Subject: MTB Season Meeting From: Joe Kopena Sent: Apr 24, 2006 03:55 PDT Everybody, Some notes on the MTB meeting, which I thought was fairly productive. There's still a lot of things unresolved, but we definitely pulled together a lot of ideas & the coming season stands to be awesome. We will probably try to hold another get together at Easterns to keep the conversation going before everyone takes off for the summer. Basic notes: - The scoring dude/dudette will happen and their position is getting more clear, but it hasn't been firmly nailed down quite yet. - Medical plans are going to be taken more seriously this year, just as they have in the road season. - We're going to work w/ the promoters to get info, flyers, etc, out early so teams can use them in recruiting & driving interest in the MTB season. Included in this will be a guide to the different events, typical courses, & the scene for all the roadies that have been missing out (camping & bonfires, baby!). - There will be an ECCC promoters' guide coming out, to complement an upcoming updated NORBA guide. - Promoters are going to push to provide host housing and/or camping at more events, which makes things way more awesome & helps drive down costs for everyone. - Promoters are going to push to include high school & NORBA categories, or work with existing events. If you don't know, high school racing leagues are becoming a pretty big deal. They also have a natural fit with being co-located w/ collegiate events. - Men's D is probably going to be dropped in order to consolidate & boost field sizes. If you haven't done an MTB race, this is not like dropping a road category. There's no notion of a pack or getting pulled, so it's not a problem putting D guys in with the Cs. It'll be basically the same ride for them & they'll still get a good long workout. In fact, they'll get more trail time, which is cool. Event notes: - We're really pushing this year for a full slate of consistent, quality events. One of the things that means is four events at pretty much each weekend, typically XC, STXC, DH, and DS. Also, we're going to standardize on dual slalom over 4-cross. However, this doesn't mean promoters can't put on other events such as a hill climb or time trial. Also of interest would be a non-enduro team relay event, something capturing the feel of a road TTT. - There's only going to be 1 enduro event. Although the promoter interest is there, the numbers say riders aren't into it. - To round out & cornerstone our schedule of awesome events, UVM & UMASS are going to put on premier events, roughly akin to the Beanpot & Easterns duo on the road. They're going to pull out all the stops---lots of promotion, great banquets, BBQs, or dances w/ an awards ceremony, etc, and really drive interest in the season. - Some weekends will have regional 1-day XC events to supplement the schedule. For example, this may be done during the UConn weekend to give a racing opportunity to all those people that don't want to do an enduro. These will be low-key, A/B or even Men's/Women's category races, placed around the conference to try & draw interest from that region, e.g. the far north & west. They should be totally fun & a good low-risk, high-reward first event for new promoters. All that being said, the tentative schedule has a lot of potential: Sep 09-10 Penn State XC, STXC, DH, Dual Sep 16-17 UConn Enduro [+ TBD regional 1-day XC's?] Sep 23-24 UVM XC, STXC, DH, Dual [PREMIER ECCC EVENT w/Banquet] Sep 30-01 UNH XC, STXC, DH, Dual Oct 07-08 RPI XC, STXC, DH, Dual Oct 14-15 UMASS EASTERNS XC, STXC, DH, Dual [PREMIER ECCC EVENT w/Banquet] Almost all of these weekends are running new courses/locations, so there's some good stuff to look forward to. We're also definitely all going to put in the effort & make sure every one is a great time. I'll get in touch w/ individual promoters over the course of this week to get you some specific notes, but feel free to drop me a line w/ particular questions. Same goes for everyone else. If you have been MTB racing, we want to know what you think. If you haven't, we want to know what we can do to get you out there! TTFN -- - joe kopena can't get out that way.