News
Ever Wanted to Work a Bike Race?
Jul 3rd
If you’ve ever thought about how much fun it would be to work a bike race, here is your opportunity. Below is an e-mail I sent to my database of race volunteers, but this event is bigger than even my usual crew can handle. You can find some of the “Job Descriptions” on the Volunteer (now called Employment) page of this website. If you are able to help at this event, please contact me, BigDave, at bigbikerdave@gmail.com.
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OK All, my next big event is the Midwest Regional Masters Championship to be held Saturday, July 23rd in Cleves and North Bend, OH and Sunday, July 24th in Aurora, IN. Here is the RACE FLYER if you want to read along. I am going to need a small army of people to make this happen, so please be greedy with the number of positions and time slots you want. This event will be bringing in riders from the 12-state Region defined by USA Cycling. I already have one rider registered for all 3 races coming all the way from South Dakota. My target attendance for this event is 200-250 riders per stage, or 600-750 for the entire weekend. Here is what I need: More >
Devou Park Races Moved to Mainstrasse
Jun 29th
The extremely wet spring not only effected everyone’s riding and training, it also effected the residents living around Devou Park in Covington, KY. The heavy rains caused mudslides on N. Park Rd forcing the main road up to the Drees Pavilion to be closed for most of the year. This closure has forced the residents into a long detour to get to and from their homes. To avoid adding additional stress to the residents by closing the roads that were still open for the Wednesday night race series, the City of Covington requested that we move the course. After reviewing many different course options, we have all come in agreement on one course in the city’s entertainment district of Mainstrasse.
This new course is a big change from the “mini-road race” that we grew to love around Devou. Riders will now be racing around a basic 4 corner, .5-mile square course with a short section of cobbles. To stay in the purpose of the original Devou Park Race Series, this will allow entry level racers to get the racing experience they want and need but on a more traditional crit course.
With the new course comes a new name. The series will now be called the Mainstrasse Summer Race Series.
We look forward to an exciting summer of racing in our new home, Mainstrasse!
BDS Added to Milford Sunflower Classic
Jun 27th
In only it’s second year, the Milford Sunflower Classic was in danger of being dropped from the calendar. This fall race had respectable attendance in 2010 as the Friday evening kick off to the Sunflower Festival in Historic Downtown Milford, Ohio. After much searching and recruiting, a primary Race Director could not be secured for this year’s event putting the race in jeopardy. After some discussions with Kelly Sullivan, owner of Bishops’s Bicycles in Milford and one of the creators of the event, BigDaveSports has agreed to take over the reigns of the event for 2011.
You can expect this year’s event to consist of 3 races with the last race finishing under the lights in downtown Milford. Afterwards, riders and spectators will be treated to live music and plenty of food and drinks as the weekend of festivities kicks off.
BDS Receives Anonymous Donation to Support Junior’s Races
May 12th
BigDaveSports recently received a gracious anonymous donation to be used for providing and developing racing opportunities for juniors in our area. BigDaveSports has already been working to provide more racing opportunities for juniors, but this will help offset some of the costs involved as well as provide funds to be able to encourage more juniors to participate. Here are some of the ways BigDaveSports plans to use these funds:
- A Junior’s Category has already been added to the OSRS #10 Series Finale in Georgetown, OH. Now, with collaboration of Dino’s Neighborhood Grill, all juniors (entering the juniors category) will receive a FREE meal after the race.
- At the 2011 Ohio Juniors & Masters State Road Race Championship, again with collaboration from Dino’s Neighborhood Grill, all junior participants will receive a FREE meal after the race.
- For the Devou Park Summer Race Series, all juniors will race for FREE. That’s right, entry fees waived for the juniors’ categories! This will include the Devou Hill Climb Time Trial.
- The last event that BigDaveSports has on the schedule for juniors is the Caesar Creek MTB Race. This event is not only the USAC-MTB State Championship for Ohio, but is also part of the Alison Dunlap Junior Series-Mountain Bike (ADJ-MTB). As part of the ADJ-MTB program, this event offers juniors’ categories from U10 up to the standard 15-18 age brackets. Currently, none of the funds have been allocated to this event, but entry fees are only $10 and it is worth mentioning as it has a strong push for junior racing. Additional benefits for juniors may be added at a later date as we get closer to the race.
We greatly appreciate this unsolicited donation and hope that the outcome from it is an improvement in juniors racing in Ohio!
Juniors Categories Added to Last Two OSRS Races
May 12th
As a continued test of the interest in juniors categories in road races in Ohio, the Ohio Spring Race Series has added juniors to the last two races of the series, Germantown and Georgetown. This was done at the Lynchburg race with moderate success, and these two races will use the same format. Entry fee for the juniors will be $10 with no day of event late fee. They will race with the women but will be scored separately. Their results will be submitted to USA Cycling.
The Germantown Race p/b Queen City Wheels uses a short and technical 7.3-mile loop. Riders will have to negotiate many 90 degree turns on narrow country roads. The finish is at the top of a small, low grade climb. The juniors will be racing for approximately 42 miles. Registration is available through BikeReg.com.
The Series Finale will be the Georgetown, OH Race p/b BigDaveSports and Team BSM. This is your more traditional country race course with 11 miles of slightly rolling straight-aways, a few twists and turns, and a moderate climb on the back side. The finish is part of one of the long straights with mild rollers. The juniors will be racing for approximately 35 miles at this race. Registration for this race is also available at BikeReg.com.
When we added juniors to the Lynchburg Race, some of the feedback that we received was that the 38-mile race was too long for the younger juniors in the 10-14 age group, and that any distance over 30 miles is no longer a race, but more of survival for the less developed muscles of the young juniors. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to add another group on the road for some of these races to allow the younger juniors to have a race with a more suitable distance. Also, upon questioning the veteran race officials, it was pointed out that any groups that start together, must finish together, i.e. do the same distance, thus eliminating the possibility of having the juniors start with the women but finish earlier.
Again, adding these categories to these races is more of an experiment to see what the interest level is while creating very little additional work for the race promoters and officials. We will look at the turnouts we get for the three races and discuss whether this is something we want to add to next year’s format, and then the extent of the juniors categories which may or may not include the younger 10-14 age group.
Please show your support for juniors racing by encouraging juniors to attend these races!
Last Minute Changes Made to the St Peters Road Race
May 3rd
There is a saying by the United States Marines, “Adapt and overcome!” That pretty much sums up the planning process of the St Peters, IN Road Race over the past month.
First, there was a conflict with Mother’s Day in town that caused us to change the race date from Sunday to Saturday, May 7th. Then, with just over a week until race day, we find out that our parking location was double booked. The other party using the parking lot didn’t want to share it with us, and since they were actually paying for it and were local residents, the get priority to keep everyone happy. Thus, with just a week until race day, and no place to park 150 cars, a panicked search went underway to avoid having to cancel the race all together.
As you are all aware, road races are held out in the country in the middle of corn fields, etc, where parking is minimal and cell service is questionable. Parking in a field is not an option this year with the record rain falls that we have in the area. Changing the date again wasn’t an option, because every weekend through the end of the series was booked up both days. After driving the course multiple times and looking at satellite photos trying to find a gravel or paved lot that MIGHT hold 100-150 cars, a plea went out to the other promoters in the Ohio Spring Race Series for suggestions and guidance as to what to do about parking or if the race should just be cancelled. Tracy Segar, promoter of the Germantown Road Race, the Franklin County Park or something in the Brookville area which is just north of the race course. He admitted to being lost in that area several times before finding himself on the race course during a ride. The Franklin County Park didn’t have enough paved/gravel space to park the number of cars we were looking at and admitted that they were afraid of parking them in the grass because of all the rain we’ve had. HOWEVER, hidden just north of the park was Morgan’s Brookville Canoe Center. While scoping it out, I ran into the owner, Gary Morgan, who runs the Little Miami Tri which replaces the swimming leg with canoeing. I explained to him my situation with the parking for this race, and he was more than happy to help out, especially since it is still early in the canoeing season, and he saw it as an opportunity to get more exposure. Their parking can handle 500+ cars, plus they have real bathrooms and a lodge for us to use.
Therefore, the St Peters, IN Road Race will be held on Saturday, May 7th. Parking AND registration will now be at the Morgan’s Brookville Canoe Center off of Blue Creek Rd. We will stage riders at the Canoe Center and do a neutral rollout of just under a mile to the race course. Riders will then have just over a mile of racing before they reach THE climb up Highland Center Rd. The Feed Zone will be near the top of the climb at Lookout Dr (last year’s climb). Once at the top, it is about 1.5 miles to the actual finish line at Ramsey Dr where you will start seeing lap cards. The party house is just after the turn onto St Peters Rd where you might be able to get (unauthorized) beer handups.
Here is the updated 2011 St Peters Flyer.
Since we are parking and staging at the Canoe Center, bring your family out and let them go canoeing while you’re out racing. Also, if you get a chance, stop by the St Peters Deli where we usually have registration. They have always been supportive of this race over the years, and it was a tough decision to move to the other end of the course.
One last thing, since this race is on Mother’s Day weekend, all mom’s get a special rate on their entry fee. If you (moms) have not received an e-mail from BigDave regarding this special rate, please contact him at bigbikerdave@gmail.com.
Juniors’ Category Added to Lynchburg Road Race
Apr 29th
For this year’s Lynchburg Road Race as part of the Ohio Spring Race Series, we are adding a juniors’ category to test the waters of interest for juniors in road races in Ohio. The juniors will be racing for 38 miles with the women’s field, but will be scored separately. The race entry for the juniors will be $10 with no late fees for day of event registrations. If you know of any juniors that might be interested in racing, please encourage them to join in on this race.
USA Cycling Cracks Down On Unattached Riders
Mar 25th
The hot topic coming out of USA Cycling is with unattached riders racing in team kits. They are putting pressure on the Local Associations who are, in turn, putting pressure on the race officials and promoters to enforce the rule.
Here are some relevant USA Cycling rules:
- 1A40. An unattached rider is one who is not a licensed member of a club.
- 1J13. Club Membership Fraud. No rider may enter a race as a member of a club who is not a member in good standing of that club and, if licensed, is licensed as a member of the club [disqualification and 30 days suspension].
- 1N5.(b) Advertising may appear only on the uniform, including caps, shoes, and helmet of riders who are licensed members of sponsored clubs or teams [disqualification for other advertising]. The club’s name must appear on the front and back or two sides of the jersey. The name may be abbreviated.
- 1N5.(d) Club Jerseys. In competition, no rider shall wear the emblem, inscription, or uniform of any club or team which the rider is not eligible to represent [Offending rider may not be permitted to start if noted before the race; otherwise, warning for first offense]. Club jerseys must not be similar in color or design to a National Champion jersey or a USA National Team jersey.
What this means is that if you are an unattached rider, you can only race in a plain jersey, shorts and socks. Anyone caught riding in another team’s kit or clothing with advertising on it could be disqualified and/or suspended.
When you check in at registration for the race, you will be asked to show your race license not just to verify your name, license number and category, but also your team/club affiliation. If your license says “unattached” or “not affiliated”, it will be noted on the race roster so the race officials can check your kit before the start of the race.
If you purchase your license as an unattached rider and then join a team, you can, and should, get your license updated through USA Cycling. This will eliminate any hassles at future races.
If you have any questions, ask your Team Director or local USA Cycling representative.
Website Advertising is now available on BigDaveSports.com
Mar 6th
We finally got around to setting up advertising space here at .com world. You can now have your company appear on our website for the dozens of monthly visitors to look at. Full details can be found on the “Sponsorship / Advertising” page.
2011 Kentuckiana Spring Race Series (KiSRS) Put On Hiatus
Feb 5th
It is with much regret that BigDaveSports announces there will not be a Kentuckiana Spring Race Series in 2011. This decision was made based on the lack of sponsorship and financial support for the series as well as health reasons on the part of BigDave. If BigDaveSports is not able to put on a quality event, then BigDave doesn’t want the event to happen. This decision will allow BigDaveSports to put more effort into the other events on the schedule and encourages riders to support all events, not just those put on by BigDaveSports. There are still plenty of races occurring this spring in Kentucky and Indiana as well as the Ohio Spring Race Series (OSRS) which BigDaveSports is a major part of.
This does not appear to be the end of the KiSRS. BigDaveSports will re-evaluate the structure of the series and individual races to rely less on outside sponsorship as well as work with some of the other established races in Kentucky and Indiana to form a new, bigger and better series for 2012.
