NICA race

TAS

Well-Known Member
Signed up today for: AM course marshall hospitality and course teardown.... Love that yellow tape Ha Ha!
 

Team Town Cycle

Well-Known Member
Just a quick bump for this - still looking for volunteers for Sunday. Course marshals (first and especially second shift!), and scoring staff are definitely needed! Even as you volunteer, you'll be able to see your kid race - it's all good! So excited to see this finally happen - lots of good peeps have worked for years on it. If you can't make it to this weekend , we've got 4 other races between now and the beginning of June - https://goo.gl/zbtmGj to pick your spot!
 

viper8315

Active Member
So yea, I saw the email that this event was cancelled. I mentioned this already in the Six Mile thread, this is EXACTLY why you don't want some government desk jockey deciding when you can ride the trails. Conditions were great tonight on the meetup ride. The park would more than likely be fine on Sunday. No rain in the forecast for Saturday and decently warm temps. Let alone, you don't know how much rain is going to fall. This event shouldn't have been cancelled this early. A trail walk on Saturday afternoon should have been the deciding factor. Ok, rant over, carry on. I feel really bad for all the kids who got ready for this...
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
i feel bad for the kids - but there could be a back-up plan.
parking lot skills competition? group clinic? as long as there isn't lightning, and it isn't freezing, i'm sure some type of bike related event
could be held. could also have some games. we'll see - live and learn.
Someone had to make the call - and always choose the safest choice.
 

viper8315

Active Member
The call wasn't made for rider safety as mentioned in the email. That would be a completely different situation, and I would not have said a word. The park commission made the call to protect the park. Frankly, it's BS. Have you seen what the fields look like after the crewing competitions? When all kinds of vehicles, trailers and people absolutely trash the fields. The park commission let's that happen every year...
 

KenS

JORBA: Director
JORBA.ORG
The league staff has worked for over two years to get to this weekend. We drove to Chester last weekend and setup the entire infield, timing, tents, chutes, tables, podiums, everything. We did that to ensure a flawless inaugural race setup. We are volunteers btw, and most of us do not have student athletes in the league.

There were folks flying across the country to train and assist the NJ staff in setup, operations and safety; all aspects of the race. We offered to literally blow dry the trails on saturday, and bring an army of willing jorba volunteer's to the park after the race. The local JORBA chapter included.

Safety was and still is our primary concern, and a wet course always poses safety concerns. We have middle schoolers who are new to mtb coming out to race.

Please help us #getmorekidsonbikes in NJ and support this decision. No one is hurting more than the race staff, but we are amped to make the next race even better.
 

MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I'm so depressed right now.
Thank you @KenS and the rest of the core crew.
Doing my best to put a positive spin on this for the kids. I mean, I even got our tent set up last night. Did you see that shiz on da 'gram? AES did a kick ass job. We've been building to this weekend for such a long time.
Thank you for making this possible.

We need to keep the momentum for the next one! Volunteers needed!!!

FYI.... This IS THE GREATEST THING TO HAPPEN TO NJ SINCE.......
Never mind. I grew up on LI.
 

Team Town Cycle

Well-Known Member
Sounds like the right call even at the expense of kids and hard work. 1 1/2" rain is a lot for any park. Will this be rescheduled or dropped.
It will be dropped - there just isn't any room in the schedule. Park availability, staff schedules, the core crew availability all has to line up - it wouldn't work next weekend, the following weekend is Easter, and then we are at what will now be Race #1 at Six Mile on April 23.

Reality is this could happen any time at any venue - of course, we just hate it more because the kids have worked hard to get to this first race. This is just a bump in the road though - we'll shake it off and move onto 6 Mile! Please consider volunteering at 6 Mile, or one of the other venues this season - besides 6 Mile, we'll be at Rowan College in Gloucester County, Lewis Morris, and in Chester. Check out our volunteer signup page!
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
The call wasn't made for rider safety as mentioned in the email. That would be a completely different situation, and I would not have said a word. The park commission made the call to protect the park. Frankly, it's BS. Have you seen what the fields look like after the crewing competitions? When all kinds of vehicles, trailers and people absolutely trash the fields. The park commission let's that happen every year...
It is a major bummer this race was cancelled but take these complaints someplace else. There are definitely parts of the course that would not be even remotely dry for Sunday, not to mention the delay in everything else the rain would have caused.

It wouldn't be good for anyone involved if the trails were wrecked after the race, even though JORBA/SMART would have the trails back in shape in a short time frame. But throwing spears at the park commission is only going to make sure a race will never happen there.
 

Mountain Bike Mike

Well-Known Member
How long is the Mercer grieving process take? I'm pretty pumped up about an actual official race event at 6 mile...

There are many great lessons to learn with Mercer being cancelled. The explanations listed above all should be taught to our kids to help them learn, understand and establish a responsible foundation. They are the next generation of shredders. They should learn that weather and conditions will impact events for the sake of safety and protecting our trail systems. Also further expanding our relationships with park officials and park organizations. Does it suck that all this work and planning went out the window, absolutely. There have been lots of volunteer hours put in to make it happen and that shows our passion for this sport and if anything, that's why we do it.

Let's think how cool it will be to have a race at 6mile?

If you're bummed about MTB races being cancelled like this and think racing should go on regardless... There's always cyclocross ;)
 

MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
It is a major bummer this race was cancelled but take these complaints someplace else. There are definitely parts of the course that would not be even remotely dry for Sunday, not to mention the delay in everything else the rain would have caused.

It wouldn't be good for anyone involved if the trails were wrecked after the race, even though JORBA/SMART would have the trails back in shape in a short time frame. But throwing spears at the park commission is only going to make sure a race will never happen there.


How long is the Mercer grieving process take? I'm pretty pumped up about an actual official race event at 6 mile...

There are many great lessons to learn with Mercer being cancelled. The explanations listed above all should be taught to our kids to help them learn, understand and establish a responsible foundation. They are the next generation of shredders. They should learn that weather and conditions will impact events for the sake of safety and protecting our trail systems. Also further expanding our relationships with park officials and park organizations. Does it suck that all this work and planning went out the window, absolutely. There have been lots of volunteer hours put in to make it happen and that shows our passion for this sport and if anything, that's why we do it.

Let's think how cool it will be to have a race at 6mile?

If you're bummed about MTB races being cancelled like this and think racing should go on regardless... There's always cyclocross ;)

Spot on guys...:thumbsup:
 

kdebello

Well-Known Member
really bummed about the race being cancelled but can't wait for 6MR. I had my weekend planned to the minute with volunteering for infield setup on Saturday, the race on Sunday and 7 softball games between 2 kids.

Already signed up to for infield setup at 6MR. They could use all the help they can get. Plenty of ways to get involved, sign up to volunteer!
 

viper8315

Active Member
Ok, fair enough guys. I hear you. I just figured it was a bit premature. Believe me, I love that park. I've been riding/hiking there since I was a kid. My wife and I got married there. I don't want to see it trashed either, or anyone get hurt for that matter too. I just saw the email and the part about the "park commission asked us to cancel to protect the park". I've been there during/after the Italian American festival, the major crewing competitions, etc. and seen the place absolutely trashed. That's all I was trying to say. Sorry I ranted, I can't take that back now. Hopefully the 6 mile event is so absolutely awesome that all the kids forget the disappointment of this cancelled event.
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
My son was pretty disappointed this morning when he found out. I honestly can't see 6-Mile happening either, so I just haven't told him there's a race there yet until I know for sure.
 

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