2017 Stewart 45 Registration
- Thread starter Norm
- Start date
Dave Taylor
Rex kwan Do
I gots John Lewer n Joe Van Mater to regHey...what happened to all of the teams? There is only one team reg'd up so far... @pooriggy spent too much time making awards for them not to be given out...get some other contenders in thereWeather looks to be prime racing conditions too!!
Me and @Po123 are going to look rediculous standing on the top box.Hey...what happened to all of the teams? There is only one team reg'd up so far... @pooriggy spent too much time making awards for them not to be given out...get some other contenders in there
Maybe @Norm can get some stand in's for the picture.
Oh yeah. Easy peasey. Sacks of rice!
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Hey...what happened to all of the teams? There is only one team reg'd up so far... @pooriggy spent too much time making awards for them not to be given out...get some other contenders in there
I think the odd number of laps might be deterring teams. 1 of the people will pay $60 to race 15 miles while the other gets twice the race for the same amount.
gtluke
The Moped
I pushed for both members doing 2 laps.
dude 1 goes out
dudett 2 goes out
dudett returns, both now go out at the same time, you're done when the slower of the 2 completes the 2nd lap.
It's tough to get excited about a race you've done multiple times, this is the 5th year for our Stewart race. We've mixed it up over the years, however it's still an endurance race at Stewart. Like many other races put on continually, you reach a point of diminishing returns...and this is ok. I myself find it difficult to do the same race every year and like to switch things up.
In all livelihood this will probably be our last race at Stewart. We enjoy hosting races and look to always put on the best event that we can. The numbers are showing that racers already got the T-shirt and are moving on. If you are on the fence about registering, jump in now while you can and join us in our final hurray at Stewart.
Cheers
In all livelihood this will probably be our last race at Stewart. We enjoy hosting races and look to always put on the best event that we can. The numbers are showing that racers already got the T-shirt and are moving on. If you are on the fence about registering, jump in now while you can and join us in our final hurray at Stewart.
Cheers
thegock
Well-Known Member
[QUOTE="pooriggy, post: 735915, member: the 5th year . Like many other races put on continually, you reach a point of diminishing returns...
In all livelihood this will probably be our last race at Stewart.
Cheers[/QUOTE]
Now there's a hole in next summer's calendar. May have to go further afield for my endurance fix...
In all livelihood this will probably be our last race at Stewart.
Cheers[/QUOTE]
Now there's a hole in next summer's calendar. May have to go further afield for my endurance fix...
Maybe we just need to hide for a little bit, then people will realize they miss it. Or they will say good riddance. I had someone told me he could not do another %^&*#%^ lap of Stewart ever again.
LND
Active Member
Understand the sentiment here, but this is a bit sad nonetheless. Admittedly, I'm really just a "consumer" of these events but have always enjoyed and appreciated having local race venues available, especially the endurance style formats.
Not coming from any actual position of knowledge here, but it seems that the racing fervor starts in a bit early each year, maybe too early, and really fades drastically before we even get to mid-summer, where you'd think the better weather would promote higher levels of participation. In Jan/Feb, people are clamoring for series race schedules to be posted (cabin fever, perhaps) and by June nobody is even posting race reports. The final H2H series race last weekend sounded like an underwhelming response, both in participation and post-event posts. Could be that this time of year runs into family vacation season, so there's competition with other activities. It's just kind of strange to see more posts about CX in July than actual local MTB events.
In any case, thanks for putting these events on the calendar and for all the planning and work to keep them going. Participant response (or lack thereof) dictates the value of future effort by promoters, no doubt understood. Sad to see the loss of this race, SSAP, and the short-lived "return" of the DH40 all within a 3 month window.
In a sense I think maybe we need to get to a state where Cross ends in January and starts the next season in February. Then at some point someone is going to realize, "Hey, this sucks" and maybe start supporting these local races again.
In reality I feel like we are hitting a lull in mountain biking, which is a shame because I thought we might hit a trend where it was going to start being possible again in the fall. I think the lackluster course markings as an entire region really hurts the scene. We have a teammate that told me, "3 of the last 4 races I went off course." While this does not reflect on anything I/we did, it gives the general public the idea that the promoters generally don't care. And as a promoter, when people don't register for our race, it's hard for me to want to go blow off my kids for 2 days up there for something that so few people appreciate.
However, the post above by Lou makes me remember why we do this.
In reality I feel like we are hitting a lull in mountain biking, which is a shame because I thought we might hit a trend where it was going to start being possible again in the fall. I think the lackluster course markings as an entire region really hurts the scene. We have a teammate that told me, "3 of the last 4 races I went off course." While this does not reflect on anything I/we did, it gives the general public the idea that the promoters generally don't care. And as a promoter, when people don't register for our race, it's hard for me to want to go blow off my kids for 2 days up there for something that so few people appreciate.
However, the post above by Lou makes me remember why we do this.
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Mountain biking as a whole has seen a huge increase in numbers the past 2 years. Those folks have been mostly "plus bike trail rider types" and NICA aged kids. Non racer peeps for the most part. They're not on the forum or Bikereg and probably have no idea these events even exsist. Maybe they'll catch a Facebook post from a friend of a friend?
You guys put on the best events by far so it'll come back around at some point.
Maybe add a U18 class to feed off the NICA momentum? There's 200 kids right there.
And dead horse beating but, fat bike class. I hate bike classes but the group you're missing here is big. Same thing with BS50.
.02 from a retired XC racer.
You guys put on the best events by far so it'll come back around at some point.
Maybe add a U18 class to feed off the NICA momentum? There's 200 kids right there.
And dead horse beating but, fat bike class. I hate bike classes but the group you're missing here is big. Same thing with BS50.
.02 from a retired XC racer.
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Sorry, 1 more thing about bike class. Use the MTBNJ ride series as a way to gain insight on riders and bikes. At KVSP for example there were a dozen fat bikes and I was the only singlespeeder. I wonder if using info from those rides could help shape classes to come?
I am afraid that NICA is going to establish a direct pipeline into cross season. Unfortunately the direct effect NICA had on H2H this year was to detract from the parents class and eradicate the kids classes. I hope that plants some seeds but IDK if that's really going to happen. I feel like all these kids that are super fast & young (Forrest, Lando) just go to Vermont or Colorado if they are really that serious about the mountain bike. Understandably so. A series like the H2H is going to also have to weather that lull in reg numbers for a few years.
I feel like we, as a team, may need to just think about changing up our events. We kick these ideas around every year and personally I feel like we need a new/different event. On the idea of what you talk about above, it may be time to bring back the Mooch weekend at the end of the summer. Maybe the Cranks concept with a race/event is something to think about. Maybe we need to work better with bike shops and leave printed material in the shops for all the casualists. While I do not think the casual biker wants to get into H2H races, I think those guys were the bread & butter when 24 HoA was big. Hell, I was one of those bread and butter guys. You could argue that MTBNJ as a race entity exists because of the seed that the 24 hour race planted in me.
I hate classes too. But I think maybe we need to market a race as a bucket list race and do it once or twice. Bearscat was a great idea but a lot of people do it once then check it off and don't go back. We do not have the regional support to sell those kinds of races out every year. Hell, nobody does,. That MIchaux series is awesome by all accounts but they get low numbers because they are so damn hard.
I think the bucket list aspect is huge. I'm not a serious racer but definitely sign up for races/events that die out in my heart rather quick. My example year in a nutshell:
Hell of Hunterdon - Great ride at the beginning of the year to break the cobwebs. But doing it twice it's not new.
Monkey Knife Fight - Did it to see how I survived. I survived, so would I go out to go do the same painful ride again?
SingleSpeedApalooza - Tried it last year, put in actual race effort this year. If it was even available next year would I want to do it? What would be new/different?
TourDeHeifer in VT - Never did a this-should-kill-me technical gravel ride before. I didn't die, had a good time but if I signed up next year it would be more of the same with the exception of a length change.
Ramble Ride - Hopped on to do a hilly road century as I've never done one before. I did it, it sucked. I doubt I'd do it again.
Stewart 45 - I've done the DH40. I have no doubt in my ability to do 45 miles at Stewart but the fun dies down after mile 30, so I have minimal interest.
So as much as I love the idea of Stewart45, I can see how the interest would die out.
Hell of Hunterdon - Great ride at the beginning of the year to break the cobwebs. But doing it twice it's not new.
Monkey Knife Fight - Did it to see how I survived. I survived, so would I go out to go do the same painful ride again?
SingleSpeedApalooza - Tried it last year, put in actual race effort this year. If it was even available next year would I want to do it? What would be new/different?
TourDeHeifer in VT - Never did a this-should-kill-me technical gravel ride before. I didn't die, had a good time but if I signed up next year it would be more of the same with the exception of a length change.
Ramble Ride - Hopped on to do a hilly road century as I've never done one before. I did it, it sucked. I doubt I'd do it again.
Stewart 45 - I've done the DH40. I have no doubt in my ability to do 45 miles at Stewart but the fun dies down after mile 30, so I have minimal interest.
So as much as I love the idea of Stewart45, I can see how the interest would die out.
The effect that all of these races have on the mtbnj volunteer staff is also noticeable. Many of us have young kids, kids playing 500 other sports, jobs, a desire to race ourselves, no interest in promoting races, etc.... I mean I think what makes our races good is that our team wants to do it just because. There is no real money in putting these races on...so you have to want to do because you love seeing guys like @LND have a fun day. So I think every couple of years we need to change things up bc we are in general a creative bunch of people who like coming up with new ideas....Doing the same thing year after year gets easier and we stop thinking about the effort involved as fun....For example...I know what I need to go to the store and buy tonight, almost off the top of my head....The first year I did this...the ridiculousness of shopping for a bike race was kinda fun...Now, I wont lie, its a pain in the ass. But goddammit, I promised everyone ice cream and I WILL deliver ice cream. Year after year the behind the scences detail that we do get tiring...permits, maps, insurance, bathroom, where the F are we getting ice? who has an extra table, how many X arrows are there, do we have paper plates, oh look...they dropped the porta potties a 1/4mi from where they should be (this happened last year)..Lawn mowers/weed wackers/generators......I just thank god @Norm doesnt make me be involved with scoring or parking cars. So something new and exciting helps move all of the suck to the back burner for a while.
Ian F
Well-Known Member
I've enjoyed racing at Stewart the times I've done it. In a way, I kinda liked the DH40 format with two 20 mile laps with the "pit road" the best. I also enjoyed the 6-hr race. But for some reason, three 15 laps - notsomuch.
While I would like to do the race this weekend, I literally almost killed myself earlier this week attempting the Halter's 3131. I'm just not in any sort of race-shape this year.
I'm somewhat used to racing the same venues repeatedly. That doesn't bother me much. Many of the DH tracks I've raced on go through minimal changes year to year. And I've been doing a variation of the same road loop from my house for 25 years.
While I would like to do the race this weekend, I literally almost killed myself earlier this week attempting the Halter's 3131. I'm just not in any sort of race-shape this year.
I'm somewhat used to racing the same venues repeatedly. That doesn't bother me much. Many of the DH tracks I've raced on go through minimal changes year to year. And I've been doing a variation of the same road loop from my house for 25 years.