Thanks to everyone for coming out to the OVCX races this year, and spreading the passion out to all the new riders.  It was another exciting year of growth; a year that went by way too quickly!

Good luck to all our OVCX juniors and adults trekking out to Bend for next weekend's National Championships - we'll all be rooting for you back home on the CX Magazine live report I'm sure.

While it is fresh in your mind, anyone who is interested in leaving suggestions and feedback on the series - please leave it here.  We'd appreciate it!

Thanks again~
Mitch

Posted by: Corey Green
06 Dec 2009 11:48 PM

The separate Juniors race today was great. The 20 minute 10-14 group was sizeable (27?) enough to carry the 20 minutes and I think the racing was better overall with them split from the Women and older Juniors. I know Red Zone had a lot to do with this change, and it is definitely something we want to pull into our race next year at Kings.

Posted by: Adam Rodkey
07 Dec 2009 08:45 AM

The call ups (Cat3 at least) were really messed up there for awhile, but for the mid-later races, all of those kinks were ironed out. I was really impressed w/ the call up sheet only including registered riders too.
This is a side note, and not a "series" feedback, but the barriers at Storm the Greens were HUGE. I'm not sure if they made them so high for practice so when they encounter "normal" barriers they can breeze right over them, but man, at 5'9" I had to go vertical over those things!
Series was great overall. We had mostly excellent weather, which was awesome.
Thanks so much to all that made it possible.

Posted by: Christopher Nevitt
07 Dec 2009 09:48 AM

The series was awesome! Thanks to the many people that made it happen.
I loved the additional double weekends this year and hope to see that continue next year. Kings Cross was a great kick-off (both days OVCX next year?) and the double in Indy was a fun time.
The series is doing a great job of bringing new riders into the sport. Racers are developing and moving up like they should. Excited to see the Elite fields grow next year (that means you Cat 3s).

Posted by: Cooper Ambjorn-Olsen
07 Dec 2009 09:58 AM

The series was a truly wonderful introduction to Cyclocross. Thanks very much for the immeasurable time and energy that goes into putting it on.

For the women: the Blended Cat3/4 stifles new comers a bit. When you are brand new (total of 3 hours on a cyclocorss bike at the start line of a UCI event) and no real road racing to speak of, racing and being placed with True Cat 3's is hard. I know that there aren't many women so the races needed to be run together, no doubt. But what about year end separations between the 3's and 4's for year end awards? The guys who are 4's are sort of made to cat up when they win as a true 4, but that is not the case since the ladies race blended. The numbers don't make sense to have separate races, I get that. But give the TRUE beginners something to race for at the end of the year. Just look at all the ladies who started one or two races and then dropped off. I think that a true year end Cat 4 ranking would help keep the really green beginners at this weekend after weekend.

But all in all, it was a great year! Can't wait to do it all over again.

Posted by: Katsu Tanda
07 Dec 2009 05:35 PM

North Carolina and ChiCrossCup does this.

4's race last. Their race is only 30 minutes so it shouldn't disrupt the schedule too much. It seemed too often that we Elite's were just racing for race staff, significant others and our travel mates. Having the 4's last will keep more people around to watch the elites and hopefully pump them up to race.

Posted by: Michael Webber
07 Dec 2009 05:56 PM

I would welcome this for sure. However, it's always been my understanding that the elite's were too delicate to get up so early in the morning for the sometimes requisite 8:00 or 9:00am starts.

Posted by: Katsu Tanda
07 Dec 2009 07:28 PM

I don't mean flipping the schedule, I'm saying keep the schedule the way it is but take the 4's race and stick it at the end of the day. I like my sleep, It would be a super early day if it weren't for the late elite starts. typically takes me 3+ hours to get to a race.

Posted by: Jerry Hayes
07 Dec 2009 08:04 PM

Mitch-

First, a sincere 'Thank You!' to you and all of the promoters & volunteers for the time and effort you all put into the series. Collectively you all have created something very, very special with this series. It is greatly appreciated.

I think it was a great year overall. One thing I thought helped out the Cat 4's a great deal was splitting out the Open and Master's races. I think this helped to create manageable field sizes and made for great 'race-in-the race' competition for the riders. I think this break out may have helped to alleviate some of the scoring challenges that were encountered early on in the series. Also, I think it is great we saw so many new courses in the series to add to the 'old' favorites. The inclusion of Cap City, Kingswood, and the Indy Race weekend worked to strengthen the 'cross racing community.

Only Complaint- I didn't win the wheels! :o) Thanks again! See ya in2010!

Jerry

Posted by: Chris Halioris
07 Dec 2009 08:13 PM

I'm thinking if Mitch wears that hat and sweater again next year at the awards ceremony he has to wear knickers with them. Seriously though, everything was great Mitch and thanks for getting all the great prizes for the end of season raffle, I know everyone is very appreciative of what you do there.