By Jim Mansoor & John Steggall
The DBC Race Team has had a remarkable season this year, coming back from the brink of extinction to become a regional powerhouse. The Team began the 2000 racing season at a low point--membership had dropped off considerably at the end of the 1999 season. The newly elected team committee got together and developed a strategy to rebuild the team. After polling racers, we implemented a few adjustments to our membership policy (see Appendix A). With a new "carrot" (the rewritten policy) in hand, an intensive recruiting campaign was begun to attract local riders. The result has been an extraordinary racing season, very successful DBC-hosted races, outstanding volunteer efforts in other DBC events, as well as some forward-looking planning and development.
Aside from the usual responsibilities of racing and hosting races, the Race Team has historically been involved in a variety of other club activities. For 2000, we planned to raise the profile of the team by initiating some new endeavors and renewing commitments to regular team tasks. One major new project for the team was developing a web site. The team web site, "DBCraceteam.org," is maintained and hosted entirely by team members. The site is linked to the main DBC domain, "DavisBikeClub.org," and has information on team members, policies, race events, sponsors, race results, and an archive of digital race photos. We expect that over time, team meetings will be less important as the team takes advantage of the Internet for communications.
For 2000, the Race Team has renewed its efforts to provide a quality team DBC Newsletter page. We have drawn upon team members to write articles on training, nutrition, race strategy, commuting, and team news. Many of these articles should be of interest to non-racers. The team's newsletter page is rounded out with a listing of recent race results.
Bike racing over the last ten years has become dominated by Master Men's categories. There is considerable angst in the industry over the lack of young riders coming up through the ranks. Women's racing has made some gains over the years, yet many race promoters still cannot justify providing a reasonable selection of categories and age groups because there is not a critical mass of women. Both the women's and junior's situation is a sort of "chicken and egg" problem, i.e. how do you attract people to race in events where there are few competitors and little sense of excitement?
The Race Team has targeted women and juniors as special categories for development. Caren Spore headed up an effort to organize the DBC women. A number of new women joined the team and raced with outstanding results! Rick Baptista volunteered to coordinate a group of junior racers early in the year. Rick was leading rides and trying to recruit young racers until late spring when his work and school load became overwhelming. We plan to reorganize the juniors program this fall to have a team ready for next season.
As part of our strategy to recruit novice riders, the Race Team reinstituted the venerable Monday evening training rides/ skills clinic. These rides serve a number of purposes: riders that have graduated from the regular DBC skills clinic may advance to these rides to learn pack riding skills and techniques; riders with an interest in racing can get a feel for racing under non-competitive conditions with guidance from experienced racers, and finally; racers coming off a hard weekend racing schedule can get in a low-stress "cool-down" ride. We were somewhat disappointed by the turnouts for these rides earlier in the season but we believe that numbers will increase as the ride becomes better known.
In order to develop a beefier racing program, the Race Team committee is crafting a strategy to supplement its DBC club budget with increased sponsorship support. The team has written a new sponsorship policy which will be presented for approval to the DBC Board of Directors. The document contains a set of rules and guidelines which should streamline the relationship between the team and its sponsors. There are two main areas where the team seeks sponsors: general support for the team (sponsors' logos are placed on team jerseys and shorts), and support for DBC-promoted race events (see below). As the Newsletter goes to press, the team has begun its campaign to secure jersey sponsors for the 2001 racing season. Any help in this regard will be gladly accepted!
On a per capita basis, Race Team members contribute an extraordinary amount of volunteer time to the DBC. Though the team size is relatively small compared to the size of the entire DBC (about 40 racers to 600 or so DBC members), teammates are relied upon to accomplish major tasks at the Davis Double Century and the Foxy Fall Century. Of course the team's own events--the Dunlap Time Trial, the Fourth of July Criterium, and the Independence Omnium--are planned and executed primarily by team members. All told, the DBC racers contribute literally thousands of hours every year to help run the club. This is no small feat considering that racers tend to be young, extremely busy, and hard to track down (the average racer, it would seem, tends to move two or three times during the season).
For many years, the Race Team has hosted two races--the Steve Dunlap Memorial Time Trial and the Fourth of July Criterium. The team embarked upon a bold experiment this year by combining these events with a third, the Leesville Gap Road Race. Together, the three races comprised what we called The Independence Omnium. An omnium is essentially a stage race which allows riders to compete for places in individual events and for an overall prize list for combined results of the races. Administering an omnium was a new concept for DBC and we had much to learn. The Leesville Gap race has been run by another promoter, Velo Promo, a fact which complicated registration, entry fees, and scoring. Suffice to say, we learned a lot this year about omniums and how to streamline the events if we choose to host one again.
Despite the inaugural status of the event , the Independence Omnium was a rousing success. The Leesville Gap Road Race and the Dunlap Time Trial enjoyed perhaps record numbers of entrants. This was exactly as we hoped--the Fourth of July Criterium has always been a premier race in Northern California and the time trial and road race benefited from the association. In the end, over 1,000 racers participated in the three events, with some national caliber professionals showing up to ice the cake. Racers were attracted to the Omnium because of the excellent race courses, DBC's reputation for putting on quality races, and the relatively large prize list, about $7,500. The Race Team cleared over $3,000 from the Omnium, considerably better than we expected!
The DBC Race Team went through a renewal this year: with membership down last year, new riders were recruited and the team numbers were built up. What a resurgence! We had a very successful racing season, with both veterans and rookies coming through in a variety of races. In this section, we mention some riders and recap some of the races that occurred during the 2000 racing season.
Caren Spore, a DBC veteran, had another outstanding season, with podium finishes in local, regional and even national Pro/1/ 2 events (too many to list!). Caren was so good this year that she was recruited to ride for 2 pro teams: Charles Schwaub and Jane Cosmetics. Caren recently rode for Jane Cosmetics at the Tour de Toona stage race on the East Coast, competing against the best pros in the United States and a number of Olympians. She finished an unbelievable 15th overall including a sensational 3rd place finish in the stage 3 circuit race! Ray Spore has had his series of successes this year as well, moving up in category from Masters 4 to 3, a process Krystyna Kras calls "cat'n up." Cat'n up means you have moved up to a stronger category by virtue of placing well in races in your current category. Category 5 consists of beginner racers, where as Category 1 is for elite amateur racers. The next step up from Category 1 is turning professional (pro). If a racer moves up a category, that is an indication of a strong racing season, which Ray Spore certainly had. With a number of podium finishes in Masters Category 4/5 races early this season and a win at Cat's Hill Criterium, Ray is now riding in the Master's Category 1/2/3 races, which consists of ex-pros and the strongest amateurs over 35 years of age.
And speaking of Krystyna Kras and cat'n up--did she really move from a Cat 4 to a Cat 2 in one season!? Amazingly, that's what she did. Krystyna is a fairly new rider who gained valuable experience this year and showed she can ride up front with the Big Girls. She won the Cat 3 division of the Tour de Toona and the NCNCA District Championship Time Trial for women 30+. She recently finished 6th at the Manhattan Beach Criterium, a fast, national class criterium event. Look for Krystyna to follow in the footsteps of Caren Spore and be picked up by a professional women's team.
Joe Karbowski, one of our UC Davis Aggie contingent, has also been on fire this year. Joe has finished on the podium in most of the regional Cat 3 races, with a 4th place overall finish at the Cascade Stage Race, a national level race! Joe also is cat'n up this season, moving from Cat 3 into the Big Boys division, Cat 2. It's the Big Boys division because Cat 2 racers usually race with Cat 1 racers and professionals; if you hear someone say they raced the Pro/1/2 race, you can bet they're fast, and Joe is fast! Judd van Sickle, another Aggie, has also had an excellent Cat 3 season, lurking around the top 10 in most races throughout the course of the season.
Jim Mansoor finally got on track this year after recovering from a broken ulna in a February crash. He was 2nd in the NCNCA District Road Race Championships for the 40-44 age group and won the Master's division of the Corral Hollow Road Race a week later. He is also knocking on the door of cat'n up, from a 3 to a 2. Rick Parks and Shawn Miller had early success at Another Dam Race in Parker Arizona, a large early season national omnium race, with finishes of 13th and 30th overall, respectively. Spencer Kenner, a long time DBC'er, showed that he is ready to step up from Master Cat 4 to Cat 3, with high finishes in Cat 4 races. Rick Baptista and Carlos Casillas have both ridden strongly this year in the always tough Pro/1/2 men's races. Clarence Williams kept his cycling going with good performances in the early twilight criteriums. And let's not forget our Junior racer Toby Hastings. Toby is developing into a fine racer. This year alone he has become a factor in both Junior races and on the DBC race rides, which is an indication of great things to come.
The UC Davis Aggies supplied the DBC Race Team with some great riders this year. Nate Horne, Matt Morenzoni, Matt Simkins, Sara Poelman, Emily Kachorek, and Roman Kilun all rode extremely well, with multiple podium finishes between them. Most of these riders will move up in category next year and will be the names to watch in the future. Also watch for the Aggie riders during the Spring collegiate season as they try to qualify for Nationals.
Turning to other new Davis Bike Club Race Team riders, veterans Tom Coulter and Robert Jimenez have been excellent additions to the Master's ranks. Both are excellent criterium racers. Tom recently placed 13th at the NCNCA District Criterium Championships at Napa in the 40-44 age group, and Robert just missed winning a Championship jersey in the 45-49 age group, placing 2nd by half a wheel! Trudy Bjornsen moved up from a Cat 4 to a Cat 3 and showed that she is force to be reckoned with in the women's ranks. She had excellent results all year and as a rookie rider is learning the strategic side of bike racing. Kim Hanson had some early success but unfortunately got side-lined after a couple of bad crashes. Look for her to contribute to the women's ranks next year. Vance Russell had a very successful first season, with top 5 finishes in almost every Master 4/5 race he entered. He will be cat'n up soon to the Master's 3 category. Other new racers to look for in the future include Erwin Bautista (finish that Ph.D. so you can ride more), Cymantha Beall (watch those tricky corners), John King (keep attacking on race rides), Hal Sloan (break-through race at the tough, hilly Corral Hollow), Gil Khachadourian (keep being aggressive in those crits, and yes, we will get you up those hills), Phil Gullett (waiting for his chance to be sitting 3rd in a crit with 200 meters to go) and Chad DeMasi (see Phil's comment).
In the end, it's been a fantastic year for DBC racers, both on and off the race course. We are looking forward to building on this experience next year!
Appendix A. Changes in race team membership policy.
1) racers are no longer required to sign a contract committing them to volunteer for DBC events outside DBC-promoted races, 2) race team meetings are now optional, 3) though racers are not required to volunteer at general club events, volunteering is required for entry fee and gas reimbursements, 4) the entry fee reimbursement level was increased to 90%, 5) team jerseys for next (2001) season are now subsidized according to the number of races finished, i.e. 20 races = free jersey, 10 races = 50% discount, etc.