Lengthening shadows
The Green Mountain Stage Race in Waitsfield, VT, dominates the weekend. The event begins today. In New Jersey, there’s the 10th Annual Phillipsburg Crit. Too late for online registration, but same-day registration is available. On Monday the Olde Mill Inn Tour of Basking Ridge is on. Online pre-reg only: deadline is 10 a.m. Saturday.
make Bear a parking lot crit with crosswinds and severe potholes, tall grass, evil trees with too long branches, and move it to FBF…then you will get more riders…
Have a real KOM at the roller just above Tiorati Drive Dam.
Recognize the Juniors, and/or true 1st year licensed riders, not journeyman 4s that finally figure out how to win a race (Schmalz)…
Make the women race in 2 piece kits like in Pro Beach Volleyball…
Make the womens race, or all categories for that matter, a handicap…who didnt have fun at PP Toefield/Zimmerman (or whatever its called???
Peace
fair
square
fun
racing
What did I do?
Uh… isn’t Dan a journeyman Cat 3. Who, I believe, races the 1/2/3’s on a fairly regular basis.
Making 3’s race against Pro’s and 1’s is ridiculous. You won’t get my money. The reason Battenkill can charge $80 is because the product is great!!! A pro/1/2/3 race over the Bear Course is not. Why don’t you guys at the CRCA just let this website take over, they’d have Bear full weeks before the event. The CRCA is outdated and behind in all aspects.
I’m posting updates on Facebook; so long as I have Internet access, I can update as events occur.
Quit the whining about racing against pros/cat 1s, only in the US is this stupid category upgrade system existent.If you race anywhere else in the world, you’ll have to race against future pros/pros. If you dislike how hard this sport is, why are you in it? FYI: im a cat 3.
look, I’m not really complaining because I know how hard it is to be a race promoter and try to please everyone. Its thankless and really can’t be done. I’m just trying to give helpful feedback here.
Just like the previous poster who won’t pay as a cat 3 to race against p1/2’s, as a 55 year-old master cat 3, I won’t go to a mixed-field race with guys 40 years old and Cat 1’s and 2’s even with separate prizes. Personally I would rather see a separate field for 50+ or 55+, maybe starting a few minutes after the 40+ or 35+ or whatever.
make it cat 2,3 with a better than avg prizemoney ($2000-3000). thats how Altoona started…not that they are around any more (politics) , but a P123 race is to many cats mixing and not enough $ to interest riders that have no chance at either Bear or Univest…
Women cant have it both ways…register early or lose the extra field…
Have more Juniors racing if you are going to operate at a loss, Bear used to showcase Juniors like John Joehner and George Hincapie…Whats the record up Perkins from the Lodge Traffic Circle???
for better or worse most cat 3s, even strong ones, will get shelled on that course over that distance racing against ones and 2s.
GMSR results: http://www.velocityresults.net/
My friend Compliant is right. CRCA is way outdated. Putting on races to “serve the cycling community”? Enough with that claptrap. You can get $50-60 bucks a head for Spring Bear. These bastards deserve to be bilked out of every penny you can get and they’ll respect you more for doing it.
your friend compliant is complaining about being “made” to race in a pro-1-2-3 field that currently includes zero pro’s and i think zero cat 1’s.
who’s winning GMSR?
Hi,
We have removed the $5 late entry fee and lowered the P1/2/3 entry to $35 for the race on Sept. 12.
I probably made a mistake in adding a late fee for registration last year. A $5 increase was added 2 weeks before the race. This was done to encourage early registration which would hopefully build wider interest in the race, and to help make up for some increased expenditures. It did not work. We ended up with small fields in the P/1/2, Cat 3 and women’s races. Did the late fee affect turnout?
The attempt to get riders to sign up early did not work again this year for several fields.
CRCA’s interest is to put on the best possible race. We think putting on 2 races a year on a great course like Bear is a great service to the cycling community. We put these races on to serve the cycling community. Our goal is to get the best possible turnout without losing money. Since I started putting on the Bear Mtn. races our Park fees have gone up from $100 + 1% of revenue to $400 + 10% of revenue plus $1500 for the police. That’s approximately $300 to $4000. Despite that increase we have raised entry fees by only $5. In 2005 the P/1/2 was $35 and other races were $30.
This year we have cut some expenses and added a second Cat 5 field which filled so we do not have a monetary need for the late fee. Hopefully lowering the entry fee will increase rider turnout and increase revenue.
The Master’s field, the two Cat 5 fields and one Cat 4 field have filled. So there is some demand for a late season Bear Mtn race. Since 2005, the first year we held a Fall race since 2000, the P/1/2, Cat 3 and women’s races have not had good turnouts.
In 2005 the Fall race was conceived of as a Univest prep race and we had one of the best Bear Mtn P/1/2 fields ever. We even had 60 women. Univest moved their date up a week in 2006 and that cut the P/1/2 field in half. For some reason the W/1/2/3 field went from 35 to 13.
The race was canceled in 2007 and a time trial was held in 2008 because of road closures. The failure to hold the race regularly probably cut into turnout last year. We had only 30 riders in the P/1/2, 54 in the Cat 3 and 11 in the W/1/2/3.
With the conflict with Univest and the small turnout last year, I thought that a P/1/2/3 race made sense. The small turnout to date indicates otherwise. Either people are waiting until after Green Mtn to register or the 3’s and 1/2’s don’t want to race against each other. Hopefully we’ll end up with a good turnout. My thinking after last year was that a race of 100 riders was better than 2 races of 30 or 40 riders.
Anyway to boost registration and to make up for the combined 1/2/3 field, I have lowered the entry fee to $35. You are getting to do a 70 mile race at Bear with neutral support and more than double the prize money for the same price as a 44 mile Prospect Park race.
Watching women’s fields fill has been exasperating and after 6 years I have accepted that the women register late. I always thought seeing a large number of people register early would increase interest and registration. Some late changes in combining the two women’s races over the years have created some uncertainty with women riders. This has been bad. Let me state that no matter what the turnout this year’s race will have two separate women’s races.
That said going forward, it might not make sense to put on a race for 10 riders. From a racing standpoint it’s not very good. From a race promotion monetary standpoint it makes no sense. The goal and desire is to continue to put on two women’s races. Maybe the answer is to consistently hold the two races without changes but some more interest needs to be shone at some point. A better turnout for this year’s race will eliminate the question.
Future plans for P/1/2/3 riders also depend on turnout and feedback. It isbetter to have separate races if there are riders to fill the spots. Maybe Univest will move back a week and make our decision easy.
Does keeping entry fees low even matter? With Battenkill getting $80 and people paying $32 for weekly park races am I selling Bear short? For one, we’ll see if removing the late fee makes a difference.
Secondly I am not a big fan of making an expensive sport even more expensive. With the demand for Spring Bear we could raise entry fees to $50 but I hope whoever takes over the club next year does not do that.
Hope this explains some things and encourages some people to register.
Mike Green
Im looking for a ride to baskingridge tomorrow to shoot. anybody? anybody?
Ted King lost a lot of time today on GC. Did he puncture or something?
App Gap results:
http://www.velocityresults.net/results/282/gmsr-stage-3-appalachian-gap-vt
MG, you’ve done an absolutely terrific job with CRCA and the Bear races. Hats off to you, and thanks – keep up the good work, it’s noticed and appreciated.
Race attendance is simple. Fees are irrelevant. You’ve offered enough Cat 4 and Cat 5 spots to get all those guys in. The next most populated fields will be Cat 3 and M35+, and you currently haven’t offered either one of those. Create a 3 only race, switch one 4 field to a 3/4, and/or make a M35+ field and you’ll get more guys. I know its logistically tough at this point but that’s the way to get more people in.
(FYI, I don’t think making 3s race with P/1/2s is ridiculous, but as you see you can’t *make* the 3s sign up. And while I love & support our racing sisters, I have to agree – “Women cant have it both ways…register early or lose the extra field” is harsh, but completely fair.)
MG/CRCA, Thanks for Bear. In a lot of ways it is the NYC championship.
Take a page out of Dieter’s Battenkill handbook and keep adding as many cat 4 and 5 fields as the market will bare. Separate those fields by age. Use the extra money to support bigger prize money for the pro 1/2.
Yes, cat 3s need a separate field. Most of them just don’t want to race against 1 & 2s.
As soon as feasible make a separate cat 2 field.
Move the date so it doesn’t conflict with Univest.
Five bucks either way is not material.
which means I’ll certainly get flamed. I am but a mere excitable 4, but have played other sports at a much more competitive level. Don’t you want to compete against the best? 3’s would rather not race against 1s and 2s? really? That’s my main motivation to upgrade. I am serious though, do people really not want to compete against higher cat’s?
If you just upgraded to Cat 3 and now have to race guys like Roger Aspholm or the Empire guys/AXA in a race like Bear, you will be way over your head for the most part and the “race” will turn into a $35 training ride. Some races do not work as Cat1-3. Park races do because you can sit in.
as long as this race is up against univest, having a 1-2-3 field is appropriate. there will be no pro presence to speak of, and 1’s that will be at this race will likely be racing without teammates. are there even any cat 1’s registered? if one of the three cat 1’s in the race makes it hard enough to drop you, then you would probably get dropped in an all cat 3 race as well.
this is a good chance for a strong cat 3 to show his stuff on a hard course against a small handful of “upper category” racers. that said, the race would be better off on a different date, when good racers could show up in numbers big enough to warrant a p-1 field.
I, a cat 3, was about to sign up for Bear, then realized it conflicts with the start of the NFL season. I can’t make it back in time for the 1pm games. Case closed.
It’s the Nancy Morgenstern Memorial race. For those that don’t know, Nancy was a CRCA club member that was lost on 9/11. So the date is appropriate and can’t really change.
With all due respect to the memory of Nancy Morgenstern Bear is on the 12th of September this year and moves around depending on where Sunday falls in the month. (was Sept 13th in 09)
The thing that would honor her memory the most is to continue to have a sucessful event, regardless if it is a week later.
With all due respect, Ms. Morgenstern would have wanted the 4’s separated into young guns and old farts.
Cycling and religion don’t mix!