I’m in my 30th season of bike racing. 30 years! I’ve seen a lot over the past three decades and I’m hoping to make the racing better. To do that, I feel we should adjust a few of the classes to bring the racing aspect back to racing.
For those of you who don’t know me, a quick back story will give some credibility to my requests. I’ve raced since the mid 90s and have been involved with, created or promoted a ton of races over that time period as well. Those races included everything from weeknight training races to being the race directory at an HC level UCI race.
Most of our age groups are based on old classes from back in the glory days. In the late 90s and early 2000s, the common age groups were 12-18, 19-26, 27-34, 34-44 and 45+. The fields were huge and all these classes were warranted. For example, Pedrostock II had 79 Sport 19-26 racers, and 83 Sport 27-34 racers! While I’d love that to be the case now, unfortunately it’s not. Later in the 2000s the age groups were adjusted to 10-year spans, 19-29, 30-39, etc. And then a few years ago, the 19-29 and 30-39 was combined into a single 19-39 due to participation levels. Well, I think it’s time we make some adjustments again.
In my opinion, Secret Squirrel is set up perfect. Why? They only have 19+ and 50+ for age groups. They have large fields that promote competition with lots of people racing for every position. They also had the largest Expert field (92 total) and yet the fewest classes.
When you look at other races still using the historical classes, the competition is being diluted across too many fields. Landmine is one of the largest MTB races in New England. It has 27 adult men’s races and nine adult women’s races that are Cat 3 or higher. However, 16 of the men’s races had 10 people or less, and four had three or less. On the women’s side, only one race had more than 10 participants (which was 11), and another had zero. There were four women’s races with three or less participants. There are lots of other events with relatively good overall turnout, but like Landmine, it’s being spread over too many classes.
Looking at results from several notable races, the field sizes are small even when you combine everyone. Gnar Weasels had 52 Expert Men, Winding Trails 41, Belltown 32 and even Landmine (which had no Elite/Pro option) only had 57 total Expert men. I feel we are doing ourselves a disservice by diluting them over 4-5 different classes. And it may be leading to lower participation when others see small fields. Many of my peers have mentioned that they have skipped events due to small fields. I have also skipped many events due to low numbers. I'm not burning an entire day so I can race against 6 other people.
The Sport category, which is historically the largest, is the same. Secret Squirrel has nicely divided their race in half with about 60 in each of the two age classes. Landmine, would have had about 60 in their 19+ class, and around 40 in the 50+ if they went to a two class option. I feel these numbers are more than manageable and provide the large fields we want as competitors. The same can be said about Novice as well.
The new RaceDayXC series looks promising and is offering a fresh take on local racing. It’s what we needed. While some adjustments are needed*, it is a good start to a new series. At RaceDayXC, instead of set distances for each category, racers will be competing for a target time duration (XCO format). While I understand XCO isn't for everyone, it does provide racers with an expected time duration. I love this format. I know I'm racing 90ish minutes. I like knowing exactly how long it will take in time. With classic XC format distance determines the race. But that could mean 90 minutes or 2.5hrs. 18 miles at Killington is very different than 18 miles at Adams Farm. The race times for the front end of a race can be an hour shorter than the tail end of the same race.
If you're intending to promote an XC race (not a 90min XCO), a multiple lap format where you can cater time vs distance might still be beneficial. If you want the Experts to race 21 miles and think it will take the winner 2hrs, you need to realize the back end of that race will be north of 3hrs. Racing for 2hrs is very different than racing for 3+hrs. I'm not saying everything should be 90min XCO races on 3mi laps, but please be aware of racer expectations. Using a course that is shorter gives you the flexibility to adjust to your racer's time expectations. Having a time cut for a lap is acceptable.
Promoters, to help new racers, please organize your BikeReg pages. You are probably an experienced racer and/or promoter if you’re putting on bike races. The categories and classes are easy for you to decipher. But there are a lot of people we want to encourage to race. If your reg page is just one giant list with no separation and excess information it will be confusing and intimidating to a new racer.
Here’s an example of a great BikeReg page. https://www.bikereg.com/gnar-weasels No excess clutter on the classes, all separated by category headers, adds a simple note about novice. Everything is simple, to the point and easy to find. The RaceDay BikeReg pages are a good example of information overload on a cluttered reg page.
Promoters, the term Open refers to category not class or gender (class is age or equipment). You use the term “Open” to specify a race is open to any category. For example, Men’s Pro/Open is open to male pros and any other category racer. If it’s listed as Pro, it would only be open to pros. Listing something as Open Men’s Cat 3 is not what you think. If your category has no age restriction, then you leave that part blank. So, you’d say Men’s Cat 3. Also, if you say Pro Open 1/2/3, technically a Cat 5 can register for it. So even then you only say Pro 1/2/3. You don’t need the Open in the category title. This applies to all disciplines. Basically, stop using the term Open outside of the Pro field.
When it comes to fixed distance races, like marathons, 50k, etc. there are no categories. You can't be the Sport Men's 50-59 50 mile winner. That's not a thing. That is equivalent to saying you won the Boston Marathon among the 8min/mi runners. For races were everyone does the same distance, there are elites, and then age groups. But there are no categories.
Now for some controversy. But sometimes everyone needs a little tough love.
Fat bike, weight based and even single-speed categories need to go. Hey I already said it would be controversial. Fat bike is an equipment choice, and it's the wrong choice. It's like bringing downhill skis to a nordic race. If that's what you want to ride, that's on you. There's no need for a separate race category. It pains me to say it, but single speed turnout has been low. Most races barely have 5 sign up. Sorry, but the demand isn't there, it's time to cut it. Want to be a legend, race your category on your SS. Weight based never made sense. Let's shame someone for being big by having a publicly displayed class about their weight. But why stop there, why isn't there a category for those who are super light. Or a class for riders who use cable shifters, or any other equipment choice. All of these categories gotta go.
Promoters, can we get an email list going, geeez. Everyone is stepping on each other's toes. There is no reason to have multiple races on the same weekends, and then stretches of weeks with nothing. I get there are dates that have to be fixed. But communicating what why and when with other promoters will at least mitigate some conflicts. For example, Barn Burner needs to be the last weekend of July due to the haying schedule. They won't let them run that race until after the fields are cut. Also, while you might think MTB is the only discipline, it's not. Stop conflicting with cyclocross races. Better yet, don't pick any dates after Landmine. Keep mind that gravel is actually a thing, and there are some very large events you shouldn't compete against. Overland, D2R2, etc. While you might think a holiday weekend is a good idea, it's not. Most people's live don't revolve around bikes, they do other things on holidays. You wouldn't put a race on the 4th of July, so the same should apply to Memorial Day and Labor Day. Bear Brook, why are you still in Oct? I thought that was a Covid thing, go back to summer! Also, just because you can promote a race, doesn't mean you should (or should continue to). At some point, you need to rip the bandaid off. If turn out is low, it's probably time to hang it up. Too many events may be hurting the overall turnout.
Lots of racers and a few promoters have contributed to this post, and the number one request was for larger fields. Everyone wanted to race against more riders. They all wanted to challenge themselves, battle and compete. The only way that is going to happen is by reducing classes. Let’s move to 19+ and 50+ to generate competition through larger fields. I know this might be hard to come to terms with, but we made adjustments in the past for the same reasons. It’s time we adjust again to keep the racing aspect of racing alive. Let’s have big fields where staging and holeshots matter. Let’s have fields where there are battles for first as much as 31st. Let’s race again.
* RaceDayXC thoughts... They say don't shoot the messenger, but I also agree with all this and have added some additional thoughts. RaceDay's courses have been great, the XCO set up and format is great. You know what to expect every race. Hold Fast even sponsored the series! But, putting the price tag aside, there are some things that bug not only me, but others.
- First a simple fix, the pro purses need to be equal and set. Pay out 5 deep, take all the pro entries and pool it. Split it 50/50 or as another friend suggested how about 25/25/25/25. 25% for the day's respective payouts, and 25% saved for the overall series.
- Next, if you are issuing number plates, they should mean something. Random numbers to random riders makes no sense. For those who raced Root 66 when you were issued a series number may remember how their number was tied to their cat/class. For example, the Cat 3s were all 3XXX, Cat 2s 2XXX, etc. The same should apply for RaceDay. There are two ways to go about it. Like Root 66 with the leading number being the category. Or you can color code them. Orange trimmed plates are Cat 3s, Blue Cat 2s, etc. Then the next part of your number is your age bracket. So if you're a Cat 1 30-39 you would be given 1300-1399. Cat 2 50-59 would be 2500-2599, I think you get the point. I remember racers upgrading and getting excited about being issued a new plate. Pros should always be single digits, the previous years' series winner should always get #1.
- Did you see what I said about classes above. Oof RaceDay had a lot of classes. Not only did they have them all, they even had a few extra that we've never had! 19+ and 50+ is all we need. For context, I'm in the 40-49 bracket, and I want to see my own class go away! Classes need to be trimmed, especially the Pro Masters. At the beginning of the season a large group of us were concerned that it would split the 40s and 50s into three fields and dilute the fields even more. Guess we nailed that one on the head. The Pro Masters field and the rest of the masters fields dwindled, with less than 10 participants being the norm. A friend of mine even suggested that all of the age groups should go away and results be run like a 5k. Another friend thinks we should just have age groups and no categories. I think those might be a little overkill, but it brought up another idea. There's no reason you can't have series standings for age groups, but for each individual race there's only 19+ and 50+. I think this is how EFTA ran the NECS back in the day. There were the overall standings and then there were the age group standings, running simultaneously.
- Racing in September and October competes with so many other events, and some very large established events. RaceDay should confine the schedule to spring and summer.
- Another racer told me he knows of riders who only register day of for two reasons. One, it's actually cheaper than pre-reg since there are no BikeReg fees (typically day of registration costs more, but not at RaceDay). Day of registration should cost more. Second, elites register day of to hopefully snipe prize money. Typically, if the registration list looks light, less people are inclined to go, so a pro rider's chance of winning prize money is greater. Kind of like a last minute sneak attack.
Now, who wants to hear my thoughts on cross...