2010 Schedule???

Posted July 27th, 2010 by enduramil
Is there a list of dates available yet? It's kind of frustrating trying to decide races to attend when there is no schedule available. Especially since it's so close to the fall season beginning. Doesn't really make one feel encouraged to plan for it. If one looked online they would think that ZM Cycles was the only races this year. Though I partially blame OCA as they have not updated their October and November Calenders.
‹ Lost gloves Kelso cross race ›

You can fully blame the

On July 28th, 2010 race bannon says:

You can fully blame the O.C.A.

The O.C.A. Cyclocross organizers meeting was months ago. At that time organizers had to state the dates they wanted. Many couldn't be bothered to show up at the meeting but that didn't stop them from stating intentions.

Planning which races to race is hard enough, but try planning/organizing a top notch event when you don't even have a confirmed date from the sanctioning body. I had permit applications from the City of Toronto 6 months ago....THE CITY!!...who are notoriously rife with delays and red-tape. Seems the O.C.A. is worse.

There is no reason whatsoever for the schedule not to be done and posted.

The "committee" overseeing this process is filled with organizers who no doubt have their desired dates penned in while everyone else has to wait and hope they get what they want.

At the organizers meeting the idea was floated that certain clubs should be given priority when deciding which events will be "O-Cup" series and which will be citizen. A large enough club to have the ability to staff and marshall the event with club members. Cash prizing for elites and juniors. Club/organization set up as a not-for-profit. Course design maintaining as close to U.C.I. standard as possible. A majority of those in attendance were in favour of these standards.I am curious to see if these ideas get tossed once the schedule comes out.

Thanks Bannon. I used to

On July 28th, 2010 enduramil says:
Thanks Bannon. I used to ski race, card carrying Alpine BC member. Glad to see that the same type of bull shit is occuring still. For those who missed it I'm being sarcastic. So there is some committee that has met and all that. Yet are keeping the schedule secret for months? This is where people start to call things elitist and lose interest. The very people the lowly citizen class types who are the majority at these races who by their memberships fund the elite levels. Presently it's the citizen racers and the non point chasers this is screwing over. Funnily enough these lower classes is where future elites and carded racers come from. What's even funnier to me, is that earlier this year Ziggy from ZM had posted his dates for all to see. And when I mentioned it here he was pretty much slagged about it. Sounds pretty elitist to me. Yeah, I'm being an asshole. But when I smell bull shit doping at the Floyd Landis level it really sets of my Bull Shit allergy.

I don't care if they're

On July 29th, 2010 Andrew says:
I don't care if they're secretive, elitist, or just plain don't have their act together. I just want them to post the schedule so we can plan our fall racing. My wife might argue that we're kind of lame to be holding our breath and waiting to plan our lives around CX races. Maybe that's true. But, regardless, if we're investing time and energy to take these CX events seriously, some courtesy from the OCA in posting the schedule in a reasonable time frame would be appreciated.

I see what you're all saying

On July 29th, 2010 smokn337 says:
I see what you're all saying and don't disagree at all. But this is normal practice for the OCA.  The road calendar wasn't released until the first week of March, 4 weeks before the Good Friday RR.  So, if we get to the end of the second or third week of August with no schedule, start bitchin'.  Right now I think its just a case of the CX bug starting to creep in and take over our souls for the next few months.  Be patient. If you have no patience, the US calendar has been up for quite a long time. Perhaps plan a weekend trip accross the border at this point to satisfy your urge to plan...

The fact that we have the

On July 29th, 2010 jmoote says:
The fact that we have the opportunity to race in the US where the calendar has been set for months is precisely the reason I want to see the OCA schedule. Registration is open for many of the US races, and with full 100+ rider fields and callups by registration order, "planning" is required.

No doubt the cx bug is

On July 30th, 2010 Andrew says:
No doubt the cx bug is hitting--I'm sure we've all been out on our cross bikes already. My point is just that most of us who race cross in ON are amateur or recreational athletes, and have to juggle our racing around work,family, and other commitments. Planning isn't so much an urge as it is a necessity. (Believe me, I wish I had the time to head to NY for a race weekend, but it's hard for some of us to make it to races even an hour away :-). Just because the ON schedule is often late doesn't mean that's the way things should work. The fact that NY (and Quebec and Alberta) have their schedules posted just shows that it can be done. (I know, the Ottawa series schedule isn't up yet either, but their schedule is more predictable since the organizer doesn't have to account for nationals taking up a weekend). I don't think this is bitching. It would just be great for our provincial organizing body to acknowledge the commitment that a lot of us would like to make to attending some great cross races this year by letting us know when those races will be. See you all on the start line--wherever and whenever that is.

Ask and you shall

On July 30th, 2010 smokn337 says:

Ask and you shall receive!!! http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/news1/newslisting.php?id=2661

 


Sweet! Thanks for the link.

On July 30th, 2010 Andrew says:
Sweet! Thanks for the link.

good times. let the pain

On August 2nd, 2010 Timma says:

good times. let the pain train roll out. 

hey. apparently we get provincials. neat. 


Yeah, the OCA posted a

On August 3rd, 2010 pokey says:
Yeah, the OCA posted a schedule. But notice it is only called a Preliminary Schedule. None of it is posted on the actual OCA calendar and there is little information available about the races. I know it takes planning and a lot of work to pull off a race but here it is a month away from the start of the season and there is no information available about the races other than a Preliminary schedule from the OCA?!?!

Guess you can't please

On August 3rd, 2010 smokn337 says:

Guess you can't please everyone... At least there's some formal acknowledgement of an official cross schedule coming soon.  As for each events particulars, go whine to the organizers for not posting up flyers or websites, this isn't the OCA's job. Oh wait, I guess they don't want to mis-inform anyone without being told by the OCA what their official date is...my bad.

Timma, I hope your date for provincials isn't official yet.  It's the same weekend as the USGP in Kentucky.  I'm sure a few UCI point chasing elites won't be around. Plus it completely kills your Halloween cross theme for the Saturday race.  Not that the HBC Hillbilly's can't fit that theme in the following week.


actually we chose not to go

On August 4th, 2010 Timma says:

actually we chose not to go w/ halloween weekend on purpose. 

after years of back and forth with Kelso they finally out and said that if we run it that weekend we get no facilities. It has been a real pain to have great facilities present and never able to use them.

And in regards to the USGP ... well, that's life. There will always be something bigger and better going on that we will have to compete with. I'm sure we will lose some racers to the states but, whatever. C'est la vie.  

And my apologies to people for no info regarding the races but, as pete pointed out, we didn't know we had the races until last week! 

I can give you a summary of our three races.

Sept: Big hill, small park, beer, good times

Oct 23: Big hill, big park, wind, beer, good times

Oct 24: Beach, grass, gravel, wind, beer, someone is provinical champ 


there maybe are 2 or 3

On August 4th, 2010 nathan says:

there maybe are 2 or 3 guys and girls who could score ponts and a usgp so really no loss there.

 

That said if some people may drive 8 hrs to do the race in different cats when the could drive 2 or less to do the awesome courses then that is thier choice.

The weekend races are top notch and should be attended and well simply put

eurostyle course, some sand and mud and beer.

 

and tim fell your pain trying to get all my junk lined up now and the city rec people are on vac now.

 

arrrgh

nathan


Hope Willow Beach and

On August 4th, 2010 epicPete says:
Hope Willow Beach and Nassagaweya (horse farm) gets adding later on, great courses!

+ 1 to that. Love those

On August 4th, 2010 ridley25 says:

+ 1 to that. Love those courses with no hills!

kevin

Not only does the Kelso

On August 7th, 2010 MG says:
Not only does the Kelso weekend conflict with Kentucky but also the 2nd round of the world cup in Plzen! Jeepers, you'd think the OCA would call UCI and get them to get their stuff in order! haha.! ps, there is no carding or whatever for cross. I don't know what you guys are getting on about.OCA is busy with Ontario summer games for the kids. Last time I checked everyone there is working their tail off trying to stay afloat. give em a break. Nathan, whats this about cheese Burger jump?! sounds good! Mike

Can yanks do provincials? 

On August 8th, 2010 jroden says:
Can yanks do provincials?  Nationals=no, correct?

the jump the

On August 9th, 2010 nathan says:

the jump the cheeseburger race pays tribute to the greatest cycling related movie/show sequence that has every been made.

The physical effort and technilogical developments that came of this will eventually revolutionize the sport of cross as we know it. 

 

hint episode 52 of TPB, for those who do not get it.

 

nathan

 

nathan

 


Sorry the whole Summer

On August 9th, 2010 enduramil says:
Sorry the whole Summer Games thing is simply an excuse. Though it really is more of a revealing of an unspoken issue that occurs in most of the offices of the governing bodies. And also shows the general unwillingness to acknowledge this. Instead we are told to give them a break and it's Summer Games. The reality is the Summer Games occurs every 2 years. The simplest solution would be to hire a summer student who would specifically deal with all the menial office stuff during that period. Or have them deal with menial stuff like schedules and such. The reality is while high performance is part of the OCA. We the average members through our memberships fund these programs for high performance. If it wasn't for us half the programs couldn't happen. If this was any other business they would be losing money as people walked away. And OCA seems to prefer to treat the rest poorly as little more then cash machines. Pay and then told to sit in a corner. Yes, I sound nasty. But there is really no other way to put it.

will have to make sure i

On August 12th, 2010 velociped jones says:
will have to make sure i watch the "jump the cheeseburger" episode so i come prepared.

Re:Can yanks do

On August 12th, 2010 photoguy says:

Re:Can yanks do provincials? 

You can ride but: "American and foreign riders are not eligible for provincial championship medals and/or Cyclo-Cross series points"

http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/sch_cyclo_cross.php

Cheers

Martin www.urbanimages.com


noobie question here - I

On August 13th, 2010 markg says:
noobie question here - I want to try my first CX race at Valley Park Cyclo-Cross (once triathlon season ends). What's the procedure to register? Is there any detailed race info on when / where? Are there novice categories? Cheers, Mark

Race info should be up as we

On August 16th, 2010 epicPete says:
Race info should be up as we get closer to the race date. Its usually day of reg. You can find start times and cats at the link posted above (scroll down to 2010 Southern Cup Cyclo-Cross Series) For masters m3 is the start point (early morning race) and m1 being the top (1pm race). Non masters there's a beginner cat that races early morning. Then the next step is senior/elite at 1pm.

so is this the schedule?

On September 10th, 2010 chriskozanczyn says:
so is this the schedule? http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/news1/newslisting.php?id=2661 The calendar on the OCA site doesn't list many of the races.

Events only get listed on

On September 10th, 2010 Steve says:
Events only get listed on the OCA calendar portion of the website when the organizer submits all the paperwork and fees. Until then it's just the preliminary calendar showing the dates that were awarded. There really shouldn't be any differences between preliminary and final calendar unless an organizer cancels their event (like Valley Park).

And apparently it is the OCA

On September 14th, 2010 pokey says:
And apparently it is the OCA that is at fault here. The OCA waited so long to put out a race schedule that the race organizers forgot there was a cyclocross season. Now that the season is here there is very little information available due to the slowness of the OCA. The slowness of the OCA has resulted in one race being cancelled even before it got started - Valley Park Cyclocross. How many more cancellations are there going to be?

That's a lot of conjecture.

On September 14th, 2010 JavaMan says:
That's a lot of conjecture. Doesn't seem realistic that the preliminary calendar would be published without the organizers knowing the dates they were assigned. I heard Valley Park was cancelled due to HCC not wanting to assume any more risk (financial or other) after the Good Friday race. Admittedly this is 4th+ hand information, but seems possible.

It's interesting. That is

On September 14th, 2010 OptimumRay says:
It's interesting. That is what I like about cross racing, it seems to me that the risk of bad incidents (crashing bikes or be bad injuries) in these races is somewhat reduced vs road racing or mountain bike racing. Rémi

Why don't they set the

On September 14th, 2010 jmoote says:
Why don't they set the calendar at the beginning of the year like all the other disciplines? The UCI calendar is set that far in advance, and many local series in other areas do the same...

Sad to say but it just gives

On September 14th, 2010 epicPete says:
Sad to say but it just gives more motivation to race outside of southern ontario and gives our series a bad image to new comers and sponsors.

CX race organizers are

On September 14th, 2010 Tony says:
CX race organizers are required to submit their info and choose dates around March of each year. I can't see why the calendar wasn't prepared earlier. It has been in previous years.

The excuse provided earlier

On September 14th, 2010 enduramil says:
The excuse provided earlier was because of Ontario Summer Games. This should be a concern as if the OCA is as overwhelmed as they seem now. What will it be like during the summer of Pan Ams in 2015? All races cancelled?

What everyone is missing

On September 15th, 2010 Scott Doel says:

What everyone is missing here is the fact that the season is now being split into 2 series... the O-Cup races vs. the Regional races. there were many meetings over the spring and Summer to hash out the criteria for the O-Cup series... followed by letters of intent from organizers, and then a preliminary schedule that allowed for some sort of continuity, whereby regional races weren't all lumped together at the end of the season and potentaly limiting there numbers...

there is more involved here than just putting some dates on the calendar. each event that requested O-Cup status had to be veted for past course design, attendance, location, date, prizes/purse and club/organizer ability to hold a race under the new O-Cup guidelines. then the organizers committee had to vote on potential events...

the Organizers committee is part of the development committee, made up of general members of the OCA like most people on this forum,

most of the people involved are volunteers not just the office staff, and with all the other events going on over the summer that require there individual attention, be it racing or organizing, things can take longer than what you might consider ideal.

You could be proactive and volunteer your time to help these committees move faster.

f.y.i... I was not part of this particular committee, but I have been and still am on a number of OCA committees... The OCA is a member driven organization not an Office driven corporation... if you don't like the way things currently work don't complain about it... get involved...

thats my 2 cents.


Thanks for that Scott.

On September 15th, 2010 enduramil says:
Thanks for that Scott. However while staffing are issues in the end it is simply an excuse. I am more then aware that it takes an incredible number of man hours to make this stuff happen. Personally I spent over a decade as a DH Ski racer in Canada and understand that a lot needs to get done. And compared to cycling ski racing is insanely labour intensive. In reality this is not a committee issue. It is an office staff issue. The whole Summer Games thing effects other groups in Sport Alliance as well- OAT and OVA for example. I know this was a huge issue until 2005 with OVA and Summer Games for example. Which they have taken care off. The solutions is actually quite simple during Ontario Summer Games. Hire a summer student to either take care of the menial Summer Games stuff or take care of the non Summer Games Stuff. Because to continue as is will effect membership. For example, I almost said forget it for this years cross season because of delays. Membership is important, regardless of whether any of us volunteer we shell out fees to OCA. A chunk of those fees fund those High Performance programs. And if there is no Quest for Gold it falls on our fees even more to fund programs. The reality is our membership fees fund programs like Summer Games. And if the membership drops the money available shrinks and available funding gets cut for athlete's. I have seen it in the past, that being the more the members get treated like a ATM the less likely they are to pay membership or race fees and race.

I add my thanks for the

On September 16th, 2010 pokey says:
I add my thanks for the enlightenment also Scott. But quite frankly the OCA is not nor ever has been a member driven organization. The office staff has always ruled with an iron fist and it starts at the top with the President. I have dealt with the OCA for quite an number of years, being an executive on bike club committees. Most of the time when dealing with the OCA there has been no discussion between the membership and the OCA. The OCA tells you the way it is and you have to go along. The organization has always moved at it's own pace - slow and slower. The cross schedule has always been the last races to be put on the schedule. As far as I know the OCA has race meetings in the winter and sets the road and MTB race season well in advance of the actual season. But cross has always been like the poor cousin of racing, tacked on at the end of the road race season as a secondary thought. Basically there is no excuse for the lateness of the schedule. It has been at least 10 months since the last cross season ended and the 2010 race schedule is still not available. That is just plain slowness.

What are you talking about?

On September 16th, 2010 JavaMan says:

What are you talking about? Schedule was late, but was posted back on July 30/10: HERE

After that it's up to the organizer(s) to get their paperwork and fees in if an event is to be listed on the actual race calendar. No permit application and sanction fees = no event on calendar.

And Scott, if the volunteer committees were involved in this process then I can begin to understand why it may have taken so long. Getting people to attend meetings and review documents at work is hard enough, let alone a bunch of people who are scattered about and would rather be out riding than volunteering their time drafting and reviewing documents for the OCA.

Here's your chance to make

On October 5th, 2010 Scott Doel says:

Here's your chance to make a difference...

the OCA is looking for Events Committee members. stop complaining and be part of the solution...

http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/news1/newslisting.php?id=2754


I would if the issue being

On October 5th, 2010 enduramil says:
I would if the issue being discussed was an events issue. However as I have clearly stated this is nothing to do with committees, it is an office staffing issue. If it was about a committee then I can understand joining the committee. While it is important that people are on committees to have a voice. There are many members who because of time and location cannot be on committees. Yet simply because of the fact they pay a membership fee are allowed to have their say. They are not required to be silent unless they are on a committee.