Rothrock TrailMix - Canceled

JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
The promoters have a whole weekend planned around this. My biggest task will likely be making sure @JimN and @Magic don't drink too much at the beer tent on Saturday night.

To be honest, I probably wouldn't have signed up for this race if I knew it was three hours away. I knew it was on the way to State College, but I thought it was a lot closer. I think I was drunk and @soundz tricked me into registering. He said that @gingertooth is going, so you know it has to be good. I also didn't realize there was a whole weekend around it, or I probably would have gone out and camped. Oh is there a beer tent? :)

Also, Rothrock is awesome, and I need to get back out there. Bummer about this race.
 

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
They have both a cyclocross course and MTB course!
It's one course 40 mile course, you enter in cx cat or mtb cat. Also its point A to B and your responsible for your own ride back. 5 hr. Cut off time for 40 miles.

Not a bad place to hang out for a wknd.
@Magic 50-59 are at a point in there life that they know how to have fun and have the time to do it and or make the time to do it.
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
just so im getting this straight, we are blaming the people who do the events or the promoters?
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
Whats a bummer is this is a low key event on an IMBA Epic loop; with support. It's a good "long XC" race that doesn't feel like a complete death march. They even have a freaking go kart track at the start for your kids while you race. The terrain is awesome. I guess I'm not in touch with what people want now and days.

I do know that gravel (down here) is taking off. Mostly because anyone can enjoy it. You have people actually racing it with roadie tactics, as well as dudes just out for a fun, supported ride and taking full advantage of the aid stations.
 

Pearl

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING
What year did Pearl move again? Coincidence?
giphy.gif
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Yeah, a combination of the two. Plus you add road races, gravel rides, enduros, other group rides....

I don't know if less people are riding bikes (maybe they are, I really don't know) but less people are paying to race. Your data proves it.

People are out riding, we're busier than we've ever been. General vibe is people aren't interested in racing, and those who are curious don't want to pay a $10 USAC Fee and $10 day-of on top of a $40 entry fee to race for 45 minutes. Rando numbers have nearly tripled as have many of the local disease Centurys. People are out there, they just want more experience for the money IMO.
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
Another factor that probably isn’t helping is Strava and Zwift racing or zwifting in general. I don’t get zwift racing is it totally doesn’t feel the same but I know a lot of guys that solely do that. Also, many people are content with a KOM.
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
People are out riding, we're busier than we've ever been. General vibe is people aren't interested in racing, and those who are curious don't want to pay a $10 USAC Fee and $10 day-of on top of a $40 entry fee to race for 45 minutes. Rando numbers have nearly tripled as have many of the local disease Centurys. People are out there, they just want more experience for the money IMO.
Randos are probably increasing cause no one knew what a rando was before last year. So the “let me try that out it’s new” factor is kicking in.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
People are out riding, we're busier than we've ever been. General vibe is people aren't interested in racing, and those who are curious don't want to pay a $10 USAC Fee and $10 day-of on top of a $40 entry fee to race for 45 minutes. Rando numbers have nearly tripled as have many of the local disease Centurys. People are out there, they just want more experience for the money IMO.
I've seen that trend over the last few years for endurance events. Where the goal is a distance and not a time or a place. Randos/brevets have been around for over a 100 years and is benefiting from the recent interests in endurance challenges.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Whats a bummer is this is a low key event on an IMBA Epic loop; with support. It's a good "long XC" race that doesn't feel like a complete death march. They even have a freaking go kart track at the start for your kids while you race. The terrain is awesome. I guess I'm not in touch with what people want now and days.

I do know that gravel (down here) is taking off. Mostly because anyone can enjoy it. You have people actually racing it with roadie tactics, as well as dudes just out for a fun, supported ride and taking full advantage of the aid stations.

I agree as well, Rothrock was a blast and the scene was pretty good. That John Wert trail can go SaD though.
 

clarkenstein

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
As a guy who always thinks about doing stuff like this just to do something, I usually back out because as @pooriggy said, I’m busy AF. I don’t care if I DFL but to add more to the plate and try to squeeze out a full day for a few hours of racing it’s tough.

Events I can dig. I’m not going to necessarily bury myself and I can get in a supported ride. Burning any more of my candle isn’t what I’m looking for. Escape I’ll take, blowing myself up, no thanks. It doesn’t have to be easy, just don’t want to line up to blow up. I can plan events way out too. I already know when the Century for the Cure is. It’s planned like a wedding. I can plan around it with the whole fam.

Race series sound fun honestly, and I would love to be fit enough to do one, but a block of weekends week after week won’t work for me. I’d be like a another child vs the other parent when it comes to commitments.

When my kids are more independent I’m sure that will change but then I’ll be like @rick81721 with one foot in the grave roaming the flatlands in the winters.
 

onetracker

Well-Known Member
Rothrock is a great place to ride; RTMX is a killer event. IMO people young and old want new adventures, a community vibe, value for time/money and to have fun. You will notice that new events usually have record numbers the first and second year. Promoters need to constantly reinvent events/races. Only events like the Michaux Series can run the same events year after year due to the fact that they do not care about registration numbers; it is strictly a labor of love (and a commitment to a specific ideal: make the hardest races on the planet).
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Rothrock is a great place to ride; RTMX is a killer event. IMO people young and old want new adventures, a community vibe, value for time/money and to have fun. You will notice that new events usually have record numbers the first and second year. Promoters need to constantly reinvent events/races. Only events like the Michaux Series can run the same events year after year due to the fact that they do not care about registration numbers; it is strictly a labor of love (and a commitment to a specific ideal: make the hardest races on the planet).

I don't disagree necessarily but then I look at Fair Hill which has been the same race for 12 years and they get 500 racers. So I am not sure how to square those 2 things. I also understand that for every point there is a counterpoint in this argument. I'm not trying to counter you for the sake of doing it. I just don't know why some "ok" events draw massive numbers and great events do well then suck. I'm sure the answer is more complex than any single thing.

Unless the answer is "gerbils," in which case I guess I agree.
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
$0.02 - might be unrelated, but whatever.

I am working the Jerseyman Triathlon out of round valley this weekend.
it sold out at 450 participants - about 16 classes. 2 different distances, M&F and elite/3 diff AG.
they expect 10% no-show, and because the weather is good, they will oversell with day-of.
probably close to 500. The cap is the amount of parking in the RVR area lots.
the masters age groups are faster than the under 39.......

-------

How to make mtb racing more approachable?
NICA is going to take a few years to filter-up.

How to get the casual groups to show up and do a cat 3 race, and have fun
with their "crew" and then move up (or not) -

i think one idea is races at nj mtb festival.....
make races more festival-ish

not easy - got a feeling it is a marketing problem.
 
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