always a great spot for them, especially the U15 category. Chat with us about the best spot for your junior racer if you aren’t sure which category they should race.

• Anyone can race in the Open category regardless of their age

Lapped Riders

New in 2025, we will be instituting a time cut-off rather than having all racers finish on the leader’s final lap. Everyone is responsible for keeping track of their own number of laps. We will have a lap board that tracks the number of laps completed by the racer leader (i.e., the number you have completed UNLESS you have been lapped by the race leader). The vast majority of racers will not be impacted by this change.

Racers who are about to lap another racer are responsible for verbally alerting them before passing. Please yield, as soon as it is safe to do so, to racers lapping you. Everyone is responsible for a safe race environment.

Results

Results are updated live as racers complete their event, you can access them via a QR code that will be posted near registration and the white trailer or subscribe for notifications via the results tab on that event registration page in RunSignUp.

For series results, see our Individual and Series Points page.

Upgrades and Transfers

It is our hope that participants who are excelling in their field will voluntarily upgrade during the season. (As long as you transfer before the midpoint of the season, your points will transfer with you!)

The best way to tell if you are ready for an upgrade is to compare your average lap time to those in higher categories on our Individual and Series Points spreadsheet. People are often surprised by how little the extra lap impacts their average lap time when they do upgrade!

Should we notice a participant is more than 5 minutes ahead of the second-place person at two or more events, we will ask that person to upgrade to the next most challenging relevant category. Sandbagging isn’t cool and prevents other racers from having fun.

If you transfer down a category or lateral within a category, your points will not transfer.

You can request to be transferred to a new category by emailing MTB@belllapproductions.com; it is a super fast and easy process.

Points

Individual points are calculated based on category and placement. Participants keep their existing points when they move to a higher category, but forfeit their points when moving to a lower category. Only the top five results will be used to calculate points.

For series awards, participants can only place in one category, and it must be their most recently raced category. Ties will be decided by most recent race results, followed by earliest registration if still unbroken.

For series results, see our Individual and Series Points page.

Awards

Podium awards happen at each event, and are conducted after the following race has begun or, for Cat 2, as soon as we have your results finalized.

Series awards are presented at the last race of the season, after the event awards. Individual points awards winners get a special medal and the team points winner will hold the Westside Big Fancy Cup for one year. The racer who contributes the most points to the team winner’s success will receive their own Westside Tiny Cute Cup to keep.

Race Photos

We have a community of great photographers who brave the elements to capture you looking like a badass. Or blowing a snot rocket. We encourage you to support them by purchasing photos. Want your own name on the list? Shoot us an email at MTB@belllapproductions.com.

• Evrgrn Photo

• Woodinville Bicycles

• Blake Dahlin

• Steve Everist

• Seas to Trees Adventures

Refund Policy

Once you have registered and start riding the course, you are part of the event. No refunds will be issued once you start the event.

• If you have pre-registered and need to transfer please send an email to MTB@belllapproductions.com before registration has closed for either event.

• We trust you to be honest in assessing your own health before a race. Do not participate if you are experiencing COVID symptoms or another contagious disease (we don’t want your flu, either). Please email us to defer your registration to a race when you are feeling healthy again.

Bell Lap Productions reserves the right to cancel an event due to issues beyond their control, such as weather or other acts of the gods. Bell Lap Productions will do what we can to accommodate each person who has pre-registered by facilitating a transfer to another event or a refund, when appropriate.

Participation Guidelines

1. Helmets should always be protecting your head at all times when on your bike (before, during, and after your event)

2. The course closes at the start time for a category

3. Headphones, including hear-through and bone-conducting styles, are not permitted while on course (racing, preriding, warming up, cooling down, etc)

4. If you are passing, make your intentions known in a friendly way; if you are being passed, allow them through as soon as it is safe to do so

5. Do not intentionally impact participants in another category, including impeding or assisting another racer. This is cheating and will not be tolerated. Mechanical assistance, such as helping with a flat, is exempt from this prohibition.

6. Don’t be a jerk: no homophobia, transphobia, racism, or sexism. We have a non-binary category, if you aren’t sure what that means for you, please drop us an email at MTB@belllapproductions.com.

Got questions we haven’t answered? Try the FAQ!