New Blog

Meet the new blog, same as the old blog

MCA Mountain Bike Committee Blog

Please go here as this blog will no longer be updated

Why the new blog? I created the old blog under my personal username and password. That is okay but it becomes a problem when a new chair for the mountain bike committee steps in and assumes responsibility for the blog which now has a username and password attached to that position.

Online Meeting #2

Thanks to those who responded and contributed to the last meeting. I will summarize the survey comments.

We are still looking for people to be responsible for the agenda items of Cup and Provincial Races and Marathon Races. Also, if anyone would like any other agenda items to list please let me know.

New Meeting Items:

1. Canada Cup - The Junk Yard Dogs have expressed interest in working towards a Canada Cup bid. This would require a lot of work from this club, the committee, and possibly other clubs.
2. Race and Event bid and/or application system. We need to create a detailed application system to ensure that all sanctioned races and events meet the standards, rules and regulations of the MCA.

As per the request of committee members more info regarding point #2:

An issue had come to light regarding this weekend's race at Falcon Ridge. You may have noticed that they are only charging $20 and $30 for the race this weekend. The reason for this is that all the documentation that is currently on the MCA site indicates that these are the costs that an organizer needs to charge for a race - this is our fault for not making these changes. As you know, earlier this year we decided to put a $2 levy on the Cup races and the Provincials to assist the costs incurred by the committee; this resulted in the decision to raise the fees for Cup races and Provincials to $25 and $35. What failed to happen following that decision was to change the appropriate documents to reflect those changes. We did announce the changes and the information was available on the website, but the appropriate documents were not changed. Further, the organizers need to participate in the meetings and it is imperative that they do so if they want to sponsor races. For this race we will waive the levy fees; it would be unfair for the organizer to pay levy fees if they did not charge enough to cover that cost. we will ask the the organizer to pay the levy if they have made enough money to cover this cost.

It is important the committee supports the clubs and organizers in their efforts to create and host events, it is also important for the clubs and organizers to support the MCA and its committees in their work by participating in the meetings. Here are the actions that we should consider

ACTIONS:

1. Waive the levy fees for the race at Falcon Ridge unless they have collected enough money to cover those costs without losing money.
2. Use the attached action checklist regarding all committee decisions and actions
3. Create an application system for future mountain bike races and events that included the following items: detailed application form, emergency action plan, publicity form requesting posters, registration, waiver, and MCA website announcement.
4. Have clubs or organizers submit a deposit before they are awarded a race.
5. Create a timeline for submission of application forms.
6. Have all applications reviewed by the mountain bike committee and commissaires prior to awarding of race or event to club.
7. ONLY those who have the "Organizer" designation on their MCA license will be allowed to organize or make a bid for a race or event.
8. All clubs and organizations that are putting on race or events are required to attend MCA mountain bike committee meetings - consistent failure to attend these meeting may result in the club or organization being precluded from holding a race or event.

Checklist:

1. Create a first draft of the action or decision and circulate to the committee for consideration and revisions. Circulate for 3 days. Make changes and create a final draft
2. If needed and as required, inform the MCA Board of decision or action.
3. If needed or required await decision from MCA Board on decision and action
4. Publish action or decision on MCA website and the MCA Mountain Bike Committee Blog.
5. If decision or action results in the need for changes to existing documents, policies and procedures.

Please let me know if you need to have your permissions resent so you can participate in these discussions.

Online Meetings

Hi All,

As per the recent email I sent to all committee members I am going to hold discussions on issues involving the mountain biking via this blog. Quite simply, I will post two items for discussion on the blog and invite committee members to comment on those issues. At the end of the week I will ask someone to come up with a consensus statement based on the those comments and to identify any actions and recommendations that are important. I hope this gives us an opportunity to continue to work on items until we can meet again in July.

Please let me know if you need me to send you permission to comment on this blog.

This week's issues:

1) Standing Agenda Items

An easy way to effectively and efficiently run this committee is to identify standing agenda items and to have interested parties be in charge of those items. Below are some potential items and people who have expressed interest in reporting on these. Please let me know if you are interested in one of these, and/or identify an item that I may have missed:

1. Promotion - Kevin Braun
   
2. Marathon Races
3. Cup and Provincial Races
4. Safety - Hal Loewen
   
5. Rules and Regulations - Karin McSherry
   
6. Others?

2) Surveys

At the Grand Beach Race the Olympia Cycling Club handed out surveys about the race in lieu of food tickets, competitors were required to fill out the survey to get their food. The idea is to collect information about the event so that the organizer has feedback about how the ran the race thereby information on which they can use to improve their event. Other ways we could use this information is to share it with the committee and the other organizers; in order to do this fairly the committee would need to create a standard survey, is this a something we are interested in?

Sample of the Survey - participants were required to fill out the survey in order to get their food:

Food Ticket – Grand Beach XC 2009
Do Not Agree Agree
Was the course clearly marked?
1 2 3 4 5
Was the course was challenging and fun?
1 2 3 4 5
Did you have an enjoyable event?
1 2 3 4 5
The organizer put on a well organized event
1 2 3 4 5
Please write additional comments on back

April Minutes

Manitoba Mountain Bike Committee Minutes - DRAFT
March 14, 2009
Board Room, Sport Manitoba
7:00 – 9:00

Present: Dale Cramer (Junk Yard Dogs), Dorrie ? (Junk Yard Dogs), Kevin Braun (Tinker), Tim Loewen (KOM), Bill Algeo (Woodcock), Allan Robertson (Alter Ego), Shaw Zayac (Alter Ego) Hal Loewen (MTB Coordinator), Ron Brown (MCA Exec. Director) Karin McSherry (Chief MTB Commissaire

Regrets: (Olympia Rep), Greg Sherwin (Brandon Bike Club), Patrick Siemens (Body Driven), David Dorning (Woodcock), David Jonhston (Tread the Thunder)

Actions from February 10, 2009:

1. Hal L to email list of riders requested to move up to Dale C - not completed
   
2. Kevin B to make folding poster that can be distributed to shops - completed
3. Ron B to print 11X17 colour copies of the race poster to be distributed to bike shops and other appropriate venues. - completed
4. All to distribute and post posters at appropriate shops and venues. - completed
5. Hal L to make a link to the poster on the MCA Mountain Bike Committee blog so people can print their own posters - completed
6. Hal L to invite the chief commissaire to the next mountain bike committee meeting - completed
7. Shawn Z to forward marathon/enduro mountain bike race rules to be distributed electronically to the committee for adaptation - completed
8. Hal L to reformat that current Manitoba mountain bike organizers manual and distribute for discussion and adaptation if needed - completed

Discussions:

• The Committee invited Karin McSherry, Chief Mountain Bike Commissaire, to the committee meeting to discuss the upcoming season. Some items discussed included the need for all clubs to have a commissaire(s) in the club - this is something that should be phased in; the number of commissaires needed for a race (2 for most, 3 for over 100); commissaires should ideally review the course either riding or walking; start and finish areas need to careful attention, marking and clear indication of start, lap and finish directions; commissaires to submit results to the MCA and organizers for posting; it would be very helpful if organizer's to help with results (tracking riders and posting)
• Review of the Cup Series Document and Organizer's Manual. Majority of the discussion was about medics and emergency preparedness plans. This was seen as an essential compontent of the documents. A Manitoba EPP is to be developed based on the Alberta document. Discussion continued on taking the two documents and editing both to move appropriate sections to the appropiate documents to remove duplication in the two documents
• The marathon race structure was discussed. It was decided that the guidelines proposed by Shawn Z would be edited to remove the need for solo riders to provide a resume for 24 hour events, that a minimum age limit would looked at for longer races, again 24 hour events. The rules would be forwarded to the mountain bike commissaires to review, following that they would be added to the organizing manual as guidelines. Organizer's would then be responsible for going over the rules for their race with the commissaires prior to the race, if the commissaire was satisfied with the rules they would recommend the race for sanctioning.
• Discussion took place on the organizing of events and to try, at all costs, avoid conflicts on the schedule for events of the same discipline. It was suggested that all MCA committees, not just road and mountain bike, meet early in the year to identify important events so that cross-scheduling could be avoided.
  
• It was discussed that the Grand Beach race would probably be delayed due to snow still being on the course.
• The idea was forwarded to create a mechanism to stage riders on the start line for all Cup races and the Provincials. The staging would be based on points earned from the previous races (excluding the first race since no points have been earned).
• Another idea was forwarded to create post race surveys which would be handed out following each Cup race and the Provincials. The survey would be short and fairly general, and it would be provide feedback to the organizers and the committee about the event and mountain bike races in general. The commissaires were asked to provide a couple of questions on the commissaires and that this would be added to the survey.
• The request from a rider to move down from Comp to Sport for medical reasons was granted with the provision that if and when the rider's performance indicated that they should move back up to Comp they would be asked to do so.
  

Recommendations to the Board:

1. That clubs organizing events on behalf of the MCA have an emergency preparedness plan in place prior to the race
2. That all MCA committees meet early in the year to identify important events so that cross-scheduling could be avoided.

Actions:

1. Hal L to create a MCA Mountain Bike Emergency Preparedness Plan for organizers of the MCA mountain bike races and events.
2. Hal L to find someone to coordinate and format the Mountain Bike Racing Manual and Race Organizer's Manual - this is to include the marathon event rules
3. Ron B to check the Long Term Athlete Development documentation to see what distances and times were permitted younger riders.
4. Hal L to find someone to write rules and procedures for the placing of riders on the start line according to their current Cup points
5. Hal L to inform the rider who requested that they move down from Comp to Sport would be granted with the provision that they move back up when and if their times and performance indicated that they should be competing in the Comp class.
6. Hal L to create a post race survey and distribute it to the committee
   

April 10th Meeting Agenda

Agenda for April 14th meeting:

1) Approval of March 10th, 2009 minutes (5 min)
2) Approval of Agenda (2 min)
3) Actions from March 1oth, 2009 minutes (10 min)
4) New Business:

• Mountain bike rules and regulation revue for 2009 (Karin McSherry, chief MTB commissaire will be in attendance) (20 min)
  
• Review of the Cup Series document and 0rganizer's manual - draft copies of these documents will be sent out prior to the meeting (40 min)
  
• Marathon Race Rules - examine the rules we need adopt and have in place, also, promoting and developing courses for these events (20 min)
• Events and race schedule conflicts (10 min)
• Grand Beach race delay (5 min)
  
• Other?

items of interest

Board Meeting Highlights

• The MTB report was submitted to the Board - it was basically a copy of our draft minutes from March 10.
• The poster is ready for distribution, you can find a link to the poster here or under the links of this blog. If you would like a PDF copy of this poster send me an email at hal_loewenATshawDOTca.
• There was discussion about possibly tightening up the amount of categories for the cup series. There was discussion that there are too many categories and therefore too many cup series jersey's floating around - this will be on the agenda for the next meeting.
• Let Ron Brown know if you, or anyone you know, is interested in sitting on the Sport Manitoba and Sport Manitoba Hall of Fame boards.
  

Marathon Race Rules

Here is what Shawn has put together (thanks Shawn)

MCA Enduro Circuit Rules (Draft)

Description: The enduro circuit race is a short course multi-lap time based event. Event duration is decided by the organizer with popular formats being 8,12,and 24 hours. Standings are determined by a combination of lap count and time on the course.

Course: laps should be configured to be between 35-45 minutes for the elite/expert riders. Course must be properly market as per cross country race rules. A feedzone/pit area must be available that is not located on the course or in the Start finish area. Only registered racers and support personal are permitted on the course during the event.

Categories: All racers must hold a valid Manitoba Cycling Association Race license to compete.

Solo

• solo racers must be 17 years of age or older
• events that are 12 hours and longer events solo riders must submit a resume and selection is based on qualifications

Teams

• configuration and number of classes or teams is determined by the organizer of the event.
• One team member will be permitted on the course at a time.
• Each member of the team must complete at least one lap
• Identifying number plate must be visible on each team members bike while on course.

Support:

• Teams must designate one and only one pit area. Teams may bring as many support people as they like however their support is limited to the pit area and not on course. Racers may change or repair any equipment in the pit area including entire bikes.
• On course support can only be supplied by other registered racers.
• Food and drink can be supplied to any racer by anyone, anywhere on the course.

Start/Finish:

• to be at the same location
• all racers must check-in each lap at the start finish/line as per organizer.
• if teams are switching riders this must be done at the start/finish line as per the organizers instructions.

Draft of March Meeting Minutes

Manitoba Mountain Bike Committee Minutes - DRAFT
March 10, 2009
Board Room, Sport Manitoba
7:00 – 9:00

Present: Dale Cramer (Junk Yard Dogs), Kevin Braun (Tinker), Tim Loewen (KOM), Bill Algeo (Woodcock), Allan Robertson (Alter Ego), Hal Loewen (MTB Coordinator)

Regrets: Tomek Jasiakiewicz (Olympia), Greg Sherwin (Brandon Bike Club), Shawn Zayec (Alter Ego), Patrick Siemens (Body Driven), David Dorning (Woodcock), Ron Brown (MCA Exec. Director), David Jonhston (Tread the Thunder)

Actions from February 10, 2009:

1. Hal to take recommendations to the Board – completed.
2. Gord B to begin work on MCA Mountain Bike Organizer’s Manual – tabled.
3. Ron to tabulate votes for MTB chief commissaire and then Hal will contact candidates to ask them to accept the position of chief commissaire – completed (Karin McSherry has accepted the position of chief commissaire)
4. Ron to investigate who funds would be transferred from Karelo to clubs (race fees and memberships) – tabled.
5. Hal to contact riders identified to have demonstrated the lap times, skills and abilities and ask them to move up to next competitive category – completed.
6. Shawn Z to collect examples of and information on Marathon races that could be used for Manitoba races – tabled.
7. All – to send ideas of elements they wish to see on a MCA mountain bike page – tabled.

Discussions:

• It was confirmed that there is only one KOM/Cup event which will be the Falcon Lake race on May 31, 2009. There are two races this weekend with Bikes and Beyond hosting a downhill on Saturday, and Woodcock hosting the XC race on Sunday; the KOM event will run with the XC race on Sunday.
• It was reported that IMBA is coming to do a trail building seminar in the Sandilands from July 2-5, 2009. Seminars will be on Thursday and Friday, and trail work will be on Saturday with Sunday being a trail riding day. It was noted that the Reach the Beach race was that same weekend. Discussion continued about how it is not ideal that two mountain bike events be booked for the same weekend, but that this was an exceptional case and that the IMBA event organizers and the Reach the Beach organizers will find a way to promote and support both events.
• 8X11 copies of the race poster were distributed to be put up in the shops and elsewhere. A question was asked if we could get some 11X17 posters printed for this purpose. It was also asked if we could get folding copies of the poster with schedule on the back to give to the shops (some shops would like to hand out the information with bikes the sell).
• Discussion was took place whether it was a good idea to compensate those racers, who are also commissaries, with Cup series points when they commissaire a Cup race instead of racing. There was general consensus that this was a good idea. It was decided that a racer who commissaired a Cup race would receive points equalling the points they averaged during the series.
• The rules surrounding the running of marathon/enduro races in Manitoba were discussed. The UCI has specific rules for running these races and they will be used as a guide for our races. It was pointed out that we can sanction our on races and race formats as long as the insurer is satisfied that rules and officials are in place to govern the race. The committee will continue to work on these rules electronically and have them in place before the next meeting.
• The organizers manual was discussed at length. The committee looked at the Alberta Race Organizers Guide and discussed its merits and applicability for Manitoba races. It was decided that we would continue to use the existing Manitoba manual, update it and include additional information if needed. The Alberta manual will be linked to on the MCA website as an additional resource.
• The idea was forwarded to distribute surveys following Cup races, Provincials and possibly non-series races. The surveys will ask questions about the quality and organization of the race. It was suggested that survey forms be handed out in lieu of food or raffle tickets to help encourage racers to provide feed back to the organizers and the MTB committee on the race and MTB racing in Manitoba. The surveys will be anonymous.
• The last discussion to take place was about setting up a meeting with the chief commissaire to discuss the application of rules and the quality of events.

Recommendations to the Board:

1. That the IMBA trail building day be promoted through the MCA website on behalf of Bodydriven Sports
2. That the MCA loan all available equipment not needed by the Provincial team or the organizer’s of the Reach the Beach race.
3. Those commissaries, who also race in the mountain bike Cup series, receive Cup points based on their average placing during races for the series.

Actions:

1. Hal L to email list of riders requested to move up to Dale C.
2. Kevin B to make folding poster that can be distributed to shops
3. Ron B to print 11X17 colour copies of the race poster to be distributed to bike shops and other appropriate venues.
4. All to distribute and post posters at appropriate shops and venues.
5. Hal L to make a link to the poster on the MCA Mountain Bike Committee blog so people can print their own posters.
6. Hal L to invite the chief commissaire to the next mountain bike committee meeting.
7. Shawn Z to forward marathon/enduro mountain bike race rules to be distributed electronically to the committee for adaptation.
8. Hal L to reformat that current Manitoba mountain bike organizers manual and distribute for discussion and adaptation if needed.

Agenda for Tuesday, March 10 meeting.

Agenda for tonight's meeting:

1) Approval of February 10th, 2009 minutes. (5 min)
2) Approval of Agenda (2 min)
3) Actions from February 1oth, 2009 minutes (10 min)
4) New Business:

• Organizer's Manual - the manual will take a lot more work than first expected, we'll go trough the Alberta manual and identify what we would like to use, what we need to re-write, timeline for the re-write, and creating a temporary manual and checklist if necessary (40 min)
  
• Marathon Race Rules - examine the rules we need adopt and have in place, also, promoting and developing courses for these events (20 min)
  
• Commissaire - racers who commissaire a Cup race lose have the potential to loose out on points when they commissaire a race, would it be fair for racers who commissaire to get points? (10 min)
  
• Posters - distribute the race psoter to shops (5 min)
  
• IMBA trail buliding workshop (10 min)
• KOM - confirm which mountain bike races are also KOM events
  
• Other?

Race Ideas

I know that the schedule is already set, so this could be a future idea type of thing. 

I was on the Deadgoats forum website, and was reading about some of the MTB races, and ideas that they are having out there. It seems that there are starting to be a few weekends, (Alberta), in more or less the same area, with a Cup style race on Saturday, and an Enduro on Sunday, with points for each for a total prize. 

I know that we want better Quality races, but would this type of thing, less travel/more racing, be a very good idea for us in Manitoba? Would it be something your club members would like? 

From a travel point of view, as well as enjoying some beverages, and laughs with my fellow riders, in between events, seems to make sense to me, but alas, I could be shooting off in left field. I personally would go to an event like say Grand Beach, and then ride Reach the Beach the next day.... may get some enduro riders to do the cup race, just because they are in the area, and vice versa? Less weekends/more riding?

I have also noticed that some of their races have an alternate, more technical loop off the course, for expert/elites. Would this ever be something worth looking into?

I figure this blog should be for ideas... so here is the start of mine. Please comment, and I don't mind you telling me that I am dead wrong.

Ride Hard, Ride Long!

board meeting highlights

Highlights from the February Board meeting:

• Please let the Board know if anyone has contacts with any companies who might want to be sponsors of the MCA and or its programs.
• The recommendation by the MTB Committee to use Karelo for CUP and Provincial race registrations was forwarded to the Board.
• The recommendation by the MTB Committee to raise Cup and Provincial registration fees by $5 was forwarded to the Board
• The recommendation by the MTB Committee to rename the Citizen category to Novice was made to the Board - this was passed as a motion.
• The MCA is looking for a new logo - suggestions and ideas welcome.
• Clubs may use Karelo, through the MCA registration system, to collect club fees - this is being investigated further. If clubs are interested in this they should contact Ron Brown at the MCA office (infoATcyclingDOTmbDOTca)
• The MCA is interested in selling its trailer and purchasing a smaller trailer.