LOTOJA organizers working to fix problems caused by race's growth

The annual Logan to Jackson bicycle race has grown in size, scope and popularity over the past 25 years.

It has also developed a unique set of problems few anticipated would pop up.

"It's bigger than I ever thought it would get," Brent Chambers, president of Epic Events which puts on the LOTOJA race said. "We had to revisit the way we were doing things."

With more than 2,300 people trying to register last year, Chambers was overwhelmed with the race in 2007, the 25th running of the race, and many participants were unhappy with a variety of things.

Chambers heard complaints from racers who felt the categories weren't clearly separated and complaints from casual riders who felt there was not enough food at rest areas and not enough daylight to finish the 206 miles before the finish line and clock were taken down.

In an effort to smooth out some of the wrinkles that have come as the event has grown into one of the nation's largest one-day bike races, Chambers has rolled out several new twists to the 2008 event, scheduled to race Sept. 6.

"The bottom line is, we wanted to make sure two things happened this year," Chambers said. "First is fairplay. We want to make sure everyone who registers can race in a fair way in the race they registered for.

"Second is safety. With as many cyclists as we have, we want to try to separate the riders from the racers. Last year we had some problems with packs merging and we had to address that. It wasn't safe and it was something we couldn't allow."

Registration for the race opens April 22.

One of the most significant changes participants will see on race day is the citizen's class of riders will start shortly after the elite Cat 1-2-3 cyclists.

The move is intended to create two effects.

First, the casual riders will have a bigger time window to complete the race and get an official time.

Second, the competitive cyclists will be more spread out and not as lumped together creating a competitive imbalance for various categories.

"We might even look into having separate routes out of Logan for the competitive cyclists and the fun-ride cyclists," Chambers said. "If it helps create less confusion on the road and helps more people enjoy the day and reach their goals that's something we want to consider."

Other changes include a new prioritized registration process that will give LOTOJA veterans an edge on getting one of the 1,000 coveted entries.

Chambers created four groups with returning winners, multi-year vets and a few others getting first crack at getting into the race.