Why is H2H hurting when MASS is doing well?

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Dave did mention to me that they are planning to put a pavilion in with additional parking, adjacent to the exhisting parking lot. If driving in, the area to the left of lot is the location. Hopefully this does happen.
 

shrpshtr325

Infinite Source of Sarcasm
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I talked to Dave this past weekend, the new BSA director, specifically about NICA and he is absolutely in love with the idea. The BSA and NICA pretty much have the same aims. We are thinking to make a loop that is NICA-friendly as well as BSA camper-friendly. The ST loop is a bit much for some of the BSA campers. I think he would be willing to do whatever needs to be done to make the event work.

I do not know how we would get that many cars in. But they have camp events with hundreds of campers so they manage to do it.


are you guys limited to the wheeler side of the camp? as i recall from my summer camp days the somers side has alot more parking available.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
are you guys limited to the wheeler side of the camp? as i recall from my summer camp days the somers side has alot more parking available.

Nah. But that other lot isn’t really very big either. Maybe they’d use both sides.
 

RobW

Well-Known Member
I talked to Dave this past weekend, the new BSA director, specifically about NICA and he is absolutely in love with the idea. The BSA and NICA pretty much have the same aims. We are thinking to make a loop that is NICA-friendly as well as BSA camper-friendly. The ST loop is a bit much for some of the BSA campers. I think he would be willing to do whatever needs to be done to make the event work.

I do not know how we would get that many cars in. But they have camp events with hundreds of campers so they manage to do it.
Two day events for smaller venues?
 

de00304

Well-Known Member
Come on...you upgrade to Cat 1, you better expect to up your training. This isn't something that just happens organically. You can just ride alot and be competitive in cat 2, but that's super rare in cat 1. Cat 1 is full of super competitive people who train with determination



I upgraded to cat 2, I got smoked for a year. Took my lumps, got motivated, came back the next year and was in the mix. The following year, I won races.

I upgraded to Cat 1, I got smoked for a couple years. Took my lumps, got motivated, came back every year working harder and harder.

If you want to just ride for fun and not take it too serious, stay in Cat 2. If you get forced to upgrade, but deep down you know you aren't ready, talk to the promoter and let them know. Hopefully they would be ok with staying in cat 2, but don't get mad when you aren't allowed to get series points or anything like that.
Well, fwiw, I worked very hard at cat2, and while competitive, I wasn’t dominating. I DIDNT want to go to cat1, but the rules in place at the time said I had to. So I did. And I got thoroughly smoked race after race. And I had no fun, and frankly had no business being a cat1 racer. And since I didn’t have a couple of years to work it out, I dropped out of the scene. That is neither good or bad, it just is, and is simply one viewpoint as to why racers drop out of the series.

I still race now and then “for fun and not take it too seriously”, but I don’t live and breathe MTB racing anymore. I used to back in the day (I wasn’t “just riding a lot” - driving to Rattlin the weekend after Leadville, or doing W101 and Dh40 back to back the same weekend for example, requires a commitment to racing and a fair amount of stupidity), but not anymore.

It sounds like the rules around upgrading may have changed, and if so, that is good.

If this viewpoint helps, great, if not, please ignore, nothing to see here folks....
 
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Jeffreywoliver

Well-Known Member
I am one of the "dwindlers" - back in 2010-2012 timeframe I was heavy into it, raced all of the H2H series (including Tymor), as well as several MASS (Stoopid, W101, Michaux, Rattling, etc), Bearscat, Cathedral, DH40, SSAP, Leadville, 24H of Moab, plus some CX, etc.

After coming in 2nd for the H2H series in Cat2, I moved up to Cat1 because those were the rules. However, the reality is I wasn't that fast (my laps times were always way slower than Cat1 times), and while I usually came in top 5 or so in Cat2, I was certainly not dominating and only won 1 race in all those years. What allowed me to achieve the second place overall finish was consistency and "attendance", along with pay dirt, that gave me the accumulated points required to be competitive in the series.

Once I hit Cat1, I went immediately to DFL in pretty much all the races. I still did them all, but the joy was gone and it was now a slog. Not a lot of fun coming in 30+ minutes after the field, or starting my last lap and seeing most of the field had already finished. Add having to buy a season's license, along with the day being totally shot due to late Cat1 start times and the extra laps pushing most races out over 20 miles, and I decided this was no longer fun and I dialed it way back. I also had a kid in 2013, with all the time constraints that comes along with that.

I still race now and then, but strictly for fun when the time allows. I am a lot slower now and a lot more cautious about getting hurt, and I am OK with that. I probably won't return to doing the whole series anytime soon, but if I did, I would be signing up in Cat2. FWIW, I think lap times, rather than series placement, should drive the decision to upgrade or not.

This is exactly why I feel no pressure to upgrade from 3 to 2 until and if results warrant it. I think I have the engine, but ain’t going nowhere until my tech skills are on same level. Although I’ve had some decent results on the road - all over the top 10 in solid races - I’ve never won there because I hit the upgrade button too fast.
 

Jeffreywoliver

Well-Known Member
Good thread. Stupid question: Seems MASS and H2H the promoters of all the MTB races in the Northern NJ region? Since I have to miss Stewart and LewMo, I’m looking at what I can do between WayWay and July. Might do that French Creek on the Rocks race.
 

Jeffreywoliver

Well-Known Member
Saw this on the list too. I’m down with traveling a couple of hours to race. Unfortunately this is when I’m out of the country. Isn’t this LewMo wknd?
 

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
@Mountain Bike Mike classifies it as real mountain biking, so I guess that says something. He ❤️ It so much.

It is 7 miles from my house, I don’t go there, but will.

You racing? Sick. See you there.

It was a really cool loop when I did it. (2016). I plan on doing both this and lewmo, but we'll see when it's time to actually execute on that plan.
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
You racing? Sick. See you there.

It was a really cool loop when I did it. (2016). I plan on doing both this and lewmo, but we'll see when it's time to actually execute on that plan.
Most likely not.

Ill be riding there a bunch since the local NICA team practices there. I’ll learn the loop, But currently I have a mental block because you have to loop around and double back to get a ride in
 

Magic

Formerly 1sh0t1b33r
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Most likely not.
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ryderX

Well-Known Member
I talked to Dave this past weekend, the new BSA director, specifically about NICA and he is absolutely in love with the idea. The BSA and NICA pretty much have the same aims. We are thinking to make a loop that is NICA-friendly as well as BSA camper-friendly. The ST loop is a bit much for some of the BSA campers. I think he would be willing to do whatever needs to be done to make the event work.

I do not know how we would get that many cars in. But they have camp events with hundreds of campers so they manage to do it.
The parking is really a non-issue. At the height of the 24HOA we utilized the Waterloo Vilage parking area and prioritized parking access at the actually BSA camp based on a few criteria. Volunteers, carpoolers, and staff were allowed one on site vehicle everyone else parked at the large lot at the village. We also did registration pickup and check in at the Village parking lot which made managing the traffic and congestion in the actual BSA a breeze.
 
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