Rules of the WOLFman bikepacking event
THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT RULES COME FIRST!
1/ Always act in the spirit of fair play – that means you don’t have any questions about what’s allowed and what’s not! Only when you play fair with yourself can you play fair with others. This bikepacking event has a strong MEMENTO woven into it. It carries on in the spirit of equity, humility, and respect. If you cuss, leave trash behind, destroy nature, envy other contestants, or something similar, forces will have you warned first, before being punished. If you stay yourself, keep centered, perceptive, and full of positive energy, the forces will first ensure you feel joy, then will bear you gifts.
2/ In case of injury or technical difficulties of another WOLFman participant, you must stop and offer help. It is mandatory to do so regardless of the loss of time and energy. Degree of given help is an individual decision based on empirical assessment of the situation in context of fair play and your own character. Offering help can, if demanded, grant you a time boon compensation (applied by deducting the time spent aiding from your clock on the finish line, which could theoretically change your finishing position). Not offering help will cause a time penalty if demanded by the person pained by the decision, or if caught by organizers. In extreme cases, not offering help can lead to disqualification.
3/ You are attending the event for your internal growth. Please leave your egos on the starting line, where you can retrieve it, if you wish, after the end of the event.
MANDATORY GEAR
GPS device with or without mapping
Mobile phone
SPOT tracking device (one suffices for a tandem or a family too). We can rent you a Spot for a small fee.
RECOMMENDED GEAR
We recommend reading the BIKEPACKING TIPS AND TRICKS
BEHAVIOUR ON THE TRACK
All gear, including food and drink, has to be carried by the participants themselves. There is no help allowed from strangers. For the purpose of this rule, a stranger is anybody who is not an official participant of the event. Breach of this rule leads to immediate disqualification from the event, with the exception of R Category for families.
Closely following (less than 5 meters apart) another participant or a different moving object is forbidden. You are allowed to ride side by side. The R Category for families is an exception.
Littering anywhere on or in the vicinity of the track will be met with penalization or disqualification, depending on the severity of the infraction and the organizers’ decision.
Being inconsiderate towards other participants and people, acting amoral, or acting against the norms of fair play will be met with penalization or disqualification, depending on the severity of the infraction and the organizers’ decision. Situations are judged on a case by case basis.
EVENT PRIZES
Finishing the race in under 8 days (192 hours) makes a participant eligible to obtain an original wolf fang medal from mahogany and oak wood and to be put on the results list. Whoever manages to finish the race in such time pressure can consider themselves an ultimate bikepacker and will also be entered into the Golden Hall!
Finishing the race in under 20 days (480 hours) makes a participant eligible to be put on the results list.
Finishing after 20 days will still get the participant onto the results list, but under a divider and without a placing.
A participant who manages to finish the track in the shortest time becomes the winner. The start is simultaneous, so the first over the finish line is the victor. The finishing time and placing could be altered in event of penalties, time boons, or disqualifications.
There are no time boons granted in an event of limited throughput on the track due to an unexpected situation, such as a nature’s catastrophe, human impact, or similar other conditions.
THE TRACK AND NAVIGATING IT
The entire track, start to finish, has to be walked/ridden by the participant without external help. Breaching this rule results in immediate disqualification, with the exception of the family R Category.
The participant has to follow the designated racetrack layout for 100% of its length, or face penalty or disqualification.
The track leads entirely, or almost entirely, through the Czech republic, loosely following the border. It is 98% rideable on MTB and gravel bikes.
The track layout will be available in form of GPX for standard GPS map devices and will be sent to each participant several days before the event.
Every participant is required to be proficient in using a GPS device well enough to navigate according to the uploaded track data to be able to successfully finish the event. Every participant is required to track and record the entire walked/ridden path throughout the race and submit it to the organizers directly upon reaching the finish line. The settings for the recording have to be set to: interval according to distance to record every 300m (or less). If your recording is corrupted, or parts are missing, it will result in a penalty or disqualification. Battery powered GPS map devices suitable for outdoor use, such as Garmin: Oregon, Dakota, Montana, are most recommended.
Every participant has to have his Spot tracking device active during the whole event when they are moving. We really recommend having it on even when not moving, such as when eating or sleeping. Every participant has to become familiar with the device and know how to use it. Not recording your progress or a deviation from the racetrack will be immediately visible online, along with stats, and the only way to correct the error is getting back to the original point from which the path deviated and riding the track correctly, or get disqualified.
RACE CATEGORIES
Category M18
Men from 18 years of age
Category M60
Men from 60 years of age. The category will only be a separate one in case of three or more racers signing up; otherwise, these participants will be assigned to category M18.
Category Z18
Women from 18 years of age.
Category Z60
Women from 60 years of age. The category will only be a separate one in case of three or more racers signing up; otherwise, these participants will be assigned to category Z18.
R Category
This is the family category. At least one of the participants has to be of age; furthermore, the members of the team have to be related by blood up to a 2nd generation, or be in a legal union. The entry fee for this category is lower, as is the price for borrowing a tracking device. One tracker in each family is enough. Find out more about the propositions here.
H Category
This is a category for legally capable handicapped people (holders of ZT and ZTP cards for heavily or especially heavily handicapped people). The participants have to consult their physical indisposition with WOLFman organizers in advance. Handicapped participants with an attendant on a tandem bike are accepted. One SPOT tracking device per team will do. This category will be opened only in case of three or more participants signing up, otherwise, the participants will be assigned to another suitable category. Handicapped racers are not required to sign up for the H Category and can sign up for any other category they are eligible for.
ALLOWED AND DISALLOWED HELP
It is not allowed to accept deliberate help of any kind (material or psychological) unless the participant’s health is in danger. Deliberate help constitutes riding in company – such as domestique, a sparring partner, an accompanying vehicle, dead drops of food or other provisions deliberately left on the track for the participant – those are all forbidden. Breaching this rule results in immediate disqualification.
Participants might use publicly available services and products – that means those, which are usable by other participants too, such as grocery stores, boarding houses, shops, churches, toilets, graveyards, and such.
Participants might use help offered by chance in random encounters, such as RANDOMLY meeting a man, who would sell the participant their shoes, because their biking shoes have fallen apart; or a participant asks an old woman for water from the well.
ALLOWED AND DISALLOWED MEANS OF TRANSPORT
An electric, or other motor, on the above mentioned means of transport are forbidden. A participant must always move on the track using their own strength. Any form of transport through air, on water, or via teleport are forbidden.
Any type of bicycle powered by the participant is allowed.
THE RIDE-THROUGH
The event occurs in accordance to, and without hampering of road travel, which is not limited during the course of the race in any way. The participants therefore must fully abide by drivers’ legal rules and regulations.
Participants have to fully respect universally binding laws and regulations of Czech Republic, and other countries the event will course through. This includes local signs or instructions from authorities, such as a camping ban, a biking ban, or other directives.
When riding through private property, the participants have to abide by the owner’s rules and instructions.
REGISTERING FOR THE EVENT
The registration occurs HERE.
CHECK-UP
The participants will be randomly and systematically checked on during the race by both automatic and human means. These might, or might not, be visible to the participants.
Use of doping is forbidden. Pleas read this ANTIDOPING RULES
A participant must immediately submit to doping tests if demanded by organizers, or face immediate disqualification.
PENALTIES AND DISQUALIFICATION
There are no time boons granted when the track gets blocked by unforeseen events, such as a natural disaster or human intervention.
Breaching the rules will result in a time penalty, or disqualification in case of a more severe breach. In extreme cases, the angry wolf would bite you (in case our proposed law is passed by the legislation).
Significant breach of rules will result in disqualification and the reasons for will be made public.
CHANGES OR CANCELLATION OF THE EVENT
The organizers reserve the right to change the proposed program of the event and to change the event’s date, or to cancel the event in case of any significant reason governed by a third-party, such as the pandemic and the subsequent limitations enacted by the government, because of natural disasters, or other unforeseen events (force majeure), for security reasons or based on a ruling by a judge, or one by the state administration body, or other relevant administrative body, or if the compulsion is a result of a generally binding law/regulation. In case of event cancellation, your entry fee will go towards the next year’s race, unless you choose an 80% refund.
INTERPRETING THE RULES
The organizers reserve the right to change the rules’ interpretation at any point without prior notice, except when an event is already underway. The change would happen in this document. Organizers will do so only in cases of extreme importance, to ensure the event is realized, that it runs smoothly, and that its good name is preserved.
ATTENDING THE EVENT, ITS REGULATIONS AND RELEASE FROM LIABILITY
Adults over 18 years of age (counting from the day the event starts) are eligible for attending this event. The family R Category is an exception – the underaged participant is a legal responsibility of their parent or their legal guardian.
The event is very taxing, both physically, and mentally. It is assumed the participants undergo sufficient preparation to finish it. That includes training, technical readiness, packing correct gear, including sleeping gear for outdoor use, spare parts, and other essentials. Organizers do not recommend attending the event unless sufficient preparation was undergone according to the aforementioned categories.
The event organizers are not responsible for the health status, the legal, or civil status of the participants resulting from their participation in the event. Every participant is obligated to have their health status checked before the event starts, to know any information published by the organizers on this website, and to abide by that information. Every participant is required to have active medical insurance applicable to injuries.
The participant is fully aware of, and concurs to, attending the event at their own risk. That means the organizers won’t be securing any manner of support for the event, such as refreshments, food, medical and health services, accommodation, aid in terrain orientation, nor others. Any harm to health or material of the participant, or other people’s, is not a legal responsibility of the event organizers, nor are the organizers required to remedy the situation in any way.
Participants who inflict any sort of harm to their own or others’ health or belongings need to resolve the situation outside of the competence and responsibility of the event organizers. WOLFman event organizers are relieved of that duty.
The organizers do not offer or secure any type of insurance for the participant, nor their belongings.
The organizers are not obligated to ensure a participant’s withdrawal from the racetrack in an event of a premature finish.
PROTECTION OF PERSONAL DATA AND LEGAL CONSENT FOR USING THEM
The organizers of WOLFman events gather personal information about the participants to successfully realize and improve the events and the services associated with it. By signing up, the participant gives the organizers GDPR consent regarding the provided data.
Information about the participant made publicly available contains: first name, last name, year of birth, sex, current position of the participant on the track, current place in the race, including any possible penalties and disqualifications, and any other information divulged to our system by the participant.
Participants agree to have audiovisual recordings taken of them by the organizers during event preparations and the event itself. That includes texts, photos, illustrations, audio recordings, and video recordings, which then can be fairly used by the organizers to advertise the WOLFman events and other affiliated services. This agreement applies regardless of the light in which the media material paints the participant.
Participants agree, that it is not possible to appeal for removal/deletion of media taken in accordance to the previous paragraph.
The event organizers hereby declare they are registered at the Office for the Protection of Personal Data and are sufficiently secure against theft or misuse of the database containing the participants’ personal data.
Where to next?
Štěpán Stránský is the author of the Bikepacking Methodology, where you can find heaps of useful information.