Ok, now that the big question has been answered and there will only be two categories this year (same as every other year) we need to get down to the nitty gritty of the awards/prizes given to each place in the categories... as well as awards/prizes given for superlatives (like Fastest Man/Woman and Perkiest Rider to name two).
My logic behind cold hard cash for first in the team cat is this:
The avilablility of cash is vast and correct me if I'm mistaken, last year six Reload hip pouches were purchased at ~50 dollars each... total outlay on first place was ~300... so why not this year, save the trouble of acually buying something and just give the first place team the money (a little more than last year... like 360 or 420)... in the form of a fat roll of singles and HUGE novelty check that will look awesome in photographs.
The money outlay for first in the solo cat last year was a bit more complicated. The Dura-Ace hubs that were awarded were a gracious donation from a wonderful benefactor. I doubt he has the ability to match something of that nature again this year. I don't compete in the solo cat, don't really understand it either... so ideas for what would be a good first place would be appriciated. Maybe something related to pain relief?
Second and so on in each of the categories and for the superlatives should be the same as it was last year. Ex: Frame pads, gift certificates, porno, DVD's, music, various bicycle parts, etc. This is where we need someone to step up to plate and go around to local businesses and beg donations. Ideas for business to hit up are: Outback, Skate Escape, Greens, Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Sevananda, Reload, Movies Worth Seeing, Insurection, etc.
I'd take this task on myself but for two reasons I'm not. One, I'm already on Rules/Lap Traking. Second, I'm not an attractive 20ish year old woman (lets face the facts, cute girls get free stuff easier).
Whats the theme for this race?
Whats the theme for this race?
Last year was good and evil, and Brett made awesome patches. We need to have a theme for some special projects in the works.
I don't think we have that
I don't think we have that in concrete yet.
Official
Zombies.
Rising Dead? or just
Rising Dead? or just zombies?
idea for prizes
in addition to cash / Frame pads, gift certificates, porno, DVD's, music, various bicycle parts, etc. some type of trophy to indicate what was won. first place 2nd first solo ect. for these it could be as simple as getting a bunch of inexpensive fixed gear cogs and having them engraved with something like "1st place solo fm 24 2007 "
shouldn't cost much and would be nice to nail to the wall or actually use.
plus the cog relates well to the FM logo
engraved cogs seem like a
engraved cogs seem like a very good idea to me. i like it a lot, actually.
Headtube badges maybe?
Headtube badges maybe?
+1
"this bike whoooped yer ass"
you SOB, you beat me to my
you SOB, you beat me to my own idea.
I was thinking we just buy some parts from Sopo and create a whole slew of awards along the lines of:
Lord of the ChainRing
King of the Sprocket(s)
Leftside Locknut
lets run with it.
along those lines
you can get engraved pint glasses..
that
would actually be pretty cool.
No cash
stuff should be cool and silly/fun/bike related. Once money is involved, people start acting weird, nitpicking about things like getting to the final check out and having to wait 5 seconds to get logged in or not having had this or that advantage that someone else had.
It is not like there are not going to be a lot (perhaps too many) people interested in the race as is already. Seems to me that people enter FM 24 because it is fun (if they want to party) or because of bragging rights (we are talking about the largest, most diverse bike race in the state, right? How many people ride the TdG?). Winning FM 24 is hard work, participating in it is hard partying. If that is not enough, shave your pretty boy legs, buy some sexy sexy lycra, and turn pro if you are good enough.
"braggin rights" I hugely
"braggin rights"
I hugely disagree. The seriousness of the pre-race work (by the race organizers) and the during-race work (by the racers) needs to match the seriousness of the prizes. It really sucks when you race your ass off and get nothing or don't work very hard and end up w/ a lot of free stuff. Two examples
(and I don't mean to knock anyone who put the races on or the people who won them; I had fun and you all beat me. I'm only saying it needs BALANCE not more or less of anything, OVERALL)
Sick Dog: 25ish riders and the top 6 people got prizes (really good ones) This was a race where Hess called in some big favs and scored some big bags and hip pouches but could have advertised it more.
BH3: 50ish riders and top 3 people got prizes (but they were super awesome, so...). SOPO spent a lot of time organizing and advertising a great fun race but could have spent more time calling in favs.
If we are all working hard to train, organize, market, code, flyer, race, drink, and party, then we should devote some of OUR time to secureing dope ass prizes (or cash prizes).
bh3, etc
a lot goes into putting on a race, or a race plus party. also, a lot goes into organizing bike advocacy year round, so it's wise to reserve your favor-calling-in cards for when it's necessary. and you can't always count on every donation promise to come through. i thought having two dope messenger bags to give away to top male and female was a huge score for sopo, and an improvement over races where i was told that organizers "don't do that shit" when it comes to providing female categories. plus, we had all sorts of extra shit that we raffled. we actually had a decent amount of prizes.. it's just hard to get a large amount of amazing/valuable stuff.. esp. when you're not paying for any of it.
and.. the list of sponsors for bh3 was enormous. it included folks who gave us enough free food and booze for everyone.. another big score.
so, if the observation is that sopo didn't work hard enough on bh3, my response is: you're wrong. : ) can we do better? sure. but i assure you, there was no lack of favor pursual.
of course, anyone is welcome to help us in this department in the future. in fact, i'm starting to organize the thing now and it's half a year away.
no no no
no no no
you got me wrong. I didn't mean to criticize. I know what all when on for that race. I know how much free food and beer I had that night. I am always aware of the mess bag prizes. I'm strictly saying that a race is a race and needs to have race prizes. BH3 was more than a race and was organized by a relatively small group of people. We now are a bigger collective and if we worked as hard as you and kyle and others worked for BH3, then we could stand to do quite awesome.
ohhh. oopsies.
right on.
i asked earlier whether prizes would be donated or purchased (or both.. which is the case) just because i was thinking about how people are committed to awarding certain things to certain winners.. which you can't count on if you do this by donation only.
anyway, game on.
prizes are nice
In the last two or three years I have noticed that alleycats in Atlanta are steadily upping the ante when it comes to prizes. It seems that not too long ago, it was almost unheard of to win a messenger bag. I remember at the slay the dragon race people were really impressed that a custom messenger bag was given out. Today its not uncommon to give out two or three bags, among other things. This is all great news, as long as the races are improving in other ways and the racers are working harder to win. That being said, it worries me that there might be less races one day because race organizers are unable to afford the required stash of worthy prizes. Or perhaps the race entry fees continue to increase until no one can afford to race (mountain bike races are commonly $50-100 per person to race). Or worst of all, a really great race fails to attract enough people because the payout isn't enough. All of these things aren't just a distant nightmare. They are already happening.
There are all kinds of races that offer various reasons for you to come out and participate. Some will have awesome prizes but most will offer a great time no matter what. Lest we forget this thread about prizes from the first 24 hour race, lets just remember that its about fun and the prizes are the cherry on top.
+1
+1
dont forget.. just for
dont forget.. just for entering solo you will get free tequila shots from me until I run out of tequila! and if there are not that many solo riders, i am not gonna run out of tequila!
oh yeah... drink responsibly
there are ~10 people
there are ~10 people registered to race solo already so you may want to consider that..
the quality may suffer, but
the quality may suffer, but the quantity won't!
well, you know, unless
well, you know, unless EVERYBODY signs up solo just for tequila shots
do solo-ers get a different
do solo-ers get a different color race number or something so they can be identified by spectators and tequila dispensers?
yeah,
maybe brown so that when we puke (thanks to you) it won't stain our number thingys.
Woo Solo!!!
I knew there was another reason I went solo!
couple more things
to respond to seth in his original post: one reason for not doing a straight cash payout is that its easier to ask sponsors for free/discounted prizes than it is to ask for cash. This doesn't mean cash payouts are impossible and its definately something worth considering especially for future races.
one more thing, all that being said in my post above, the prizes for this year's race are gonna be dope!
Across The Street
In addition to giving us some sweet prizes for the race, Across The Street is sponsoring two all-girl teams, extending their hours during the race, and offering drink specials all weekend for race participants!! If you have never been to Across The Street (next to Johnny's), go check it out. They have a great looking interior with original art, a sweet back patio, and a huge bike rack.
and tasty tacos.
and tasty tacos.
and who doesnt love a sweet
and who doesnt love a sweet back patio and a huge rack!!
and
a tasty taco.
las tacos rosas
i believe is the official name of our teams. heh.
but but
"taco" is a masculine noun! and then you're modifying it with feminine articles and adjectives! it's too much for me to handle. you are blowing gender paradigms out of the water. at least in spanish, anyway.
heh heh heh.. you said
heh heh heh.. you said "blowing"
Let's hear it
for encouraging women to ride in the race. Every time I ride in the UK I am surprised about how few women are on bikes (though there are loads and loads of commuters).
So rock on!