GamJams.net: Where Mid-Atlantic bike racers roll

The 2008 Race Calendar

The 2008 Calendar is alive. Well, half alive. I've got MABRA, VA, PA and a few other races in there for the first half of the year. I'll be adding the rest this week, including MTB and CX when available. As ever, it's in the left hand nav bar of every page on GamJams.net, and I'll keep it updated to link to race registration pages directly. (So promoters, please let me know when you've got the reg pages up.) New for 2008 will be the inclusion of regional multisport events. If anyone has a good calendar or source for those, please let me know. (MB and Mark, I'm talking to you.)

Also, any interest in me adding NC events to the calendar? Are you junkies hardcore enough that you'll go that far to get your fix on quiet local weekends? Let me know in the comments.

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.

Racer's To Do List: Register, register, register

I'm a registration hawk - a veritable peregrine falcon, preying on BikeReg.com. Because the fields I race in typically fill up, I've got to be vigilant about watching for reg to open, so I can swoop in early. (Or Stoop, actually. Peregrine Falcons "stoop". I just learned that.)

My paranoia is your profit. Here's an update on the events whose registrations open this week, and which ones are open that you ought to get yourselves into while the gettin' into's good:

This week:
The Carl Dolan Memorial Circuit Race and BikeJam / Kelly Cup both go live on BikeReg tomorrow (Thursday) night. Set the alarm on your cell phone or iPod (did you know they had alarms?) now, or use this handy mnemonic device: If you're watching Survior or Grey's Anatomy, you're missing registration. They flip the switch on The Bunny Hop ($15!) on Sunday night. (Yes, I know that Sunday is technically next week. But according to TrainingPeaks.com, weeks begin on Monday. So there you are.)

Next week:
Get yer trigger fingers ready for Poolesville High School Road Race on Wednesday night. It seems like Leonardtown Criterium should also re-open soon - maybe next week. If anyone knows for certain let me know and I'll relinquish my post at the Ministry of Disinformation.

Today, Immediately, Now:
If you're not already in these, get in now-

• City Bikes RFK Crit - not until June, but give props to Bega for opening reg so early and lift his team's cash flow by getting in now
• Register now for the Tour of Somerville, Monday May 28th. It's a Monday, Memorial Day. If you've never done it, it's worth the trip. If you have done it, don't you agree it's worth the trip?
• Also, The Tour de Ephrata, a 2-day, 3-stage race in PA is accepting registrations. I think it's the closest stage race to DC, and it falls on a weekend when there are no MABRA races (April 28-29).
• Last Call for Tyson's Corner Circuit Race and Towne Bank Criterium, both this weekend. Conquer the Canal Time Trial is on Saturday - register by 7pm tonight or no suffering for you. The Tour of Walkersville is also this weekend but pre-reg is closed. If you didn't get in but absolutely positively have to race, head south to Hampton, VA or north to Kirkwood, PA.

BikeReg should give me a commission.

The Race Calendar for Little Kids with Big Hearts, and Lungs

C'mon, you know you're guilty. You buy your kids a little racing bike, little jersey, little gloves, even little sunglasses because you want them to be a bike racer, just like Mom and/or Dad.

So to add to their collection of diminutive racing paraphernalia I give you the GamJams 2007 Kids Racing Calendar. Now I can't guarantee all the events listed here will have kids' races in 2007, but they're in the list because of my strong suspiscions that they might. As I can confirm or deny their appropriateness for this list, I'll update accordingly. And if you know of any others who should be here, let me know and I'm happy to add them.

(I'm Linking to this page in 'RACER RESOURCES' to the left so it's easy access all season long.)

5/13/07: City Center at Oyster Point Criterium
    The flyer bills this as a "Kids Rodeo" but race promoter Charlie Peterson assures me it's an actual kids' race, not the skills and safety course that "rodeo" usually connotes. The event has its own website here (why doesn't every race do that, instead of just a PDF flyer?), and the kids' races go off at 3:30, just before the Mother's Day Cruise, as 5/13 is not just a race day - it's Mother's Day.

5/19/07: Mayor's Main Street Classic (Note - race will be rescheduled due to a conflict. Not sure whose - maybe the Mayor's?)
    I didn't do this race last year so can't comment personally on the kids events. But this photo album by Dennis Smith, linked to by the folks at Evolution Cycling, gives strong credence to my theory that there were kids races last year, and may be this year as well. (Someone get that kid in the Snow Valley jacket a new kit.)

5/20/07: Leonardtown Criterium
    This one is official. The 2007 info is up and kids races go off at noon. Thanks to Chris Wiles of Evolution Cycling for pointing this out.

5/27/07: Crystal City Classic
    OK, this is a guess flavored with hope as it's the first ever Crystal City Classic this year. But it's put on by Arlington Sports, who also host the CSC Invitational. And CSC has kids races. Maybe Crystal City will also.

6/2/07: CSC Invitational
    The CSC race drew hundreds of kids last year, and I'm glad they had a kids' event. But there were no trophies or medals for top finishers, not even participant ribbons. Instead, they gave every kid across the line a postcard promoting the event and listing the sponsors. I was able to convince my 4-year-old (who won his category) that it was a great prize at the time, but it's not. Arlington Sports, don't make me lie to my children again. It's reprehensible of you. If you're hurting for prizes let me know - I'll personally provide participant ribbons and GamJams Cup trophies for podium finishers in the kids categories.

7/22/07: Grand Prix of Silver Spring
    The folks at DC Velo really put on the best kids race in the area. Trophies, a podium and awards ceremony, tons of hands on deck and as much organization as you can hope for around hundreds of kids, and still make it fun. Helmet tip to everyone over there, in particular Becky Spada.

Alas, that's all I can find for 2007 so far. Last year the kids races (and whole family atmosphere) at the Hampstead Crit were excellent - they even had the little ones climb the hill and track through the sweeper leading to the loooooong finishing straight. My little guy actually came across the line winded, like his old man. But that race fell off the calendar. BikeJam, Wilmington, Reston - you're all great candidates for kids races. What will it take to persuade you?

In the meantime, let me throw out another suggestion - BMX.
Never mind that BMX is an Olympic sport in Beijing in 2008, and probably the most legitimate cycling-related hope you can cling to as a means of defraying your little ones' college tuition expenses one day. BMX is probably the best introduction to bike racing in any discipline. Spend a few of your formative years elbow-to-elbow in loose banked corners and 3' off the ground, and I guarantee you'll never be squirrelly in a peloton later in life. Spun out at 125 RPMs in that downhill sprint? Not if you came from BMX, where you learned to do 150 RPMs standing up every single moto. And don't even get me started on how BMX as a kid can make you a better MTB rider as you're older.

I did some research for my little guys and there are actually more tracks in the area than I thought. Check these out, take your kids to watch sometime, and let us know what you and they think. There's even cruiser classes at all of these, giving you an excuse to add to your stable as well.

MARYLAND:

Chesapeake BMX
Severn, MD
http://www.chesapeakebmx.com/

Southern Maryland BMX
Chaptico, MD
http://www.somdbmx.com/

Hagerstown BMX
Hagerstown, MD
http://www.hagerstownbmx.com/

Riverside BMX
Cumberland, MD
http://www.riversidebmx.org/

DELAWARE:

Blue Diamond BMX
New Castle, DE
http://www.bluediamondpark.com/

First State BMX
Milford, DE
http://www.firststatebmx.com/

VIRGINIA:

Hampton Super Track
Hampton, VA
http://www.hamptonsupertrack.com/

Richmond BMX
Richmond, VA
http://www.richmondbmx.com/

Wincherster BMX
Winchester, VA
http://www.winchesterbmxracing.org/

Northern Virginia BMX
Woodbridge, VA
http://www.novabmx.org/

Now, after everything I've done for you, indulge me a minute. Here's a picture of my oldest taking the top spot at Silver Spring last year:

Could there be any prouder moment for the parent of a kid whose initials are G.A.M.?

Getting on (the) Track

It's official - GamJams.net now also covers track racing. I've added some track events to the schedule, including:

• 04/14/07: LVV Spring Track Carnival - TRACK (PA)
• 04/28/07: LVV Try the Track Day - TRACK (PA)
• 05/19/07: Masters and Rookies Racing Series Opener - TRACK (PA)
• 06/10/07: MABRA Track Champs - TRACK (PA)
• 08/27-31/07: Masters Track National Championships - TRACK (PA)

All of this is at Lehigh Valley Velodrome. The Masters and Rookies series runs every Saturday through September, but I only added the opened to the calendar. If'n you really want the rest let me know in the comments here and I'll add them. Or at least the ones that don't conflict with big events right here at home.

There are actually a ton of other races up there but most of them are weeknights, and I'm doubting that most of us will be able to leave around 1pm on a Tuesday for a race in PA at 5pm. So go to LVV's site and see what else they have going out, then find a whole new habit for your local shop to help you indulge in.

Oh, and if you like track, you might want to watch next week's World Championships live online.

In a PA State of Mind

This morning I updated the 2007 Race Calendar (to your left) to include a bunch of nearby races in PA. Have a look and you'll see - by coincidence or design - many of them fall on days when there is no local racing. And most of them are road races, which some of you inexplicably seem to prefer.

I added:

- Major League Cycling events
- Red Rose Cycling events
- Tour de Toona

If anyone is headed up for these and you want to share a ride (either yours or someone else's), email me and I'll post here. No point in dozens of half-empty cars (with half-empty bike racks) pacelining all the way to Lancaster County.

By the way, the list now contains a massive 105 races in it - and I've only included those within easy striking distance from the DC Area. Is this a great place for a bike racer or what?

Calendar Updates

I got a ton of feedback over the last couple of days on the Calendar - so much so that a full re-release is in order. We're not looking at Race Calendar v1.1 - we're going straight to 2.0.

These are my marching orders:

- Add Cross Races (I figured you'd let me off the hook for a few days since these don't start up again for 6 months, but you Cross fans are serious)

- Include the Major League Cycling Events from PA

- Include the Red Rose Cycling Events from PA

-"Why isn't Toona on here?"

- Did you know that the Tour of Somerville in NJ is the oldest bike race in the country? It is, and it's worth the trip.

And someone asked that I do a printable version. I suppose this is so his family will know where he is any given weekend. I'll do that as well, once I get all the new races added.

Any other suggestions for Calendar-worthy races, leave them in the comments here please.

What are your favorite Pennsylvania Races?

I want to add some Pennsylvania races to the calendar as well, since I know so many folks around here travel for them. But the PA calendar is daunting (man, they have a ton of races up there) and I don't know which ones are the most popular. Certainly I'll add those that are nearby and run on weekends where we don't have a local race, but are there some must-race PA events I should include here?

Which are your favorite PA races? Let me know in the comments or send me an email, and I'll add them to the calendar.

2007 Racing Calendar

The 2007 Racing Calendar is up, and visible on every page within GamJams.net in the left column.

The calendar contains all the races from:

• Mabra Racing Calendar
• VA Cycling Calendar
• Select MTB races that I tracked down using sophisticated research techniques
• And also select USAC Pro Tour and NRC races in our region
  

I'll add some races from Pennsylvania as well, and any others that might appeal to us DC-regional folks. If you know of any, please send them my way.

Each race in the Calendar over there links directly to registration when it's available. Until then, it links to the promoting organization's website, or some other relevant page that gives some info about the race.

If I didn't hate the phrase "one-stop shopping" I'd use it about the calendar. You can use it, if you like, when you tell your friends and teammates.

If you're a race promoter and your race is on this list, drop me a note when your flyer is up or reg is live, and I'll update the listing here post haste.

If you're a race promoter and you race isn't on this list, let me know and I'll add it.

Update 3/16/07: PA Races and regional NCR Races added

Update 3/22/07: Track Races added