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To Women 4's, HPV's, Juniors and Counterclockophobes:
Thu, 02/15/2007 - 5:39pm
First of all, what a GREAT DAY OF RACING it was on Sunday at Cherry Pie!!! Wow.
This was my first race as Director, and I learned a lot. In priority order:
First: Get that insane Zebraman OFF THE MIKE!!!
Second: Don't mix the 4's with the Elite women, even with separate prizes and finishing points. The surviving group of 4's got pulled and never got to sprint, and I feel really bad about that. They really worked hard. Sorry, gals. But there's still the historical problem of the W1/2/3 & W4 races not filling up. But I may have the solution for next year ... see below.
Third: If you're going to be the first event in the junior points series, be ready for increased enrollment next year with separate fields, and give them a decent length race.
Fourth: Sorry, HPV/Recumbents. There is absolutely no room for a novelty field with the demographics of NorCal racing.
Fifth: COUNTER-CLOCKWISE!! Oh, my -- What a call!! This course was fantastic for the racers and so much better for the spectators. Turn One was a full-on, eggs on the table BLAST and the finishing hill was just awesome.
Sixth: The 45/55+ 3/4 race was great! As always. Good, even competition. (So great to see Darryl spanking the field!)
Seventh: Separate out the 5's and mentor them. No combining of 5's in other fields. There's really no good argument to the contrary.
Eighth: Don't tease Michael Hernandez and keep him flowing in good wine, 'cause he's an influential uber-blogger.
SO THE CONCLUSION:
If the NCNCA permits it and if I repeat as R.D., we'll run 7:30 to 4:30, add a W3-4 field earlier in the day so some women can race twice like we guys get to, and lengthen the junior 15-16 and 17-18 races.
And once again, I'm sorry to everyone who did not have the rockin' great time I did on Sunday for whatever reason. Lets' try again next year!!!
Zebraman
At the race scheduling meeting I introduced the promoters of both races to each other and I suggested they try to coordinate schedules and of categories.
re Apple Pie & Martinez, perhaps the promoters could make a concerted effort to communicate and then coordinate fields and schedules. Perhaps not offering the same fields or at least changing the schedule so folks could do both if they choose. If I recall, the Women's 3/4 races were at essentially the same time at both races.
Lorri Lee Lown
http://www.velogirls.com
Bad idea from the considering Masters who usually do the Pro race as a second race. Look at the numbers and I think you will find that it's quite a few.
This is not from the racer's perspective, it's from a promoters.
Thanks Jess, it was a great event!
I say counterclockwise was better.
My teammates won 2 pies and I didn't break any bones! :D
Chris
http://twitter.com/cpbike
There isn't much that NCNCA can do to protect any races. As long as there are enough officials to go around and as long as the promoter is competent then the NCNCA can't deny approval of a race permit application. The best we can do is get promoters to talk to each other and try to work things out.
Thanks, Mike and Warren. I was wondering if anyone would notice my soggy little victory.
I have to say that Rene's Apple Pie was dealt a real blow this year. If the weather wasn't bad enough, next-door neighbor Martinez electing to compete for her traditional slot, then offering a treasure trove of prizes, really wasn't fair to her Santa Rosa gem.
I hope that the NCNCA will better protect our institutions. Rene has done and risked a lot to promote North Bay racing, and she's a sweetheart and a mensch, and she deserves better.
Mid-day pro race? Very interesting idea. Use it to separate peoples' doubles, let them warm down and/or up, have lunch, increase the spectatorship ... Interesting.
also put the pro mens race one slot earlier. it was getting to long of a day to stay and watch the whole thing, even with one of the best fields I have seen in awhile.
thanks. mate.
Wins a race on Saturday and runs a race on Sunday. We can only hope he'll remain humble.
that Jess ... so hot right now.