3 Reasons to Register Early (that maybe you haven't thought of)

A few people have emailed me about race registration, saying that they typically don't register early because their fields don't fill or they want to see what the weather is going to be like or they're not sure if they'll be fit then or they might be out of town or they're just not sure yet if they really want to do that one. See? Look there - I just made an instant list of 5 Reasons NOT to Register Early.

But there are equally compelling reasons why we should register early. Here's the counterperspective:

1. Fields Fill. That's the obvious one, particularly for Cat 5, 4 and in some cases Elite men. There's nothing worse than preparing mentally for a race early in the season, only to find out you were closed out and can't do it. (OK, there's plenty that's worse than that. But it still sucks. Actually, I would argue that getting on a Wait List and showing up for a race wondering if you're going to get a chance to compete is worse than getting closed out. But that kind of proves my point anyway.)
2. The BikeReg Tour de Force. The "Confirmed Rider List" tab on BikeReg is a powerful tool - both psychological and marketing. Right now for example, I'm looking at the pre-reg list for the 3/4 race at Tyson's, and am counting 12 Coppi guys signed up. As a racer, that tells me they're to be reckoned with at this one. But the guy who runs marketing for International Motors looks at the same list and sees his "Squadra Coppi / IM SAAB" brand 12 times. He's as pleased as I am intimidated.
3. Props to the Promoter. There are actually about a dozen ways that registering early helps race promoters. It gives them more visibility into who will be there and how many, which makes it easier to do everything from order food to organize prime prizes to sell last-minute sponsorships. It improves their cash flow as they can collect registration revenues earlier, allowing them to pay more vendors out of operating income, not cash reserves. It also helps them determine earlier whether or not fields will be combined (which helps us racers as well). Maybe most importantly, it allows them to begin communicating to their sponsors long before the race some of the concrete benefits of their sponsorship. To my mind, we can never do enough to help sponsors justify their investment in racing. Anything we can do to make promoters' jobs easier and more effective is well-placed effort.

For me it's an easy decision because my fields close. It's almost binary: register early, or don't race. But if it's not that way for you, I encourage you to go ahead and commit now to some of those races that may be on the bubble for you, or commit in deed if you've already committed in theory. Even if it doesn't directly and immediately benefit you, it does help out those who are working hard to help out us.