Personally as a promoter...I hate the idea of a 12
year old racing a 17 year old in any class, but there
are very few "Expert Jr's". The classes Candi listed
were for the BAR only...she states promoters and
series such as the Oregon Mt Bike series which I am
part of can add in classes for the series races as
needed such as Single Speed and other age classes. We
(the Oregon Series) are toying around with JV and
Varisty classes instead of age classes...this would
break up kids by skill levels and also encourage more
schools to allow kids that race to Letter in Mt
Biking.
Take Care
Randy
--- Doug Hormann <djhor-@verizon.net> wrote:
Tim,
Okay, that's worth more than 4 cents. I'm with you
in not wanting to make it
more trouble than it's worth for the promoters.
Having a consistent
break-out like you suggest would be a great
improvement. If promoters wanted
to do more, great, but doing at least a 10-14/15-18
would be nice. Probably
safer for all concerned too.
Having watched Ethan and several others really enjoy
the CCX and Short Track
MTB series, I agree that this is a good format for
kids, however since he's
also had a great time with the road and track
racing, all I can say there is
that variety seems to be the spice of life at least
in this family. The
short track MTB series also made a desire of mine
come true, to race with my
son. I have to say that watching the competitiveness
of the 4/5 riders has
left me kind of intimidated to join in, but the
short track format, like
CCX, lets me get into racing in a format that I feel
comfortable with for
now. (Not having a road bike sorta clinches it for
me also.)
Having said all that, I want the promoters and OBRA
folks to know that I
really appreciate all the hard work and effort that
goes into putting on a
race and all that goes with being a sanctioning
body. I have the impression
that I only see a small piece of what goes on to
make this work. People
arent' afraid to answer newbie questions from
overprotective and
under-knowledgeable dads and that makes me feel that
bike racing in Oregon
is a great place for my kids. Thank you!
Doug
-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Schauer
[mailto:TSch-@mackaysposito.com]
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2005 8:45 PM
To: Douglas.-@tvfr.com; ob-@topica.com
Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] Planning for 2006
Doug,
I agree. But, perhaps a compromise for Road might be
just two junior cats.
Junior 10-14 and Junior 15-18 categories. This would
be better than the
current 10-18, but not too much work to track stats
for. As the father of a
10 & an 8 year old I hope to keep them interested in
bike racing as they get
older for both my own interests and to grow the
sport. Young kids can be
discouraged when riding against young men. Also, my
guess is the 15-18 year
olds wouldn't mind being separated from the younger
kids as well.
My ten year old has found the most fun bike racing
to be MTB and CCX. If one
goal of our OBRA is to encourage and cultivate
younger kids into cycling,
making these two disciplines more inviting to the
10-13 year olds would be
great. Many ccx races offer two choices being a 5
minute kiddie race or a 40
minute junior race, maybe offering something in
between ( Like one compete
lap) at next year's ccx. A big thanks to the
VEloSHop folks fro adding
something similar to their Hood River Race when I
asked! Once they are
hooked on ccx or mtb racing, moving from ccx or MTB
to road or track is an
easier jump. Hey, it seems to working for the
adults. CCX seems to where the
most new OBRA memberships are coming in.
Beyond just serving the kids, the more our events
have opportunities for
kids to participate, the easier it is for us Mom's
and Dad's to race these
events ourselves. It becomes a family function,
rather than a day away from
the family!!
Tim (My 4 cents) Schauer
________________________________
From: Hormann, Douglas J
[mailto:Douglas.-@tvfr.com]
Sent: Fri 10/14/2005 10:13 AM
To: ob-@topica.com
Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] Planning for 2006
I would suggest keeping the junior categories broken
out into smaller
age brackets. Such as: 10-12, 13-14, 15-16, 17 and
up. (You can race
most of them at the same time, just score them
separately.) At this age
there is a huge difference between 10 and 13. Having
the 12 and 13 year
olds race against 18 year olds would be like having
Cat 4 riders up
against Cat 1. I think it would be pretty
discouraging and would be
counter productive in encouraging more junior
riders.
Any other opinions?
Doug Hormann
-----Original Message-----
From: cmur-@obra.org [mailto:cmur-@obra.org]
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2005 7:52 AM
To: ob-@topica.com
Subject: [OBRA Chat] Planning for 2006
I'd like to try and standardize categories more in
2006 then we have
done in the past. Just for the sake of discussion
here are the
categories I am proposing
Road
Cat 1/2
Cat 3
Cat 4/5
Jr
Women
Women 4 when possible
Masters 40+
Mtn
Pro/Elite
Expert Men
Sport Men Open
Beginner Men Open
Open Women
Beginner Women
Open Juniors-defined as all Sport, expert juniors
and any Beginners over
15
Beginner Junior Men 14 and under
Masters 40+ Expert
Masters 40+ Sport
Masters 40+ Beginner
Junior Women
I have also been asked to change the way the mtn
bike and road
categories relate to
Cat 5 Beginner
Cat 4 Sport
Cat 3 Expert
Cat 1/2 Semi Pro/Pro
Candi Murray
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