Eastern Sierra Double Century

It is with heavy hearts that we’re forced to cancel our 2020 Eastern Sierra Double Century.

At the end of April, we sent an email and announced on Facebook that we could move forward with the event based on information from CalTrans.

We spoke too soon. After a long conversation with Inyo County, and reviewing ALL the directives/mandates in place for both Inyo and Mono Counties, we believe it's in the best interests of the future of this event, to not host in 2020. 

Both counties have criminal penalties for violation of California mandates. While we believe the "stay at home orders" will be lifted by June 1st; based on your Governor Newsome's "plan" for reopening the state, we feel strongly that the "mass gathering" restrictions will not be lifted. We simply can't risk not getting permits for this event in the future, or face criminal prosecution, by even appearing to violate mass gathering mandates. While we believe we could have set up the event without too many people in one location; locals could perceive that the fact we brought a big group to Bishop is enough to have violated that mandate.

We're very, very sad and sorry. And we're absolutely heartbroken. As most of you know, Planet Ultra has for over twenty years served the endurance cycling community. We've committed ourselves to creating cycling events for a very special and exclusive audience of committed athletes- YOU! We've been blessed to make a modest living doing what we love to do; and hopefully bring joy and a sense of personal accomplishment into your lives. 

We've not hosted an event since February. The COVID-19 crisis has now forced us to cancel five events, and postpone three others until Autumn. Our hands are tied, and our ability to cover operational and personal expenses, gone. So, please understand that we are not able to provide refunds.

We share your frustration and anger. We know each of you has trained and has looked forward to our event. We too have put countless hours and energy into planning and preparation. We are devastated by this prolonged shut down.
 
Please know that we are not in the business of taking people’s money, we are in the business of putting on world-class cycling events. Events that get people outside riding bikes with their friends and loved ones, and promote the physical and mental health of our communities. We have been working non-stop to try to keep this event alive; all the way up yesterday when we had our final conversation with Inyo County and realized it was just too risky.  
 
Please understand that even giving deferments pushes our immense financial losses to another date, another event, another year. To be painfully honest, we’re hoping that under the circumstances, each participant will see that their individual entry fee is very small loss compared to the devastation we're suffering, along with many small businesses across the county and around the globe that are being shut down for reasons beyond their control.
 
Our plan is that every registered person may choose one of the following:

1. Defer entry to our June 5, 2021, Eastern Sierra Double Century;

2. Transfer entry to either our September 26th Mulholland Double (CTC Stage Race event) or October 17th Solvang Double (on Spring Double route);

3. Transfer your entry to our "Make Mine A Double" Challenge - and receive an great tech tee and chance to win other prizes including FREE Planet Ultra single day event entry and discounts on Hoodoo 500 or Silver State 508. You're the FIRST people to see this Challenge, which will be announced tonight or tomorrow- so thank you in advance for not sharing that link.

If you’d like to instead contribute your entry fee to keep Planet Ultra afloat through this crisis, we will humbly accept your generosity with sincere gratitude. We're doing everything we can to avoid GoFundMe. Please advise us what you wish to do.
 
We hope you and your loved ones stay healthy and safe; and we sure hope to see you at another Planet Ultra event.

Deborah & Brian Bowling