craig austin
Jon is correct, the market has spoken. If we racers want summer MTB races,
we have to either put them on ourselves (which most of us are ill-equipped
to do) or keep begging until someone does, and then PROVE to them that
we'll show up. The bigger thing we must do, if we want the seasons to run
when they should, is NOT show up to March or April MTB races (especially on
the west side of the state), and also NOT show up at Labor Day or earlier
'cross races (let's face it, even mid to late September is crappy racing if
you like 'cross).
Until there's no market, promoters are going to fight over the earliest
dates possible, when people are excited to race (despite it being the
absolute wrong conditions for that type of racing).
Our collective willingness to show up in good numbers in early spring for
MTB and mid-summer for cyclocross is the ONLY reason there are no summer
MTB or winter 'cross races on the calendar. Three months is about as long
as you can sustain interest/fitness/equipment upkeep, so those of us who
start racing 'cross in August are done by November. Same for MTB. Start in
March or April, be prepared for the season to end in late May or June, just
about the time the actual mountain bike riding starts to get great.
Is it realistic to hope for change? No. We're going to keep on giving our
money to early-season races in all disciplines. It's not the fault of the
promoters, they're giving OBRA what we want. It's not at all what I want,
but it's what we as a group have proven that WE want.
Craig
On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 12:53 PM, Jon Myers via OBRA
wrote:
> All promoters are notified about conflicting racing dates or weekends and
> given the opportunity to take a non-conflicting day or weekend. There is a
> lot of communication between OBRA and the promoters and also between
> promoters while the schedules are being proposed and finalized.
> Weekend racing dates are much like real estate because there is a
> finite supply. Some venues have a limited set of dates that they can use
> for mountain bike events due to weather (snow/rain), other non-cycling
> events in the same area, wildlife regulations, promoter vacations or work
> commitments, etc.
> Over the many years of racing it is clear to everyone involved
> that participation goes down in the summer and after November. There are
> many theories about why participation goes down but ultimately it does. If
> a promoter don’t want to lose money you try to put on events when the
> racers want to race. For Cyclocross that means putting on a race in the
> months of September, October, and November. In 2013 there were 4
> cyclocross races in December located in the northern half of the State
> (Eugene and farther north). In 2014 there was 1 cyclocross race in
> December. In 2015 there were none. Just look at the results from those
> December races and compare the participation level to September.
> For XC mountain bike racing the prime season is April thru June.
> By the middle of July the participation level makes a steep drop. There
> have been many very good events that have taken place later in the summer
> and the reason you no longer see them on the calendar is that the
> participation level was too low to sustain the event. If 200 people
> started showing up for an August XC event you can bet that next year there
> would be other promoters looking at August. Until racers show up to later
> season events promoters the calendar will look pretty much like it looks
> today. –Jon Myers
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