Mike Ripley
SO I am a dying breed----I guess thats a good thing (thanks) cause I am
seriously addicted to family, racing, promoting, riding and living life
after 17 years. I accepted the OBRA mtn bike rep job for 2006 from
Candi and have raced Chasing the rabbit, chainbreaker, picketts charge,
return on the Jedi. Missed Oakridge( wedding ride with friends) and
worked at my 50 hr a week job the other race weekends or put on
Mudslinger, TOE, and Table rock road race. It comes down to weather or
not you travel and race or not. Last year riders would race 3-4 times
and this year 2-3 times at a xc race. Mudslinger had 240 riders and
Chainbreaker had 260 riders but most of the riders were different
people. I do believe that the races are better marked, better run and
for the most part all the promoters involved are doing a great job in
2006, more swag than ever. Tita offered 2 sets of high end wheels at
Return on the Jedi along with a Desalvo frame way cool! and I am sure
other people had good swag as well. But when you consider over 20 xc
races in a year some sort of shrinking is going to happen. The biggest
decline is in the 19-29 year age group and beginners. Sure there are
plenty of Semi-pro's and pros that are sub 30 but I do think the
purchase of a bike for a 19-29 year old may be a 5 inch or bigger
freeride/trail bike that you would not race Xc on. Entry fee's are in
line verses what they have been 5-10 years ago and races like
Mudslinger, Chainbreaker, picketts and Bear springs were all slightly
up and Kris and the Short Track are up 100% from 2006 and thats great
for the sport and new riders. The simple fact is more people are racing
but less often. This has to do with too many factors to get into, each
very valid. All I can say is that I do appreciate all your support this
year racing and promoting and look forward to serving you again for
2007 as OBRA rep. I do think racing and promoting are a passion of mine
and I hope that we can all do our part and as well as local shops to
support Xc racing and trail work. Start a mtb club with a local shop,
organize a mtb clinic like the one Sunnyside Sports did in Bend. We
have 10 mtb members on Collins as well as S & M, Veloce, Santiam, Half
fast and so on. I do think shop teams are very important to the growth.
I do appreciate Randy and his question. Mtb racing is not dead just
changing.
MIke Ripley,
OBRA mtb rep
On Tuesday, Jul 25, 2006, at 10:56 US/Pacific, Fischer, Jim E
(Corvallis) wrote:
> I was thinking about Randy Dreiling's posting asking for input about
> ATB
> racing dying. I've read many of the responses and have replied to
> Randy, as well.
>
> One issue seems to be that folks feel there is not enough offered at
> events. Whether it is the social aspect, the schwagg, the support or
> the quality of the course, there is something missing from the events
> that are poorly attended.
>
> Some times, it simply has to do with the date of the event. Racing on
> Easter, for example, is problematic for some.
>
> What do racers and promoters think about mixing it up by having events
> offered every other year rather than every year?
>
> Promoting is an activity that requires lots of time and does not
> generate enough revenue to pay for the effort. Promoters do it because
> they enjoy it. However, even if they enjoy some of it, it still takes
> lots of time and effort to make a truly great event.
>
> What if the stress and effort of promoting could be offset over a
> period
> of two years rather than one year?
>
> Racers would have a larger variety of races to attend (that may not be
> all good).
> The promoters would have time to breathe, train, see their families,
> race, etc in between "seasons".
> Events don't have to necessarily hybernate. Promoters could tag team
> alternating years so the bigger more established events could continue
> annually, but with different organizers.
>
> It seems we have a changing of the guard with every event about every 5
> years. Promoters who've been promoting the same event every year for
> more than 8 years are a dying breed. Most burn out by 10 years. Seems
> like mixing it up like this would go a long way towards keeping the
> events healthy and keeping racers interested.
>
> Something to think about, anyway.
>
> Thanks for reading.
>
> Jim Fischer
> OBRA
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