Lengthen endurance race time, Reduce endurance practice.

[Electroman]

Reduce endurance practice time by 5 minutes. Increase endurance race time by 5 minutes.

Rule book:
Section 2.7 C: Typical endurance races are solo events lasting 30 minutes.

Change to: Typical endurance races are solo events lasting 35 minutes.

[gsnyder828]

I tried to get the endurance races extended to 45m a couple years back... I believe I also suggested a higher entry fee ($75) for the longer race in hopes to add $$ to the club. That's when they changed the wording to "typical...", saying they'd look at longer races when possible/take votes @ riders mtgs, etc. Never seen a normal endurance race extended beyond 30m though.

Personally I'd like to see the endurance practice ditched and replaced with 45m races. After all - endurance practice is a leftover from the days when you had to pay more $$ for Sat. a.m. practice. Now that has been abolished - let's add it to the race time.

Then we could actually have a race that requires some (if only a little) endurance. :mrgreen:

[DOUBLE A]

Hell yeah & I would like to see at least once a year event with more than one rider per team, and like 4 hour endurance race!

[Jim 'smooth' Brewer]

Hell yeah & I would like to see at least once a year event with more than one rider per team, and like 4 hour endurance race!

Ok, let's consider that a suggestion! We skipped a couple of the 30 min enduros this year for misc reasons (USGPRU, MPH double header) so skipping a 30 min in favor of a longer team event makes good sense.

Geoff's (?) point about practice being blended now is a good one!

[Electroman]

I see some logical cutoff time lengths based on two factors. Tires and fuel.

1.) Does the race time require a gas stop? That would increase the cost because folks would want quick fuel systems and that is pricey. There is also a safety factor that one must consider when handling fuel quickly around a hot race bike.

2.) Does the race time require a tire change?. Again folks would want captured bearings and spaced front brake disks to decrease tire change times. Tires and bike modifications would increase the price to race.

In summary, I'm for longer endurance races. I would race a 45 minute endurance race. A 4 hour race would be really cool.

[DOUBLE A]

FuK yeah I think this is the bestest idea ever let's get to the decision makers ASAP!!!

[polar x]

Correct me if I am wrong Jim, but don't we already have the ability to extend the race to 45 mins? I thought that we were supposed to take a vote at each race about that.

[T Baggins]

The down-side to getting rid of the endurance practice is that many of the endurance racers don't come out until around Noon. If we did away with the practice, they wouldn't get any practice at all...

Something to think about anyway.

[gsnyder828]

The down-side to getting rid of the endurance practice is that many of the endurance racers don't come out until around Noon. If we did away with the practice, they wouldn't get any practice at all...

Something to think about anyway.

Really?

I figured that was no longer true since a.m. practice is free and the morning riders meeting is mandatory.

Is there a way to get a count/percentage of folks who show up @ noon to judge the impact? And how do they get around the riders meeting requirement?

[polar x]

They get around the riders meeting req by not being req to attend since they are ONLY doing Endurance. They are the only ones who get a free pass.

[Blue Junk]

If you guys had a single 4hour race per season, my team would be happy to show up and participate!!

[froth]

We raced a four hour event some time back. Rain, floods, it was freaking awesome ('cause I didn't have to ride on the slicks when it started to deluge, many thanks to Eric S. for that part).
I enjoy the longer events, and would go for the four hour format for sure.

One hour events would also be pretty fun, because you could crash, repair/retech, and get back into the mix.

[DOUBLE A]

this is awesome if you want to race endurance just show up and practice in the morning or get nuun! put up or shut up...lol let's do it....way more sceptics for all the other ideas and this one has none let's proceed!!!!

[Jim 'smooth' Brewer]

Correct me if I am wrong Jim, but don't we already have the ability to extend the race to 45 mins? I thought that we were supposed to take a vote at each race about that.

You are correct, sir. We can vary the length of solo endurances without changing the rulebook.

We *were* going to alternate 45min/30min between the Open/HW race and the MW/LW race this year but we took a vote at the first race and the majority said, "no".

Maybe the prospect of doing an 11 race season that way was intimidating?

[polar x]

Thank you Jim for confirming that I am not loosing all of my memory, only a small portion for now. :? :wink:

Now a nother question, were these the same people that "voted" last year for said endurance races to be extended for this year and then "voted" to keep it at 30 mins??? :roll:

[gsnyder828]

We *were* going to alternate 45min/30min between the Open/HW race and the MW/LW race this year but we took a vote at the first race and the majority said, "no".

I've got to admit I don't recall that vote...

but regardless - that's pretty disappointing. Racer's not wanting a longer race? Weird.

[rybo]

Geoff,

I remember this. We did it for the first few rounds and it was done by show of hands at the Saturday riders meeting. The plan was to alternate by race weekend between the HW/ Open Endurance being 45min on one race weekend and the LW/MW Endurance being 45min on the next weekend.

I would look forward to longer endurance races for sure.

s

[gsnyder828]

Oh, I believe you Scott - and I believe(d) Jim too.

My memory is far too fragile and fleeting - I certainly wasn't trying to imply it didn't happen.

ops:

[DOUBLE A]

my noodle is fryed because I don't recall that???

[racedk6]

I think that getting rid of the endurance practice is a good idea.
You can extend the lengths of the race.
If you want to practice show up in the morning and make the normal riders meeting like everybody else does.
Doing this would also eliminate the need for a riders meeting at lunch on Saturday.

[racedk6]

Im also all for a 4 hour team endurance, where you use your own bikes and just pass off the transponder. That takes the need for tire changes and hot pit refuelling out of the question :wink:

I would suggest doing it mid season between rounds. If we plan on doing 8 races next year then lets throw this into the mix!

[DOUBLE A]

WORD

[auzzy]

I like this idea as well :twisted:

[Scored51]

... use your own bikes and just pass off the transponder.

I say the stipulation with the transponder is it needs to have the clip safety wired at each rider change. Cut the wire, pull the pin, move it to the new bike, and safety wire the pin closed. This puts some pit stop skills back into the mix without a huge amount of effort and equipment.

[DOUBLE A]

there is othe way to accomplish it w/o the transponder swap idea. Though you could just put in a leg pouch and pass the pouch from rider to rider, simple velcro will suffice.