The essence of grassroots: Underground ultra endurance racing
• By Eszter Horanyi   • Published Jun. 29, 2012 Jeff Hemperly,
the organizer of the Rico 100 is as original as the route he
created. Photo: Jeff Hemperly  The rules  The rules for these
races are simple. While each individual event has a few nuances
within their rule set, they all boil down to five rules that
define the essence of self supported racing. The Southern
California Series sums them up as follows:  1. Ride your bike,
self supported, under only your own power, along the entire
route. 2. No pre arranged support, no outside assistance of any
kind. 3. Prepare and behave in such a way as though you were
riding the route entirely yourself. 4. Don’t break the law. 5.
Understand that you are on your own, 100% with no outside
assistance at all.  No cached food or water is allowed and
anything purchased or used must be from a public or commercial
source, meaning that stopping at a friend’s house to get water
or spend the night is forbidden, but