As big as an event as they make it seem, March Madness has lost it's following over the last few years. I was looking at past years on the website and was disappointed. They have results from 2003 and onward and participation has steadily declined.

Year	Riders	Total Miles
2003	190	163,000
2004	176	146,000
2005	167	115,000
2006	139	100,000
2007	139	116,000
2008	135	??

These are just the people that signed up to use the online tracking. You can send in your log, but I doubt more people would start doing that.

To top it off they have a club goal of 180,000 miles. Well, half way through we have 50,000. Sadly, I don't think that's going to happen. I'm guessing they haven't updated the goal from 2004 when it would have been realistic.

So what is the deal with March Madness? Why was it so big in 2003 and now so much smaller? It all started in 1999 so it can't be first year hype. Maybe it's because people don't want to pay the $10. I wonder when they started doing that. I bet some more people would sign up if it was free.

On a positive note, the online tracking is super cool and works really well. It looks like a custom solution just for the Davis Bike Club. Kudos to whoever designed that one.