Let's chat
what do you think?
FROM: Liebold Nation
TO: you
SUBJECT: VeloPormo QuAndary
Date problems for Kern Women's Stage Race 2008: The new San Jose event has moved onto the usual date for Kern, and other dates are hard to come by. Do you have suggestions? contact Velo Promo at velopro1@sonnet.com
Also, we are considering dropping the Gold Nugget Junior Stage Race in 2008 unless we can get more riders. Any suggestions? Better date? sponsors? contact Velo Promo at velopro1@sonnet.com
/mybs
I'd love Kern to be closer, but that would take a bit of the epic out of it. First time I was at Kern, they had that 2nd stage 13 mile hillclimb in 100degree weather shit to mess with your mind.
yeah, that was epic.
Datewise for Kern? I don't really see why it has to change just because some San Jose race is on the same day. What will it be ... NRC? oh, who cares. Let that be a fabulous event. But, the people who make Kern great aren't doing that San Jose race (for the most part). Unless Bob is working the SJ event, I wonder if changing the date matters? ... because that calendar is pretty damn packed - i couldn't find a better date than the current one.
Juniors? that needs a club to help take over, i would think. but man, i would NOT want to put on a road race in Livermore. That is just toooooo much work for me. that's why velodrome racing is such a good idea for a club looking to promote an event for their NCNCA qualification ... much easier and safer to promote.
but i digress//endbs
26 comments:
Kern has had a hard time drawing fields even when the local promoters haven't had any women's field. Since the San Jose race is suppose to be sponsored by Webcor and they have a big women's focus it is probably a good bet that they will have the common fields for women. Also that is the same weekend as the UCI women's race at Mt. Hood which could also draw a few more women away from Kern. Since the race has never broken even when there has been no local women's races given the competition for women races from San Jose, Mt Hood and Panoche Valley RR there is a good chance that the fields at Kern would be much smaller than they have been which would make for an even larger financial hit for Velo Promo than in past years.
At least that is Robert's thinking given the current schedule.
Maybe we need to help Velo Promo obtain cash sponsorship to underwrite Kern.
Olaf - Is the preliminary calendar someplace it can be reviewed by us mere mortals? I would hate to see Kern go away because of competition from bigger events, both local and relatively close by. Are there conflicting races in SoCal as well? What about (please, no flames) adding a few of the popular men's fields (say a P/1/2, E3, E4/5 and 35+4/5) to help boost attendance? I realize that's a bit of a step backwards, but if the event doesn't at least break even, it's difficult to justify...
The scheduling meeting is 11/12 at the Scout House, 299 Carlton Ave in San Bruno.
It would be nice to have Kern in May but VP doesn't need to take any more " financial hits" in terms of lowered attendence.
VG has a good point on getting cash sponsorship. Maybe even more advertising.
VP has had included men's fields but those fields were often smaller than average.
i've been trying to convince robert to move this race a little earlier in the calendar for the last 2 years
i think that the promise of at least tolerable heat makes it easier for individuals as well as teams to commit to the epic event
the periodic blistering heat that occurs at its current date makes it more likely to be a OTO (one time only) adventure for some
and the driving distances and tight schedule make it almost physically impossible to stay hydrated without good support when it is super hot
of course, as a shade-loving bunny i am personally biased, but i really think the heat detracts from this race being more of a success
Are there any dates in April that are available?
No calendar that the mere mortals can look at yet. Every year about 90% or more of the calender from this year will look the same as next year. You can pretty much look at this year's schedule and figure out where the same races will be next year. so far the major changes for next year's schedule are
Cougar Mt is going away and a new NRC level race ( at least they have applied to be an NRC level race) will happen in San Jose on May 17th
No free dates in April. The April lineup basically looks like
Wards Ferry/Tuolumne
Madera Stage Race
Sea Otter
Wente Weekened
Since it looks like Santa Cruz might not happen on the Sunday of the Sea Otter weekend ( The city wants Santa Cruz moved to another date) something might be moving in April but that would only affect a single Sunday.
Actually there aren't any free weekends from Feb through mid Sept already and there are still a number of events that haven't been put on the calendar yet.
i thought sea otter was moving?
wards ferry/tuolumne could be swapped with kern as they are all vp races
it is often very cold for those races--there's been ice on the wards ferry course before
I agree with the Wards Ferry comment, except that would put kern and madera stage races back to back
i guess we need to move madera to march so it still can serve as a good warm-up for kern
eeek
i think that puts me behind on my training.....
you must be home...how's Jeff doing?
we got home at noon after stopping for breakfast
jeff drank a whole pot of coffee and took 1/2 of a pain pill and is now to the left of me snoring on the couch
migo is on the right side of me snoring on the couch
so far so good!
since everyone complains about SOC, maybe Kern could run that weekend. probably not a good suggestion.
SOC had announced they were moving to the first weekend in May. that weekend is also Wildflower Triathlon and the 24HOA @ Laguna Seca.
maybe the solution is to keep Kern on the May weekend and combine women and juniors and hope that Kern doesn't lose all the P/1/2 women to the new San Jose NRC race. that would seem to be the solution to two problems and would increase numbers enough to possibly break even? then again, what's the school schedule in May?
you're not the first person i've heard suggest that, vg
the women's road fields are not large at sea otter, if i'm recalling correctly
and you can practically race the whole kern stage race for the price of one sea otter race
A lot of bellas, including myself, wouldn't be able to go if it were during Sea Otter.
yeah, that's not so good
"A lot of bellas, including myself, wouldn't be able to go if it were during Sea Otter."
+1
We gripe like crazy about that race, but I can't imagine skipping it.
An earlier, cooler Kern sounds fun, though I'm not sure I'd want to do it on early fitness ;-)
Are there any races on the March/April calender that traditionally don't have especially good races for women - ie time, distance, categories? I vaguely remember some blah-blah along those lines last season, but the details so totally escape me.
sea otter womens fields were big last year, at least in the 4s. There were over 40 in the 4s road and circuit races. Except for the weather, sea otter is fun, and for the coed teams it is quite a weekend of comraderie. I know I loved kern last year but sea otter was fun too! I'd love to do them both so I hope they remain on different weekends :)
Does anyone know what this San Jose "NRC" event, "with a women's focus because it's sponsored by Webcor" is all about? Is it a crit? Road Race? Why would they make it the same weekend as a UCI Women's stage race?
Casey, thanks for the info.
Copperopolis ?
Sequoia Cycling Classic in Visalia is led by the ladies. 10k for the 40k TT on Saturday; 10k for the Crit on Sunday for the Pro 1/2/3 group. NRC for the Ladies, third weekend in March.
Merco and CVC are not going NRC next year.
"Does anyone know what this San Jose "NRC" event, "with a women's focus because it's sponsored by Webcor" is all about? Is it a crit? Road Race? Why would they make it the same weekend as a UCI Women's stage race?"
At the time they scheduled to race in San Jose the promoters didn't know that Mt. Hood was going to be a UCI event for women. When the race promoters found out about Mt. Hood they tried to change the date of the San Jose event. Unfortunately the City of San Jose was already committed to the May 17th date and did not approve a date change so the promoters are kind of stuck with the conflict with Mt. Hood. Remember when promoters are working with groups like a city government the promoters often have to take what the city will give them.
As for the date of Copperopolis I don't want to give away the whole calendar before it is released but I'll give you a hint. Copperopolis is always on the Sat before Easter Sunday. Now Easter Sunday tends to move around on the calendar so if you get a 2008 calendar and fine out when Easter is then you will know that Copperopolis is the day before :)
Damn Hernandahoot,
this is what makes your blog priceless!
Thanks Casey and Fuji-Rider.
Ok, I'm a little behind on my blogging. Sorry. What about running the 'Women's Stage Race' concurrent with Madera - meaning there is an extra stage or two to Madera for the ladies only?
I will be so, so sad if there is no Kern/women's stage race after missing it last year for a wedding.
hmmm
i'm going to ponder chatty's idea.....
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