Dcyclehopp wrote:
Why not seperate Mtn Bike racing events and Road Racing events into two seperate weekends? Its apprent that it is too much for the promotors to handle all at once. I believe you would see an increase in rider attendance and happy racers.

I agree that Sea Otter has it's negatives. However, one of the charms for me is exactly that there are events for just about every cycling genre. How unusual is that? I think it's great that there's a weekend that celebrates mtn biking and road cycling (and a little of everything else too). Not to mention that there are riders who compete in both disciplines.

Sea Otter is just poorly run. Its the least favorite events for me. The RR and circuit courses are epic, the racing is fun. But the way things are run. Just below standards. It seems that every year it is getting worse.

Some examples:

2 years ago while racing the Category 2 circuit race. During the race the officials decided to shorten the race. We went from 30 mnutes to go one lap, to 5 laps to go. HUH!? It made for a 30 minute race. I paid $50.00 dollars to go 30 minutes. Actually that has happend more than once. It has happened 2 times.

Here is another example:

Last year I raced in the Pro 1/2 stage race, during the circuit race I saw plenty of Elite and Pro dropped riders sitting at the top of the circuit hill, then jumped into the pack as we passed. Where were the officials? I took pride in knowing I was one of the few elite riders that slogged it out and finished the race, on the lead lap. The results were so arse backwards that they did not have me even listed! Where are the officials? I went to complain about this conduct from those certain Pro Elite riders. To make matters wores, several of the culprets that took thier own "free lap" were listed as finishers. My complaints were ignored. Very frustrating! Neeldess to say last year was my last time racing Sea Otter.

Here is a thought. Why not seperate Mtn Bike racing events and Road Racing events into two seperate weekends? Its apparent that it is too much for the promotors, officials, volunteers, and racers to handle all at once. I believe you would see an increase in rider attendance and happy promotors, officials, volunteers, and racers all around.

George,
Although I am unaware of your daughters specific situation, we are very sorry that she was unable to race. There is no benefit to us or anyone else to keep someone from paticipating over a glitch.
Feel free to e-mail me directly with the information so we can improve our system and make sure everyone who uses SBO gets what they expect.

marek@sportsbaseonline.com

SBO

WarrenG wrote:...SBO is collecting a fee for EACH rider's registration and that should be enough money to do the job correctly...

Not sure what fees have to do with SBO not being responsible for compiling results, but ok. Since SBO was responsible for posting results, I just want to give a huge shout-out to SBO for posting them so quickly. I think the entire event's results were up within 24 hours.

And George, you and your daughter probably missed the gigantic link on the sportsbaseonline.com registration pages regarding "refund policy", which I might add has been unchanged for almost two years... an eternity in internet years.

Since the promoter did refund your fees with a smile, the circle of life is complete.

Quote:Refund Policy Last Updated: 8/17/2004 4:34:21 PM
As the third party processor, SportsBase Online is not authorized to process refunds. If you would like to request a refund for an event you registered for on sportsbaseonline.com, please send us an email using the "Contact Us" feature above. Please include your name and contact information, as well as the name and date of the event, and the reason you are requesting a refund. We will forward your request to the appropriate event promoter.

It really should make no difference if there are 300 registered riders or 8000 because SBO is collecting a fee for EACH rider's registration and that should be enough money to do the job correctly. It is the responsibility of SBO to ensure they have enough staff to do the job the riders are paying them to do.

It's interesting how various small clubs with volunteers who aren't collecting a registration surcharge are able to handle this task reasonably well.

I know you handle registration, but it is NOT a perfect system and mistakes are made. My daughter missed getting in McLane because of your on-line "system" and she has yet to receive an apology from SBO.
The promoter was gracious and granted us a refund for your mistake.
Whenever the race flyer says SBO is the exclusive agent handling registration, I'll not register my household for that race unless there is a mail in option available. The USPS hasn't let me down yet!

George Meilahn