Racing for money?

It is probably every racers dream, at some point to win big money in a race.  Dreams are not what keep most of training hard and racing even harder.  For most, I think, it is the thrill of competition and feeling of winning or having a teammate win.  The money and the prizes are nice, but necessary?

Sure we would all love to be like this guy:

When in reality, if we counted on our winnings and sponsorship deals to support us, most of us would be more like this:

 

 

I have, along with the help of my team and my wife, promoted 5 races in the last 3 years.  We promoted the Virginia Beach Wheelmen Smackdown in 2007, Sleepy Hole Smackdown in 2008 and 2009, The Smithfield HAMmer Fest 2-man TTT in 2009 and the Bennett's Creek Park Cyclocross Race just last weekend.  In each one of these races we have put our concentration on ensure the permits were correct, ensure the course was fun and safe and ensure that everyone would have a good time.  For all these races what we lacked was a money sponsor.  All cash prizes have come from the entry fees for the day.  So although the prizes were not much, they were a lot to us.  I'm not saying this to make anyone feel guilty or to make us look good, its just a segway to a question I have.

On our first race that we promoted, a storm came through.  So we already had a low pre-registered race because it was our first, it was not BAR and many people viewed it as a training race.  Then the storm came and most racers who showed up that day looked like this:

We had a total of 16 racers for the day.  Some racers were not even held, but if someone showed up, we ran their race and paid the prize money out.  I got a call the next day from someone who won one of the races saying "Disregarding paying my check, my wife said I would never make any money at this sport so I have hung my winning check up in a frame to prove her wrong.  I will never cash it."

This last weekend, after the Bennett's Creek Cyclocross Race I received this email:

Joshua,

Thanks for putting on a great race - it was tough, but
fun.  Go ahead and cancel my check #1038 - I have
shredded it - I'm not racing for money.  I'm sure
your team can use it, even that small amount.

Looking forward to next years.....

Mark Wilson
Speedy's Hot Sauce

I think most local racers don't care about the money.  I'm not going to lie to you though.  It feels good to receive sponsorship, to receive cash payout.  It somehow makes you feel like you are better than you are.  What other adult, amateur sports do companies pay you to wear their logos and you compete for money every weekend?  Not many.

My goal for next year as a promoter is to find some cash sponsors for the race to be able to increase the payout.  But is that important?  For the past 2 races we found sponsors that gave prizes in the form of merchandise.  These weren't the things that set on the clearance rack at the shop either.  These items were purchased specifically for the event.  Is that better then cash?

Cash on a race flier looks good.  People seem to rave over the merchandise prizes we have given out lately.  Is there a balance?  What makes you want to race?  Have you ever not raced because the payout was too low? 

Just some question to stir some debate so I can make next year's races a bigger success.

Thanks to all who have ever raced and supported local clubs.  A special thanks to those who do it because that's what they love to do.

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving.
 

Forget about Cyclist vs. Motorsist issue, how about Cyclist vs Disc Golfer?

Bennett's Creek Park in Suffolk, VA, home of the Bennett's Creek Cyclocross race this past weekend is also home to an 18 hole Disc Golf course.  Disc golf is apparently pretty popular in Suffolk.  Every time we were at this park to do work there were plenty of golfers.  Most of them were pretty nice and put up with us riding through their course.  Even the day we were there (Saturday) to do maintenance on the trail and post storm clean-up, the golfers were happy we were taking care of the trails and welcomed us there.

Sunday morning though was a little different.  We got there at 7 am to set up the course, so did the disc golfers.  I saw a pickup truck pull into one of the parking lots that were going to be used in the course.  We hadn't had a chance to close the road yet, so I went over to explain we were holding a race and he was not going to have access to the golf course after 10am.  But more importantly he had to move his truck.  He was not happy with me.  I mean, he was already in the middle of putting on his disc golf shoes and now a guy with shaved legs was telling him he couldn't play.

"Did you rent the park?" was his question.  Of course we rented the park.  What the hell did he think?  After mumbling something under his breathe, he got in his truck and moved.  But not out of the park, just to another lot.  Then he got out of the truck and just stood in the middle of the street like he was waiting for something.

He was waiting for something:

Yes, he called the cops because we wouldn't let him play disc golf.

The cop who showed up didn't even waste my time.  But it didn't stop the golfer from calling his friends and playing through our race.  There were times when they got on the course and walked slowly because they just wanted to be assholes.  And there were times when they throw their discs across the course.

I preempted their complaints by filing one of my own with Suffolk Parks and Recs.  Plus I had to keep in mind that this was one group of golfers.  All other groups that we met were all pretty nice.  We just had to get the serious, semi-pro, very athletic disc golfers:

 

 

These are not the actual pictures of the golfers on that day but do capture the essence that I was going for.  I am going to keep my eyes open for a disc golf tournament and plan on riding my bike through their course on that day.  See how they like it.

Now I have vented.  And I am spent.

Bennett's Creek Park Cyclocross Race Results

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PLACE	BIB	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	TEAM	Race Age	CATEGORY ENTERED
1	571	Ethan	Revere	Altius Cycling Team	12	Jr 10-14
2	572	Henry	Revere	Altius Cycling Team	9	Jr 10-14
PLACE	BIB	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	TEAM	Race Age	CATEGORY ENTERED
1	385	Mary	Alex	Evolution Cycling Club	48	Women 4
2	392	Jennifer	Pope	Fat Frogs Racing	34	Women 4
3	387	Deborah	Conway	Evolution Cycling Club	48	Women 4
4	396	Aranell	Schmitz		23	Women 4
5	391	Sharon	Nicholson	Tripower	52	Women 4
6	388	Glenda	Craddock	Fat Frogs Racing	47	Women 4
7	390	Amber	Goins		32	Women 4
8	397	Susan	Revere		41	Women 4
9	395	Sheri	Segal		52	Women 4
10	386	Julia	Casals	Evolution Cycling Club	45	Women 4
11	394	Karen	Franke		44	Women 4
12	398	Melissa	Yeager		32	Women 4
13	389	Julie	Fink	Fat Frogs Racing	29	Women 4
	393	Jackie	Starkey	Tri-power	47	Women 4
prime 385
PLACE	BIB	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	TEAM	Race Age	CATEGORY ENTERED
1	541	Sally	McMahon	TriPower	32	Women'S 1/2/3
2	540	Carol	Ennser	Tripower	39	Women'S 1/2/3
3	543	Pamela	Zimmerman		57	Women'S 1/2/3
4	542	Irene	Pang		40	Women'S 1/2/3
prime 540
PLACE	BIB	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	TEAM	Race Age	CATEGORY ENTERED
1	760	Cameron	Holland			Masters 35+
2	758	Brent	Williamson	Rostello presented by Fiorucci/Cycor	41	Masters 35+
3	768	Mark	Wilson			Masters 35+
4	751	Kevin	Horvath		38	Masters 35+
5	761	Geoff	Beaty			Masters 35+
6	764	Jimmy	Deaton			Masters 35+
7	754	Matthew	Marchal	Altius Cycling Team	39	Masters 35+
8	763	Bryan	Sorell			Masters 35+
9	750	Christopher	Dinsmore	TriPower	42	Masters 35+
10	767	B.	Lehen			Masters 35+
11	757	C. C.	Rosen	Speedy's Hot Sauce pb Fuji	36	Masters 35+
12	766	Hobie	Writmore			Masters 35+
13	762	Robert	Cook			Masters 35+
14	759	Sean	Yeager	Altius Cycling Team	35	Masters 35+
15	756	Albe	Rodenas	All About Bikes Racing	42	Masters 35+
16	765	John	O'Neal			Masters 35+
	752	Robert	Issem	East Coasters / Star City Vicious	39	Masters 35+
prime 751
PLACE	BIB	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	TEAM	Race Age	CATEGORY ENTERED
1	785	Keith	Johnson	Speedy's Hot Sauce p/b Fuji	49	Masters 45+
2	784	Chris	Huhn	Evolution Cycling Club	44	Masters 45+
3	787	James	Revere	Altius Cycling Team	45	Masters 45+
4	792	Edward	Dickenson	East Coasters	46	Masters 45+
5	786	John	Messersmith	Altius Cycling Team	49	Masters 45+
6	782	William	Gilmer	tri-power	46	Masters 45+
7	788	Steve	Simet	JRVS/Casey Auto Group	54	Masters 45+
8	783	Jeffrey	Henke	JRVS	50	Masters 45+
9	789	Tim	Starkey	Tri-power	50	Masters 45+
10	781	Tom	Fournier	unattached	50	Masters 45+
11	791	Rick	Young	JRVS/Casey Auto	46	Masters 45+
12	793	Dave	Olds			Masters 45+
	790	Harlan	Ward	Speedy's Hot Sauce p/b Fuji	10	Masters 45+
prime is 784
PLACE	BIB	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	TEAM	Race Age	CATEGORY ENTERED
1	713	Timothy	Pope	Fat Frogs Racing	35	Cat 4
2	708	Matt	Keane	Fat Frogs Racing	24	Cat 4
3	703	Andres	Demarchena	Fat Frog's Racing	32	Cat 4
4	725	Michael	Baldwin			Cat 4
5	711	Michael	Park	TriPower	35	Cat 4
6	704	Taylor	Doyle	Fat Frogs Racing	26	Cat 4
7	706	Barry	Hindman	Ben's Performance Bicycles, Inc	39	Cat 4
8	707	Robert	Issem	East Coasters / Star City Vicious	39	Cat 4
9	783	Jeffrey	Henke	JRVS	50	Cat 4
10	719	Jeffrey	Hellner			Cat 4
11	700	Christopher	Adams	All About Bikes	26	Cat 4
12	717	Chris	Larkin			Cat 4
13	723	Brian	Kunz			Cat 4
14	701	Jeff	Brown	Tripower	37	Cat 4
15	718	Chris	Scales			Cat 4
16	712	Jennifer	Pope	Fat Frogs Racing	34	Cat 4
17	724	Jimmy	Miller			Cat 4
18	710	Michael	McMahon	TriPower	43	Cat 4
19	702	Mike	Bruwelheide	all about bikes racing	37	Cat 4
20	715	Junjie	Wang		43	Cat 4
21	722	Robert	Stambauger			Cat 4
22	720	Chris	Mann			Cat 4
23	714	Renee	Reilly	Scott Malkinson	25	Cat 4
24	721	Tosca	Ballenili			Cat 4
	709	Arthur	Marks	Tri-Power	38	Cat 4
Prime is 713
PLACE	BIB	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	TEAM	Race Age	CATEGORY ENTERED
1	652	Michael	Stoop	Speedy's Hot Sauce  pb Fuji	25	Cat 1/2
2	654	Justin	Raynes			Cat 1/2
3	650	Mark	Cockrell		32	Cat 1/2
4	651	Kevin	Horvath		38	Cat 1/2
5	653	Anthony	Bilotta			Cat 1/2
prime 652
PLACE	BIB	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	TEAM	Race Age	CATEGORY ENTERED
1	684	Jon	Nisbet			Cat 3
2	678	Jimmy	Deaton	JRVS/Casey Auto Group	40	Cat 3
3	676	Robert	Carrico	Altius Cycling Team	25	Cat 3
4	677	Dave	Chamblin		39	Cat 3
5	683	John	Messersmith			Cat 3
6	680	Jerry	Hadley	Tri-Power	39	Cat 3
7	686	Mike	Tamayo			Cat 3
8	685	Tim	Shockley			Cat 3
9	679	Joshua	Goyet	Virginia Beach Wheelmen	33	Cat 3
	675	Zachary	Bradshaw	Altius	23	Cat 3
prime 678

The Thank You Speech

Here goes the thank you speech for all those that helped out at the Bennett's Creek Cyclocross Race Yesterday:

Sponsors:

• Virginia Beach Wheelmen--The promoting team, we supplied the manpower, the cash purse and paid the Bike Reg fees for those that pre-registered.
• All About Bikes-- The supporting bike shop.  They supplied the merchandise prizes and lent us a lot of equipment.
• Gam Jams-- A prize sponsor supplied the kick ass wool socks.
• City of Suffolk Parks and Recs-- They supplied the land.  They were truly a sponsor because if they charged us the actually amount to use their land that they could, we would not have held the race there.
• Kale Running-- For use of their stakes.  They are going to be putting on a good race in the next couple of weeks at the Sportsplex in Virginia Beach.  The Endurance Winter Challenge and CX race.
• Mary Kay-- Jenni Goyet of Mary Kay supplied the bags for the prizes as well as put some hand lotion in each of those bags.  It was pretty funny to see all the top CX racers winning their prizes and walking around with Mary Kay bags.  Everyone had a great sense of humor about it and liked what was in them.

Others:

The Virginia Beach Wheelmen is a team of nine racers.  We were putting on races when we were a team of four.  It is definitely easier with the extra help.  But we are still a small team and love to get help where it is offered.  The wives of the team were a huge help (also the mother of our youngest racer really went above and beyond.  Thanks Kim, every thing you did was a huge help).  My wife along with Mike Tamayo's wife and Jon Nisbet's wife ran registration and did an excellent job. 

Albe from All About Bikes racing showed up early in the morning to help us set up.  I know I am forgetting some because we had people show up and just help that weren't even expected.  I'm sorry to leave you out but I want you to know we really appreciate it.  Thank you.

I will post results, write up and some pictures soon.

Thanks to all who came out.  Let me know if there is anything I can do to make this a better event for next year.



 

The Hunt

So for some reason I got this notion to go hunting.  I was at my brother-in-law's house up in Maryland and he has a lot of property that can be hunted.  This is my kind of hunt.  It is within walking distance of the house, so if I decided I was completely bored I could just walk back.

So I dressed all in camo and set up in a tree stand starting at 5:30 in the morning.  And for those that were not going to believe me, I even took a picture of myself:

So I am sitting up there for 2 hours when I suddenly turn to my left and see this buck:

Okay, so it wasn't that buck.  It definitely wasn't that big, but this is my story so deal with it.  So I turn and see this buck about 50 yards away...what the heck if its my story I might as well say 100 yards away.  Anyway, I raised the gun (shotgun, by the way, and that ends up being an important part of the story) and look through the scope (scope on a shot gun?  A lot of people have asked me this and I don't have and answer)  and fired.

Guess what I didn't do?  Yes the safety was off, yes the gun was loaded, no I did not have a good enough grip on the gun to control the recoil.  So the gun kicked back and the scope nailed me just above my eye:

It obviously shocked the crap out of me and wouldn't you know that I missed the deer.  But the deer didn't run, it actually walked closer to me.  So I reaimed, controlled the gun much better and looked through the scope much further away.  I shot again and knocked the deer on its back.  The deer even let out a cry.  Then it just lied motionless on its back.  So I unloaded the remaining ammo out of the gun, unstrapped myself from the tree stand and climbed down.

As I was climbing down, I saw what I thought was another buck running into the woods.  Much to my surprise, when I got to the area where I shot the deer, it was gone.  No problem, I'll just follow the blood trail.  Unfortunately the only blood trail led back to the tree stand.  I looked for that deer for the next hour or more and never found even a sign of a deer that had just been shot.  There are some theories here:

1. I happen to shoot a deer with 9 lives.
2. I hit the deer in a location that stunned it, didn't bleed much and it was able to get up
3. Probably the most likely theory, the deer actually fell over from laughter.  The noise it made was not a cry but a laugh:

Now imaging having to go to work at the fire station with a very noticeable cut above your eye and have to explain to a bunch of firefighters (whom most of them are avid hunters) that you can't control a shotgun.

Good times.

Awesome.

Great ride today with the team.  We decided to wait until noon to go out since it was going to be 20 degrees warmer than it was at 7.  It was pretty cool to have 5 guys, all in the same kits out on the roads of Virginia Beach.  We got a lot of cool looks and a lot of waves.  I think its different then when you have 30 guys all in different clothing.  It was a nice base building ride.  Very steady but good spin pace.  I felt great and the weather was awesome.  Good times.  This is what team riding is all about.