Friday, August 18, 2006

Swanson Cancelled

Due to standing rain on the trails at Swanson Park and the threat of additional thunderstorms this evening, the Nebraska NORBA MTB State Championship has been postponed. A make-up date will be announced on NebCycling soon.
The 2006 Nebraska Lottery Psycowpath MTB Series has been plagued with inclement weather throughout the season. The "River City Shootout" in April was rescheduled for June and still had to contend with early morning showers.
"Our main objective with the Psycowpath MTB Series is to cater to riders of all levels," explains Series Director, Ryan Feagan. "This is the Nebraska State Championship and a lot of our beginner riders would be put at a significant disadvantage racing in the current conditions. It is also very important for us to set the example when it comes to riding or racing in muddy conditions. We have an obligation to maintain the trail systems."
Information regarding the make-up date will be published on NebCycling soon!

11 comments:

Shim said...

Sorry to say this but I just came from Swanson and the trails are rideable now and will be ideal in the a.m. I walked a good portion of the trail without leaving a foot print, there were a few puddles, but nothing significant. I know its a pain to mark the course (I have done it more than most)but you should have waited until tomorrow a.m.
Did anyone even check the course this afternoon, Swanson is a 12 hour dry (max) with up to 1.25 inches. No need to jump the gun here.

T-bone said...

Sweet, I'm going riding.

l8ter,

t

Tim Wieland said...

Thanks for all the work, and for making a decision. I'm sure it was a tough call, but probably the right one. Maybe we can actually have a 'dry' race on the rescheduled date!

MG said...

me too t-bone. it was a good call, imho. a tough call to make, but the right one to make.

shim, you must have your "program" timed pretty precisely... hopefully it'll hang on for a couple more weeks, 'eh? ;-}

Shim said...

Who wants to ride Swanson today? Best conditions of the summer. If you postpone a race in Nebraska during the summer based on a forecast (one calling for a 20% chance at that)... well you get the picture.

Matt, my program involves a lot of kid chasing, I was just wanting to race, its been too long.

T-bone said...

Shim, I'm heading there around 10am.

RF said...

somehow "rideable with puddles" just doesnt sound right. And t-bone, well he can handle a bike in anything.

John Lefler, Jr. said...

Thanks for always thinking of yourself and your schedule and your needs, Shim.

It is heartwarming and reassuring for the rest of us that spent the ENTIRE day going back and forth, examining every angle and trying to make the best possible decision to cater to all.

If we ran the race, you would have a large group of folks questioning why we forced the issue and ran the race on a muddy course.

There is a lot that goes into these decisions and financially, it cost my team not to put this race on...but bad PR costs more.

The race will get rescheduled, weather will hopefully cooperate and a large group will come out to take part.

Support the decisions instead of questioning all the time...sorry to be a buzzkill, but I hate reading this crap after all of the stress Ryan, Roxz, Dale, Tim and I delat with yesterday. Phone call after phone call, e-mail after e-mail..."please run the race"..."I hope you guys are not going to run the race."

cvo said...

I'll be there for the re-schedual,
I'll show up early to help set up,
help with registrattion.
and I'll throw in my loot to boot to help support ya.

sorry about being apart of the uproar,

I get myself into too much trouble sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong to often.

and this was a prime example.

should have just left well enough alone, and let the powers that be make the call.
and then support the decision that gets made.

I can't do anything about it now.

but I can help out in the future,

show my support

and I hope that starts to make up for the mess and the headache I helped to create.

sorry.
cvo

Shim said...

John, since you live in Lincoln I understand not wanting to make the wrong decision and waste a lot of time. So, I spoke to Ryan and Jon R. and told them I would leave work early and phone in the trail conditions at 4:30, which I did, I also told them I would help with set up like I have done when you have promoted this race in the past (and still paid a race fee and didn't receive as much as a thank you). Ryan didn't answer his phone and Jon told me the race was already cancelled. What's done is done, but if you want to attract volunteers a few kind words could help. People who truely know these trails felt the same way I did about this. Their just not dumb enough to keep posting their hard headed opinions on a blog.

John Lefler, Jr. said...

Geez Shim...I am sorry I did not say "thank you" when you helped out at a race. I am usually pretty good about recognizing the volunteer help out with a t-shirt, food, entry fee to a race...something. As for kind words, it seems to me a lot of these posts go south very quickly b/c no one knows the intent or emotion behind the words posted. Let me be clear when I say...I am not pissed off at anyone, just frustrated. Frustrated that we had to deal with inclement weather, frustrated that any decision that is made has to be second-guessed, fustrated that I read posts from others that seemed to have somewhat of a negative, condescending tone.

As for those that "truly know the trails," I am sorry I did not heed their advice and run the race. It was not an easy decision to make.

No one stepped up in the off-season to promote this event, I tried to alleviate some stress for Ryan by volunteering my team.

I think that is "kind."