SpongeDad

There are a few threads from the last 2-3 months that identify various training sessions around DC and further north. I went to some sessions run by Mike Birner that were very helpful in terms of basic skills. After that, it's go race and fall over. I learn something new in every race.

dc.cyclocross

Mike was one of our guest instructors in our clinic series:

https://www.dcmtb.com/blog/dc-cx

I agree- just find a race and get your feet wet!

Lithuania

I dont think I can emphasize enough just how awesome this race is.

in years past ive *****ed and moaned about certain aspects and never really given it the credit it deserves but this year I really woke up and realized how lucky we are to have this race.

Whats extra amazing is each year its actually gotten better which isnt that easy to do considering the race was top notch from year 1. The scary thing is this race doesnt even hold any special tag like UCI which is usually what is required to have a race get that big.

Im already looking forward to doing whatever I can to make this race possible next year.

dc.cyclocross

thanks steve- I do think racers need to take a bigger view and not get catch up in some imperfections that any race might have. or that one's own race doesn't go as well as hoped.
I've been looking at threads where a bunch of races were canceled due to rain. hopefully we won't have any issues with the grass damage this year, but we haven't in years past..
as a racer, my first few races this year didn't go as well as I'd hoped and I was feeling a bit dissapointed, but then I realized that the sport is still awesome and fun, even if I'm not doing quite as well as last year or whatever. and I didn't want to get all mopey about it. it's all for fun anyway. and at dccx, I'd like to think that we have a race where you could dnf and still have a fun day. or if you couldn't race it would still be worth popping over to watch some races. I recommend people read those threads on rain cancellations and not take any race we can attend for granted, and to really appreciate the venues that aren't threatened. in these last couple weeks, there were even uci races canceled or unable to get the permits to race.
the guys at dcmtb/dccx assess what worked and what didn't each year. we were pretty happy with how it went each year, but we knew we could do better. and we'll do the same for next year. the positive response to our race has been amazing, and it inspires us to keep on trying to make the race as good as it can be. we are also a small crew, and access to the AFRH is generally highly restricted, so there's only so much time we can spend at the venue. there is also a lot that goes on in putting on a race that might not be obvious on race day, so we have to spread our efforts to various tasks (a lot of our manpower went to just managing parking, or cooking the fries). also- we've gotten big so quickly, that we had to hit the ground running compared to other races that started with 1/4th the attendance and ramped up slowly over the years.
but we are all very fortunate to have a beautiful venue right in the city where we can make a quality course, AND they don't seem to care if the grass looks chewed up after a race. (hopefully they don't have a problem with this year! we haven't spoken to them about it yet)

thanks again to everyone who comes out to our race.

marc

Lithuania

Ive been in exactly the same situation this season and until recently I was having a hard time remembering it was possible to enjoy myself at a race without doing well. I think thats exactly what makes cross and races like dccx so much better than road. Racing ends up being such a small part of the over all race day experience. All the hanging out and watching other races is something that just doesnt happen at most road races. Ive ended up having much more fun at some races when I was washing randoms bikes in the pit or breaking down the course when its all over.

Schiek

Great course. Sweet venue. Fun day. Thanks to the DCMTB crew for hosting this event. If you haven't seen it, I have helmet-cam video up here.

Steve-You going to All Hallows? Will you have more cookies? I think missing them was my biggest disappointment of the day.

dc.cyclocross

that's a cool video. also interesting you caught the guy snagged up in the tape! and fun to watch gwadzilla cranking around the course!

it's great that all these races are cropping up near DC!

Lithuania

unfortunately i am not doing all hallows. I work saturdays so I have to pick and choose when to use vacation days for races so a new non series race is not going to make the cut.

Ill have cookies at taccino though. ill hopefully make a double batch with half possibly being vegan.

once people tasted them they went fast so you better be quick! i guess thats what happens when you use $20 worth of chocolate.

Lithuania

have you guys thought about maybe doing a pay clinic / beginners race the day before the race along with the womens clinic?

Sort of like what NCVC used to do with sanders?

dc.cyclocross

originally I thought about doing it like that. but when i talked ot some people they said an early season clinic would be more useful (ed sanderrs is early)

and ultimately, I decided that newbies don't need us to hire a big name, they need to start learning the basics. so, we opted for series, every wednesday in sept. and we got a great set of volunteer instructors. (mike birner, wes schempf and arley kemmerer)

also, the clinic seemed like one more task to do on a tiring, busy weekend, and we didn't want to get spread top thin. however, when arley asked to lead the extra dc-chix clinic (and said some woemn had expressed interest), it seemed like a fantastic idea. we'd promote it and provide the paperwork, but she did the actual clinic

I'm especially interested in encouraging the women- and I think our biggest impact in helping develop the sport is by focusing a little extra on the women.

marc

Lithuania

i see your point. im just trying to think of ways of having a real beginner race.

dc.cyclocross

that's true- that would help with a beginner race. the reason we didn't have one this year was again we were worried about being stretched too thin. re have to run it outside the normal schedule, so something like an 8:15 start? and we weren't sure we'd be ready to go for that.

it was actually dark when we got there to set up- thank goodness we don't have to do the course the same day!!

Lithuania

i think 2 years ago coppi put on an 8am race for women so it sounds feasible to have an extra race that early.

hopefully you guys are gaining support and volunteers each year so perhaps it will be come easier to do.

dc.cyclocross

we do get a lot of help, and we are a lot more experienced now.

but remember in 2007 tacchino had 238 racers. in 2006 they had 161.
we had 125 signed up for our 9am race alone...
so, there is a lot going on at 8am- traffic control, a ton of people at registration, setting up our venue and finishing up the course, etc.
so, it could be done, but it's adding to our workload and we didn't want to botch it all up. maybe next year, we'll see...

BarracksSi

Maybe a beginner's "sprint" of about 15-20 minutes?

I don't want to get too deep into your business, though, by making suggestions that won't work or have been hashed over already. The local autocross club, as an example, is now so well-sorted that any suggestions that rookies have aren't anything that hasn't already been tried or discussed over the last few decades.

SpongeDad

As a noob, I like the 40 minute race. I think most of us at the back are more interested in getting faster through experience, not doing shorter races. BTW, I was amazed at how non-chaotic the 120 odd field for the Cat4 race was.

BarracksSi

^^^ Ah, good point; I hadn't even thought of that. Since I mentioned autocross, the one thing that drivers really like is more seat time -- so I can see how CX riders would want more time for a race.

dc.cyclocross

yes, something like that 30' race at 8:15am
nobody is forced to do it instead of the 40' race, but for true beginners. and maybe keep the field smaller. 50 or 75 riders.

btw, when I started cx just a few years back, 30' was the norm for the "C" race. and I think some places still use it

dc.cyclocross

was that the general feeling in the big fields? that it was fun? not that it was over-stuffed? to me it looked pretty cool...

dc.cyclocross

back in the day..., I think the logic of the 30' race was that you need to learn to race hard and fast, not trudge it out longer. so having newbies race longer just means they will race more slowly...

SpongeDad

I know I had a good time, and so did the other BFers in the Cat4. After the first hill and switchback, people were spread out. At Winchester (which was a good race) the start was a little narrower and more technical, so we had some crashes even though the field was smaller. At all of these races, people are pretty reasonable about bumping into each other without getting tensed out about it.

One plus to a big field is that there is always someone near you to chase and always someone trying to catch you. I'm still learning a lot while riding the course at race pace. It took me a three laps to figure out how to ride the second hill without popping a wheelie and crashing (I got cheers from the crowd for the first crash). While I'm not burning to do a 60 minute race, 40 is enough time to get into a groove and figure things out.

SpongeDad

Bottom line is you can get a hundred recommendations from the forum, but if you ran exactly the same race next year with not a single change: 1) we'd all sign up; and 2) we'd all have a great time.

Lithuania

i think even last year C races were still 30 minutes.

i love racing in huge fields. i prefer over 100 guys in my field and get bummed out when there are only like 5 or 6 rows at the start.

Crack Monkey

The big fields are nice for us mid-pack guys - guarantees somebody to race. The chaos at the first corner isn't a negative - just another aspect of racing to master (and a good spot for a wily racer to make some passes).

You could probably cap the entries at 100, instead of 125, if that would help. Though that might force some Cs into the B race (or keep them out of the race, if the B is too daunting). I memory serves, the B race didn't fill up until a day or two before reg. closed?

Crack Monkey

Also, I'm not sure a true beginner race is good idea. It makes your day longer by at least an hour. And frankly, I'm not sure I'd be interested. I'm 5 or 6 races into my first season and perfectly happy running in the C race - I can't see wanting to run a beginner race more than once or twice.