NC Kingsting wrote on 04/04/18 at 9:38pm:
1). I had thought about doing the summer series a couple of times but the week day times were a non-starter for me. Just too busy to leave work early and local races just don’t merit vacation days. Looking for a fun competitive ride, not increased stress levels. Would recommend weekends like the winter series. Think they always had a higher rider count too. Also I found the high quantity of races in the summer to be a deterrent. Difficult to do the series justice when the schedule looks like a second job. Personally I thought the winter cadence was spot on. Would recommend establishing a summer schedule that puts a premium on attending as many events as possible which should give you the higher rider counts you are looking for.
I agree with this, that same effort of the winter short track at any one of the other venues would be killer.
NC Kingsting wrote on 04/04/18 at 9:38pm:
2). I thought the race management was exceptional at the winter events I attended. Who ever is running the series should be commended. While I agree some additional venues would be fun (good excuse to ride different trail) I’m sure it would increase the complexity of managing these events. I would hate to see a reduction in event quality but perhaps there is a happy medium between the two? You may also want to consider varying the technical levels of the trails such that the winner would not only require great cardio; but also solid technical ability. (Road vs Trail skills)
Agreed, the interaction with the staff, the way the races where run, the instant timing results, these guys have this down pat. You cannot blame the racer interaction with the race promoters for this.
The part about the trails is tough, because you can only race what we have. As a Yankee, I would LOVE for more rock gardens, but unless you are importing rocks in from Pisgah, I don't see it happening
Plus, I don't think you could do a race at the Rocky River Trail
NC Kingsting wrote on 04/04/18 at 9:38pm:
3). Sandbagging. This is a real problem and one that I think discourages a lot of newer riders from giving racing a try. Granted there are a lot of good riders but if you look at race results in the beginner classes over the past 3 years I think you will see some repetition in the names that are finishing at the top of the list. Really think you need a new category like intermediate that will allow beginners to give things a try at there own level and more established riders to gain better conditioning and skills with out being thrown to the wolves in the sport classes. Those guys are very good riders and quite dedicated to their sport; and the reality is that your numbers are going to grow in demographics that simply don’t have the time to put into training at the level required to be competitive at that level of the sport. I’d look into establishing an intermediate class with parameters realistic to the time and conditioning that your average weekend rider can attain and then enforce the existing move up requirements across all classes so that riders in each level have a realistic chance of being competitive.
Your third point could be its own thread sadly. I'm 50/50 on this kiling the series. As a Cat 1 MTBer, riding the open race was a shame because I knew I was too fast for the Sport races, but not enough people like me did the Cat 1 races. I would finish towards the back of the pack, but I am by no means a slow poke.
In my past MTB race experience, for non open categories (open men/women, open singlespeed, open clydesdale) had a verbiage where the top 3 in a series would not score points for the series. They could still race that category and win the race, but it was a way to hopefully nudge people towards another category.
I feel that the Cat 3 fields should really be "first year" racers, people trying to get the bug, etc. The Cat 2 field falls into more of the weekend warrior. If you podium a Cat 3 race, you are ready for Cat 2. You could be a Cat 2 lifer if you want to be The jump from Cat 3 to 2 isn't as big as you would imagine. 2 to 1/open is another story. I feel most people can easily do 10 miles of mountain biking, which is what the average Cat 2 race distance is/should be.
The perk of not being a USAC race is allowing people to try the different categories without having to submit it to USAC. Maybe you are an avid cat 2 rider and want to test your skills in the open race. Give it a shot, maybe you end up beating some people, maybe you get crushed. Then you can move back into the Cat 2 category. I also feel if you are podiuming Cat 2 races all year, you are ready to be the pack fodder that is Cat 1/Open.
Everyone will have an opinion on that. I understand the rush for racing for the win. I was always surprised by how fast the Cat 2/sport fields where. The average speeds where insane. A lot of those people could be doing the open races for sure.