Zedmor

Why not grant free entry tickets to winners/placers? That's

a) Cost you not much if at all (probability that winner will race again without winning* price of entry)
b) Provide nice excitement and feel of accomplishment
c) Make your crit "harder" since it promotes stronger racers to come again

shovelhd

The bottle primes at Wells Ave are a water bottle with something inside provided by a race sponsor. It could be a clif bar, drink mix, cash. You don't know before you sprint for it. You find ok when you pick it up.

Crowd primes at downtown crits are awesome. I saw a guy win $4100 a few years ago at Harlem. Back in the day Dick Ring was a master at getting the crowd to cough up cash. Crowd primes were the norm. Alas, so were the crowds.

gsteinb

Based on the poll so @DieterDrake is on the right course.

mattm

Do you think if races stopped paying they'd stop racing?

gsteinb

I think they'd stop coming here from the DR to race for the summer, yes.

tetonrider

not picking on you here, just piggy-backing on your point.

if someone offered me money and i did nothing, i'd politely refuse. seems to me that the offer is a nice one as far as societal norms go, but the recipient has an obligation here, too.

i know a guy who won $1000 in a race (the payout is kept very quiet, so unless you've actually won you would have a really hard time finding out). this guy got several people to enter ($100+ entry), race for hours, bury themselves for him (several didn't even finish as they had gone that deep along the way), pay for lodging overnight. took them a few years to finally figure out that he kept the cash.

i was shocked (as were they). didn't help the guy's reputation any.

tetonrider

+1
agree. those races, to a much larger degree, are about guys who are truly pros (and probably making zero money/salary....or have other jobs to scrape by, with a few exceptions). the money can matter. p12 is still primarily a hobby category, although in theory the guys who are the pro should be doing better/winning and using prize money to augment their meager incomes.

often it is the masters guys who have good jobs who scream and pout the loudest about payouts, gear deals/sponsorships, etc. it's funny.

i feel like if entry fees are going to be higher it should be done to promote either junior cycling or to encourage larger participation (cat 5, e.g.,)--stuff to GROW the sport. if we don't get more people in, all this stuff goes away.

tetonrider

how many guys are you talking about? i'm just curious. it just seems so foreign to me as it seems like the number of guys who could turn this into a net cash positive (all-in) would be so, so small. love to learn more.

DR = dominican republic? wow.

Stas87

I 100% agree. The club in on now raised their fees this year in order to supplement gear and other items for our junior racers. If you're just raising fees to cover costs, then I have a hard time registering for races. For example, Orchard Beach crit this year is $45.

gsteinb

most of the guys from Mengoni are from Latin America. Foundation. A lot of the bigger teams bring guys up for the season. I don't have numbers, but in any given season many of the fastest guys in the NY metro area are from other countries.

grolby

True, though they aren't in every race. You can't can't figure there's going to be a $10 or $20 bottle prime every week.

Racer Ex 

I like money.

Yaniel

I race because it's fun and I like the challenge, I don't really care about winning, and I'm happy in the pack. If the entry fee is low enough a payout wouldn't matter. A $50 race entry would require a payout, not because I want to win it, but because that seems excessive if a portion of it isn't being used for prize money. I'd also have no problem with the p12 being the only race to receive a payout.

Wylde06

On the poll, if you click the number of votes..you can see who voted no

topflightpro

My team has a policy to specifically address this issue. The rule is that any money won is to be split evenly among everyone at the starting line. BUT, no one is required to take the money if they don't feel they deserve it. We created this policy to avoid any conflicts or debates between racers as to how much work anyone did.

cmh

To the OP - I wouldn't suggest giving any cash payout for your weekly series, but I bet if you approached some bike shops you'd find one that would offer up some gift certificates. Nothing big, but a $30 $20 $10 gift certificate for the top 3 spots feels good for the winners. And thanks in advance for putting on a race.

Doge

Dana Point GP WCat 2 ride for $12,000
Dana Point GP MCat 2 ride for $700

I of course spun that like a media person.

Women's P/1 2 has the same purse as the men's team NRC race.

Ygduf

When we start counting the costs of clif builder bars in my training regimen I lose about $75/day.

rideaz

I've won $285 worth of Mexican food gift cards since January...I got paid in Chimichangas this season :-/

tetonrider

interesting. i know this stuff is super regional...and names like "mengoni" or "foundation" have no meaning to me. i'm amazed a team like that has money to bring people from another country to race here. are the prizes that lucrative, or is it that there is a low standard for those riders?

Doge

So while junior fields rarely get any purse, in San Dimas SR last year they did pay juniors. They also offered a GoPro for a prime worth more than winning GC. That really messed things up.

Wesley36

... Or read post #6

TysonCook

...this is somewhat my thoughts as well. The reality is that it's pretty tough to run a race series, let alone pull enough $ in to give away cash at the end.
General costs are $3.60/rider for insurance, $50/race USAC permit, $90 city permit, USAC officials $125/day+travel, etc. This doesn't include any of the other junk (registrations, tables, cones, toilet, garbage bags, etc)

gsteinb

Mengoni? Lemond and Bauer both raced there, along with a who's who of banned riders over the past 15 years or so. But to your point I think it's more that guys can come from those places, stay cheap, and race five times a week. I don't fully understand the dynamic myself but so it goes. I'd hardly say they're getting rich. They might not even improve upon what's possible with a real job but there must be some draw.

tetonrider

yeah, honestly i came into the sport after lemond, even after lance...so mengoni has no meaning to me. guessing more of an east coast thing at this point.

95% of the "pro" teams on the domestic scene have no real name recognition unless we go up against them, or to a tiny, tiny group of us.