JUST SOME OF THE REASONS WHY THE HOODOO 500
IS THE BEST ULTRACYCLING RACE ON THE PLANET

Logistics:

The route is a perfect loop, starting and finishing at the race headquarters, the Best Western Abby Inn in beautiful St. George, Utah.

Our race headquarters is a nice, clean, roomy, modern and very reasonably priced hotel. The race check in, meeting, start and finish lines, and post-race awards banquet are all in one central location.

St. George is about ninety minutes from Las Vegas and only a five to six hour drive from most of southern California. You can fly directly to St. George or take an inexpensive shuttle from Las Vegas.  Rental vehicles are readily available in either location.

The Route:

Not a single inch of the route is repeated. The scenery is amazing. The route goes through, around or by three National Parks: Zion, Bryce and Capitol Reef; three National Monuments: Pipe Springs, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Cedar Breaks; countless Utah State Parks including Anasazi, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Kodachrome and Snow Canyon, and meanders in and out of the Dixie National Forest.  

Other than the very short stretches of road getting in and out of St. George and Cedar City, and the ten or so miles before Panguitch, traffic on over ninety-eight percent of the route is virtually non-existent. There are only a handful of traffic lights and stop signs, and zero urban blight.

Road conditions are stellar! Utah takes wonderful care of their roads and highways. Generally speaking, the pavement is smooth, without potholes or expansion gaps or long stretches of rough road where cracks have been filled in but remain bumpy and uneven. The roads are virtually litter and glass free!

The Race Format:

Team Racers choose their own strategies. There are few restrictions on when or how often riders may exchange. A team may have one, two, three or four racers on the course at the same time, in a team paceline (although competing teams may not draft each other). It's a ton of fun! Looking for teammates? Post a message on the Hoodoo 500 blog. Be sure and include your contact info.

Solo and team racers may bring an unlimited number of crew members and crew vehicles. This allows racers to have fresh and alert crew members at all times (which is especially important on the second day, in all hours of darkness, and for those riders who may take more than 40 hours to complete the course).

When the race is over, we'll all enjoy the Post-Race Banquet - a buffet brunch, fun awards and sharing of newly created, but long-lasting memories of the awesome Hoodoo 500 experience!

Reasonable Entry Fees:

Compared to the other races in the southwest, you'll save as much as $150 on your solo entry, $325 on your tandem or 2-person relay team entry and $700 on your 2-tandem or 4-person relay team entry. In addition to the savings on entry fees, you'll also save money on fuel, food and hotels; all of which are significantly less expensive in Utah.