Shore racers...a dying breed?

This thread isn't about why everyone in a given age bracket isn't racing, cause we ALL know racing isn't for everyone, and that's cool. What I was getting at is this: where's the racer faction of those under 30? There's 20 something athletes racing in other parts of the country and Province, but here they don't make the connection despite the shore's growth of xc trail offerings in recent years.

I feel the same way, even as a strong descender. However, of an almost two hour race, it is less than 10 minutes – unless you get a flat.

or you go over the bars…around here you get to land on dirt when that happens ;)

The Island Cup has done a decent job of supporting all ages. We have both juniors and even racers in their 70's!

DH has a much younger participation

XC has an older participation

Cycling BC in general has an issue with a huge hole in between junior BMX racers and the masters which are the majority of the membership.

Is it a lack of time?

Are bikes too expensive for juniors?

Have we focused development of juniors too much on high performance and not just participation?

For ideas of junior fun events. School Bike League in Victoria is one option. Island cup races are fairly inexpensive ($20 or less for xc)

http://www.islandcupseries.com/2013/2013-island-cup-series-calendar/

:werd:

I get enough stress and competition at work. Biking is about being out in the forest, (and preferably in the sun) with people that I've chosen to be around. The whole racing scene sounds like a nightmare to me.

Thats Freeride bruh! Raced once on the island, the whole waiting in line to get warm up laps was rough, warm up run was a mess, didnt even finish the race. Worst part was the cost taking the ferry getting to the island and back, and then cost for race, and then not finishing.. rough day all said and done

.. on a side note, if I would of been a little more on time and got a couple warm up laps in, and knew the track a litte better, it could of changed the day significantly. Almost tempted to do the same race this year and get there on time and forget bout the cost. Cant remember the name of the hill though.. hmm..

Have we focused development of juniors too much on high performance and not just participation?

This is a hard one to address as you have a few sides to the problem. You have the parents, coaches, and of course the sport governing body who can all contribute to the problem or not. But this is from what I have seen a similar problem in a few other sports.

Parents can cause kids to drop the sport simply by putting pressure on them to practice all the time. Kind of live vicariously through them because they couldn't do it themselves. I see this a lot through my wife's team where you have players who have only made it to Varsity Athletics because it's what their parents want. And as soon as they can quit their sports. I know this part because my dad tried this approach with golf. Now I hate the game because of it.

Then you have coaches who see something they like in a athlete who then they decide they are the chosen one and push them way to hard young. And then the athlete vanishes after 19 because they no longer love it and would rather do other things.

This only leads to short term development and participation in racing. As I learned one has to think long term. Worry about racing and medals after 18 when they are done growing. Spend the time giving them the skills and fitness for that day. Look at Tim Horton's soccer in the summer. No score keeping but lots of emphasis on skills while having fun.

Any thread on XC racing is not complete without pictures of Emily Batty.

Helloooo Emily Batty, wow.

If you're stressed out at a local XC (or CX, or Tri, or DH or…) race you're doing it wrong. It's not the race's fault.

People have such a narrow definition of stress. Partying stresses you out. Playing video games stresses you out. Dating stresses you out. Having children REALLY stresses you out. These are all forms of stress, which are actually positive life experiences.

Even if you are one of these "freeriders" getting on your bike to "de-stress" from normal life stresses by attempting a 8 foot drop for the first time ever… you better be freaking stressed at that moment. If not, you should be in a therapist's office rather than on the trail.

And if you are racing, and you are not stressing your body to the absolute limit of its ability, then you are doing it very wrong. The cliche is that your true character comes out at your most stressful moments, and it is true. It is not about your placement, its about knowing that day for an hour or three hours, you didn't buckle.

Nervousness, butterflies, anxiety, excitement… whatever you want to call it, your body physically experiences all of them as stress.

Helloooo Emily Batty, wow.

It is one of the unexplained miracles of this world that this person can look this good without an ounce of make up, and still just as good after hours of grueling world-class racing. It baffles the mind.

Emily Batty appreciates a good slam.

The cliche is that your true character comes out at your most stressful moments, and it is true. It is not about your placement, its about knowing that day for an hour or three hours, you didn't buckle.

This argument has its merits, but it's the same reason bike touring doesn't actually feel like a "vacation". I'm looking forward to some low-stress evening racing this year.

I'm happier being at the back of the dedicated racer group than winning my age group
(just surviving in the big ocean with all the big fish is more satisfying than being the big fish in the small pond)

^^^^ I agree with this ^^^^^

Over the past two years FVMBA has hosted 11 races, consisting of 5 XCs and 6 Super D races. We had 272 starts. They weren't large crowds by Test of Metal standards, but they were a fun laid back outing for all those that came to race. Of all those that starts, only 18 were junior riders. Early 30's to late 40's was our demographic.

The younger generation seems that they cant be bothered to race. And we were hosting events that were as short as 15mins up to 2hrs and suited XC bikes to Big bikes. Maybe its too much work, too much exerciser or maybe its just not cool to race for them. Who knows? What ever it is, its not the lack of events out there for them to take part in.

Speaking from a XC standpoint, I wouldn't look at racing on the Shore as the litmus for the health of racing. Try looking at whats going on in the lower mainland as a whole. There is tons of Toonie action coming up this summer in Whistler and Squamish, the Test of Metal 4 pack racing, Nimby 50, FVMBA Trailblazer Series, the Island Series and the recently announced SORCE toonie series. And for a large number of us that have a road bike in our collection, there was last falls CX series and the Escape Velocity Spring Series thats going on right now.

If you love bikes and are remotely competitive, you will find somewhere to get your fix. And if your complaining there isn't anything going on, your not looking.

I've already bought my Test of Metal 4 pack, pre reg'ed for the Nimby and am looking forward to FVMBA's first race on April 20th. To all those that say "Im think about doing that race" or "I might think about more races", I say when you see something you like, buck up and support those organizers by preregistering. Thats the only way you'll see more events organized.

FVMBA changed the Spring Series format this year, to a early summer series which will consist of XC and Enduros with Webscorer timing. http://www.fvmba.com/ http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=496322223736240[HTML_REMOVED]set=a.197695206932278.41699.185261884842277[HTML_REMOVED]type=1[HTML_REMOVED]theater

And to fill the void for a lot of guys that were looking for early season training, there now is the Saturday Morning Toonies out here in Abbotsford. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Saturday-Morning-Toonies/305875019524181

For $2 you're getting some hard, fast paced XC training, coffee and beer! Some amazing sponsors have supplied some great prizes. Did I mention beer and coffee. And the great guys at Nimby have donated two free entries to this years Nimby Fifty as draw prizes for those who are riding the Saturday Morning Toonies as well as racing the FVMBA's Heritage Park race on April 20th.

Just another example of the many fun low key Grassroots events that are going on out there. It may not be the shore, but all those events are close enough if your really wanting to race.

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Here's Emily and with my buddy Steve, who owns the Bike Gallery. The Gallery was providing Mavic Neutral Wheel Support last Novembers at the GPCX, where we had serviced Emily's bike during the women's race. Afterwords, she came by to say thanks and ended up hanging out to chat for a bit.

I have to say, Emily is so down to earth and approachable to talk about her racing, career and what not. A great rep for her sponsors and which ever sport she is doing atm, weather its CX or XC.

And fricken HOT!! She wasn't weirded out at all by all the fanboys taking her picture.

And if you are racing, and you are not stressing your body to the absolute limit of its ability, then you are doing it very wrong. The cliche is that your true character comes out at your most stressful moments, and it is true. It is not about your placement, its about knowing that day for an hour or three hours, you didn't buckle.

I wish you told me this years ago because I would never bother with the Test of Metal and many other races then!

I don't push myself to my absolute limit so obviously I'm doing it very wrong even though I enjoy doing it and it gives me just one more reason to get out on my bikes. Silly me!!