Brian Ellin
As a MTB racer, I feel i should speak up here.
Last year I lost interest in MTB racing as the season progressed. Why?
Mainly because I felt that the promoters had also lost interest. I want to
be excited to show up and race. I don't want to have to scour the web for
information about the race or watch the OBRA list the Friday before for
directions, all to show up and race against the 5 people who did the same.
An example:
http://www.oregonvelo.com/mtbseries/outback/
What is the course like? Who is sponsoring it? How long are the laps?
Last year's results? Are we all starting at 1pm? Prizes? Raffle? Why
should I travel and pay $32 to do a race I know nothing about? What if i'm
not an internet person?
Compare the MTB race flyers and websites to something like the cross
crusade's and then look at the turnout. Where is the effort?
I should note that there were many well promoted and well executed MTB races
this year. Good job to all the racers and promoters! I'll be out there
again in 2006, and am trying hard to get my friends excited about racing
MTB.
Thanks for listening,
Brian Ellin