News – Page 18 – Cross on the Rock

Cross On Top Of The Rock is coming!

Mazda – COTR – Newsletter 2016 #3 – Cleaned and prepped by Muc Off. Pro City GP. Wrap Up.

A few important hashtags for you tonight:

#COTR2016GROWINGPAINS
#WEWILLGETITALLSORTEDOUT
#WELOVEOURCROSSCOMMUNITY

How do we wrap up the BIGGEST COTR Race ever?
How do we wrap up Canada’s Biggest cross race ever?

Same way we always do. In a LONG e-mail!!

Since we all LOVE bullet points here are a few:

We know yesterday’s race was the biggest COTR race of all time BUT
by itself it had more racers than our first 6 COTR seasons.
Third largest Masters Field in COTR History (we will be implementing
a cap this year….stay tuned)
4 Largest Intermediate Field in COTR History
Roland has been playing with the stats page so it is not posted at
this moment but I spotted at one point today that it was our least DNF’s in
history (need confirmation)
The return of: Steve Bachop, Tyler Trace, John Fokkema, Jamie
Emery, Trevor Perkins and a few more that my fried brain cannot remember
Solid Showing in the Fasters (Fast Masters) in the Expert Category
(lead by Justin Mark this time)
Electronic Timing……a few things to work out. Some stuff worked
great. Some stuff not so great. When Mark Nelson (one of the BIGGEST
experts in electronic timing) timed our Provincial Championships in 2013 he
said out of the 100’s of races he had timed that was the toughest event
EVER. There are LOTS of reasons for it……we will keep working on our
systems so EVERYONE can geek out on lap splits etc. In the meantime number
placement on your jersey is still important as is having awesome timers.
Fireball on a hot day in a short VERY intense top 10 battle….not a
good idea.
Silently our “likes” on FB just passed 900. I remember Roland
texting me just last fall wondering who would be #666.

Tessa and Tycho told me to pass on that they would like to thank EVERYONE
that popped by their Lemonade Stand yesterday. They have been talking about
it for a LONG time and were pumped to sell out. There is now talk of a Hot
Chocolate stand later in the season.

Coolest Bike I saw all day goes to Brailyn Webster with this SUPER tricked
out modified BMX with a LOT of BLING. She was racing in the Beginner
Women’s Category at only 8 years of age. Listed as a DNF (not sure what
happened as I did see her RIPPING) but #1 in our Bike-Geek Hearts!!

In this newsletter:

Pro City GP REVIEW
Sweet Video From Mazda
TEAM STANDINGS……OK we have the 1st Steps here now.

1. Pro City GP REVIEW

THE RACE IS DONE – – PLEASE DO NOT RIDE THE COURSE. Let the park heal and
re-generate. It helps us get the venue back again in the future.

Notes from Pro City Cycles Scott Mitchell:

Thanks for all your hard work yesterday guys! Amazing way to kick off the
season.

I can’t believe how many people came out to race! It was HUGE!
Bake sale, lemonade, Waffles. All awesome.
Lemans start…. horrible (Norm’s note: Cyclocross is a sport involving
“Running AND Cycling”. The LeMans start is part of CX Heritage).
Hopefully never again.

Huge thanks to SHIMANO and Trek Bikes Victoria for Sponsoring the race and
to the series sponsors for making every race great.

The Volunteer crew was so dialed.
Big thanks to Denise, Deb, and Lisa at registration.
Our medic Martina.
Mical for the beginner clinic.
The manual timing crew Bruce, Sherry, Patricia, and Zoe.
Patrick for the chip timing.
Roland and Katie for all the timing co-ordination and detail work.
Norm for doing everything.
The course came together so quickly thanks to the planning by Drew.
Our awesome setup crew: Drew, Joele, Andrew, Curtis, Terry, Shanna, Jim,
Kyle, Sol, Amy and Ian.

Thanks to everyone else that pitched in for a bit of help here and there to
make this such a great event!

Notes From Norm:

Thanks as well to our series sponsor Muc OFF and event sponsor Pearl Izumi
for the category prizes.
And Riverway Dental, Mazda and Nutcase for the kids prizes and goodies.

Besides the stuff up top I can add a few observations:

At 350+ people coming out to race I no longer know everyone’s faces. Most
the time I will recognize your name. I saw so many people roll up yesterday
that I did not recognize. The coolest part was that they were (that I saw
at least) not “independent”. Everyone that came was at the event pretty
much knew someone or very quickly got to know someone. We have (together)
made an amazing and supportive cycling community. It is incredible to be a
part of it.

Great to see first time winners: Nathan Braun (Beginner Men), Isla Walker
(Beginner Women), Haley Lounsbury (Intermediate Women) and Brian Green
(Masters Men).

Awesome to see some VERY competitive racing from the FRONT to the BACK of
the almost every pack.

Amazing to see so MANY kids out.

Can’t wait for Mt Washington.

2. Sweet Video from Mazda

Not sure how to embed this but you can click on the link. We will
post it on FB later in the week….but until then.

Little Video from Sean Voigt (no relation to Jens) from the Mazda
Zoom-Zoom Half Track race

3. TEAM SERIES STANDINGS

1st Step. Everyone that you want on your TEAM has to have the SAME
TEAM NAME.

AND……apparently I have to change them manually through the
registration page.

SO take a look. Send me a note like Triple Shot did today to get
their 3 teams moved into one.

That is all for the first part of the week

COTR Race #2 Preview coming up on Thursday NIGHT.

MAKE SURE TO GET REGISTERED!!

Mazda – COTR – Newsletter 2016 #2 – Cleaned and prepped by Muc Off. Pro City GP. COTR 2016 Race #1.

It is impossible to contain the excitement on SO MANY cross rider’s minds and bodies as we head into the weekend. COTR Season #11. Race #1. Pro City GP. Sunday. It is all happening. The start of the cross season. The weather looks GREAT for a race held in a city park that we don’t want to beat up!

Checking in……

First a few bullet points.

Cycles Lambert is putting an EVOC Bike bag up for a series prize. This bag retails for $800. Each time you race you are entered to win. Draw at the series final.
Cross Club had about 125 racers last Wednesday night.
Unfortunately long time racer, Peter Wellsman http://www.crossontherock.com//php/racer/?racername=Peter+Wellsman Did not make it out of the Cross Club unscathed and is out for the season with a broken clavicle. We wish him a strong recovery.
Cowichan Cross practice and Nanaimo Cross practices are going strong if you want to work on your skills and have a bit of a workout.
Do NOT forget your license for the race Sunday. If you do forget your license DO remember to bring $10 extra to registration.
Registration closes at 8:00pm on Saturday. It is (almost) mandatory to pre-register.
We are working behind the scenes on some “stuff” all the time. Check out #3 in this newsletter.
So awesome to see someone racing from System Toast in the series for the first time. That is a throwback!
Our little COTR FB page is just 7 Likes short of 900 now. Who will be #900?

In this newsletter:

Pro City GP Preview
Registration. (some Updates)
NEW in the NEWS. TEAM STANDINGS.
WAY DOWN BELOW…..directions to TOPAZ Park….just in case.

1. Pro City GP Preview.

First thing and so you do NOT miss this. NO RIDING ON THE PLAYING FIELDS. AT ALL. Remember it. Memorize it. Pass it onto your friends and anyone you see that is riding their bike in the general direction of the playing fields. Covered? Ok!

Registration Action:
Currently in the registration for Sunday for the male gender as of Friday Night it is the Master’s Men category leading the way….which is unusual considering the Intermediate men’s category holds the top 3 spots in our stats lists for biggest race fields.

For the female gender races Intermediate women are currently double Beginner and 3X Expert.

Don’t forget to pre-reg for the kids races too!!

Starting off the COTR 2016 Race season with one of the racer’s favorite courses from last year. We were treated to an October mud fest in 2015. This year it looks like the sun will be shining and the sun will be out. Faster. Less post race un-political “Brown Up”. It will be awesome.

Pacific Mazda will be on site to show off the 2016 CX-# and help out with the Mazda Zoom Zoom Half Track Race.
Wannawafel will be on site….with….you guessed it……genuine cross friendly and super tasty TRUE Belgium Wafels.
Youth racers Tori Kalyniuk and Jess Maitland are doing a bake sale. Delicious baked goods will be available by donation for fundraising to volunteer in Ecuador later in the school year.
Tycho and Tessa want to check an “action item” off their summer list by operating a Lemonade and Cold drink stand at the race…..they have been looking forward to this race ALL SUMMER.

PLUS there is some racing going on!

Don’t forget the schedule change for registration this year with Beginner categories only picking up numbers up until just before their race. This will help clear the line and help to get that first race off on time.

Volunteers. The event could still need a few people for a few jobs. If you can help out please contact Sylvia Storry slstorry@gmail.com

As you know……EVERYONE pitches in for clean up!! We are a community after all.

Team tents: Please send scott@trekbikesvictoria.com if you would like a reserved parking spot and area for your team tent. We will be setting up tents similar to last year, a bit closer to the parking area off Spruce St. Your spot will only be reserved until 9:30 am.

Course notes: Obviously the course will be a lot faster than last year as the conditions are going to be much less soggy. We will be making a few tweaks to the course to add some distance but expect a very similar lap to last year.

Note about the facilities: (AGAIN) No riding on the playing fields. No tents within 2 meters of the fields. Respect other park users, and try and keep the washroom facilities as respectable as possible.

Big thanks to Shimano for stepping up big time to help with prizes, course marking, and making great products!

AFTER the race is done SUNDAY. PLEASE DO NOT RIDE THE COURSE. Let the park heal and re-generate. It helps us get the venue back again in the future.

2. Registration.

Registration for the PRO City GP closes at 8:00 PM on Saturday Night.
Registration for the 2016 COTR FULL race series closes at 8:00 PM on Saturday Night.

If you register for the full series you get 1 race for free and are entered into the draw for the Custom NewBalance 574’s from NewBalance Nananimo.

For the FULL SERIES: Series Page – https://raceroster.com/series/2017/10093/2016-cross-on-the-rock-series

3. TEAM SERIES STANDINGS

This has been on Roland and my hit list for a LONG time. We THINK we have it worked out but we have run out of time for the first event. The system won’t be 100% dialed this season BUT we are going to try to get it going and see how it looks and plays out for the year…..just for FUN.

What we need from you:

We need YOU to make sure that your TEAM NAME is recorded the SAME for everyone on your TEAM. Seems simple but it is not always.

Currently there are 47 teams registered as of Friday Night for the Pro City GP.

But there are things like 11 people registered for “Trail Bicycles” and 1 person registered for “Trail Bikes”.

There is 1 person registered for “Broad Street Cycles x GRADIENT p/b Brodie”. 2 people registered for Broad Street Cycles/Stucky Live. 2 People registered for “Broad Street Cycles x Naked Racing” . Combined those 5 people could make a great team for the series standings. Apart…..they are not going to make a great team for the series standings.

We are not going to fix it for you. That is YOUR responsibility if you want to make it happen.

Make the corrections. Let’s try to get a Team Standings going!!

All for this week!!

See you Sunday.

The first COTR newsletter of 2016!!

Are you ready? Is your bike ready? Does not matter you have until November 20^th to get it all dialed in!!

We have a lot of information BUT I have been accused of having the LONGEST e-mails so I will try to restrict it to ONLY 5 things this week. Next week we will fire up the 1^st race preview for The Pro City Grand Prix and give you a bit more information.

In this COTR Newsletter:

Series Overview.
Some of the changes this year.
Outlining license requirements.
Other cross happenings on the island.
Registration.

1. Series Overview.

If you have not been checking the website, or FB page and have been eagerly anticipating this e-mail…..here is the schedule for the year.

2016 Cross on the Rock Race Schedule
Race #1. September 11^th: Pro City Cyclocross Grand Prix. Victoria. Topaz Park.
Race #2. September 17^th: Top of the Rock Cross. Courtenay. Mt Washington.
Race #3. October 2^nd: Tugboat Cross. Ladysmith. Transfer Beach.
Race #4. October 10^th: The Bear X’ing. Victoria. Bear Mountain
Race #5. October 23^rd: Farmer Bills Cattle X’ing. Port Alberni. Farmer Bills
Race #6. November 5^th: Hot Crossed Bunnies. Nanaimo. Beban Park
Race #7. November 6^th : Kona Kup. Nanaimo. Bowen Park
Race #8. November 20^th: Series Championships. Central Saanich. Saanich Fairgrounds

A few things of note:

8 races.
4 Returning Venues from 2015: Topaz Park. Transfer Beach. Bear Mountain. Beban Park.
2 Returning Venues from 2014: Farmer Bills. Bowen Park
2 Totally New Venues: Saanich Fairgrounds. Mt Washington
Topaz Park was the biggest cross race ever in Canada in 2015
Transfer Beach was voted best race by the racers of 2015
3 races in Greater Victoria. 3 races mid island. 2 races up island.

2. Some of the changes to COTR this year.

We are always looking to make improvements to COTR. Some things are “doable”. Others as much as we would like to do them don’t work with our series, organizers, venues etc. So we call them “not currently doable”. Sometimes our vision for the series and races does not match with what others have visioned. That is reality. We do appreciate everyone’s feedback though. Sometimes it is not something we have thought of. Sometimes it is something that we have wanted to do. Sometimes it is just a crazy idea that will never work (in our minds) and then we try it and it does and makes the series better. Anyways this is what we are working on changing this year.

Points structure. We have changed this a few times before. Each time we think we will be good for a long time….and then the series and the categories grow and there are too many racers getting 2 points for a race. So we have upped it again this year. Winning naturally earns you a bit more of a buffer.
Series Points. In the past we have kept everyone together for points that races together. For example in the women’s intermideate cateogry there are the series categories of women’s masters, women’s U17 and women’s intermediate. To keep the series tighter we will do the points based on how you finish within the series category that you are racing. Prizing for the races are still done on the race day category. Call up will be based on points for that race day category (best and safest way to properly separate it as you can’t call up 3 people for the pole position).
Our on-line registration company: Race On Line has merged with Race Roster. COTR racers and new father, Mark Nelson, is still our man to get all our quirky and details right for registration but you will be on a different web site and platform for registation.
Electronic Timing. This has been on our to-do list for a long time. Patrick Burnham from MIVA has the system in place and we beta tested it at the MIVA Mid Summer cross race at Diver Lake for the first time. It will take a bit to dial it in so we will be running parrallel (old and new) timing systems for the first few races until we have it dialed in. For racers it is going to mean a few more attentions to details as the timing chips do require some special care. The reward will be that you will be able to geek out more than ever on lap splits and stats.
After 10 years of COTR and a few years of non-COTR races (we are now year #14 of putting cross races on Vancouver Island) the price is going up (for some). Beginners goes up to $15 pre-registration and other races go up to $25. $5 increase that was needed to cover the cost of Electronic timing and other increased expenses.
BUT we have adjusted the pricing for any racer racing youth categories. Meaning if you are under 19 (JR and younger) the pre-registration price is $15.
PRE-REGISTRATION IS PRETTY MUCH MANDATORY. Again given the changes with electronic timing and the preparations that are needed for that and to make sure our call up lists are as accurate as possible we need to have time to do this work. Race morning 10 minutes before the start is not the time! So pre-registration is “pretty much” mandatory. By “Pretty Much” we mean if you delay, procrastinate, hedge your bets on weather etc. you can still come and race BUT it will cost you $35/$25 youth and you will NOT receive a call up. All day of race registrations will be called up at the end. After the people with points and the people without points that pre-registered. We really want people to pre-register.

3. License requirements for COTR this year.

Once again the Cross on the Rock’s series is sanctioned and supported by Cycling BC. As always everyone that races a series race needs to have either a license from Cycling BC or purchase a day of race license ($10). A Cycling BC “General Membership”. Masters cycling. Triathlon BC. Your library card. None of those count or will help you out.

What we need to see is:

a) A Provinicial Racing License. $45. This will allow you to do all our races and is VERY economical. Last year this also allowed you to race the provinical championships. You can also use this license to race the Cross Club Victoria races or do the cross clinics in Nanaimo and Cowichan.
b) UCI Racing License. Now discounted to $99 for the rest of the season and for ALL of the Cross Season. This will allow you to race any cross race any place any category any where until the end of the year.
c) Day of race license. Fill out a form. $10. Good to go.

As has been for the last 10 year…..EVERYONE needs to have their license WITH them at check in at EVERY COTR race to race. If not you will be required to pay the $10 day of race insurance to participate.

4. Other cross happenings on the island

Cross on the Rock is not the only thing happening on Vanouver Island for Cross.

In Victoria there is the Cross Club. 7 training “rides” starting this Wednesday and going until October 26^th. Great workouts!! www.crossclubvictoria.com

In the Cowichan Valley on Wednesday Nights they have their practices/mock races. 6:00pm. cowichancx@gmail.com and Cowichan Cyclocross on Facebook

In Nanaimo on Thursday nights starting September 8^th are cross practices hosted by MIVA and run by Carey Mark. Carey3221@gmail.com

Also put October 16^th on your calendar for the first ever Cross Fondo hosted and organized by Tripleshot. 40km of backcountry trails. www.Tripleshotcrossfondo.ca

5. Registration

So…..are you ready to get registered? Here are the links.

For the FULL SERIES: Series Page – https://raceroster.com/series/2017/10093/2016-cross-on-the-rock-series

We are looking forward to the first COTR race of the season and the series a head.

Check your in-box next week for Newsletter #2 with more on the series, our awesome sponsors and a preview of the Pro City Grand Prix.

SAVE THE DATE – UPDATE

At some point in the past we posted a “save the date” list for COTR Fall 2016.
A lot of people missed it, lost it, forgot about it or they were already into ski season to remember it.
So this is where we are currently at for this year so far.
Sept. 11th. Topaz Park in Victoria.
Sept. 17th. Courtenay. New Venue. Later in Afternoon race. Possibly Elite under the lights
October 2nd. Transfer Beach. Ladysmith (NOT the day after MOMAR this year……my legs say “thanks”.)
October 10th. Bear X Ing (this venue is not confirmed as with he current construction at Bear Mountain we are not even sure if there will be a course left when they are done)
October 23rd. Farmer Bills.
November 5th. Bowen (Slightly changed course)
November 6th. Beban (Changed Course)
November 20th. -Series Final-
We will be keeping you posted as we like to all the time…….