Reunion Ride

[skiracer]

Well, the RR is finally upon us once again.  Hope to see many of you there.  Weather looks good, and the sneak preview of the trails look awesome!!!

1976 MC 5 Original Owner
1976 Penton 175 XC
1985 20' Hi Point trailer

[skiracer]

Well day one is in the books. The club did an outstanding job. Great trails, well organized. However there were only about 50 riders. If these numbers continue there won't be any more Vintage XC. Something for all ius to think about in the future....

1976 MC 5 Original Owner
1976 Penton 175 XC
1985 20' Hi Point trailer

[dennis brown]

day one at isdt rr was a very good ride.nice trail except for very deep sand.good woods riding! day 2 washed out rain and lighting. we need more riders!!

dennis l.brown

[skiracer]

I agree!  The trails were great!  Living in FL for the past year I didn't mind the deep sand.  Yes, more riders are needed! I would surely go back.

1976 MC 5 Original Owner
1976 Penton 175 XC
1985 20' Hi Point trailer

[rob w]

Most of your "more riders" are not going to travel 2000 miles round trip.

[Larry Perkins]

Most of the AHRMA National series is lagging in rider turnout with the exception of a few events like Diamond Don's.  It is that way in MX, PVMX, and CC.  I believe the reason is the same reason we see good turnouts at many of the Regional Non-AHRMA Series like MOVMX and the Midwest Vintage Series.  People are looking for the fun and less expense and staying closer to home is cheaper and the average guy is not trying to test himself against more competition but is happy to race a lot of the same guys over and over because it is cheaper and for them just as much fun.  My 2 cents worth but as it sits AHRMA racing is just barely a financially viable entity anymore.

Larry P

[Richard Colahan]

I think Larry is correct. Our Mid Atlantic Region XC series (10 races) has grown each year. In 2017 we averaged 39 riders in the Vintage race, a 39% increase over 2016. We averaged 57 riders in the PV race, a 19% increase over 2016. That's an average of 96 total with 5 events over 100 entries. These events are scattered throughout PA. Being in eastern PA...I typically get to 8 of them each year.

As for XC AHRMA Nationals...I'd like to get to more of them...there were a few that I planned to go to...but didn't.

As things turned out the only one I went to was the McKee's Vintage Enduro...which doesn't really count because I was the trail-boss for that one. We had close to 90 pre-entries for that one, and would have certainly topped 100 entries if the weather had held up.

So...if the Regional format seems to be growing, perhaps AHRMA's strategy may be to move to a split east/west championship alignment.

I'm sure Becky Hayes and crew are open to constructive ideas and suggestions.



Richard Colahan
1969 V1225
Upper Black Eddy PA

[derek martin]

I meant to do more AHRMA CC this year but ended up doing only one event due to conflicts with band gigs primarily. I've ridden/raced for a long time but got into this rock band thing fairly late in life and have got some catching up to do. Compared to past years this year's series was seriously affected by rain-outs, cancellations and race dates being moved. There are good capable people driving the AHRMA CC train and I'm sure have ideas in motion for growing the series. I for one intend to ride more events next year and encourage everyone to do the same. That being said if we book a gig on a race weekend I'll have to go play drums. Drums is joy. Bikes is joy. Right now drums is more joy.

[Mick Milakovic]

I'm with Derek.  Took this year off for thumb surgery, but am saving money and working on bikes for next year.  hopefully a full season.

Mick

[wfopete]

I applaud the ADR crew and Kevin for thier hard work at this event but the LA ride had several strikes against it right out of the box.

The 2 of the last 3 AHRMA XC races were in the southern part of the states and Oklahoma wasn't far off.  It's the last AHRMA XC event of the year.  For many of those in a points chase, the battle was over and nothing would be gained in points by coming to this event so folks are thinking about saving bikes, body and money for next season.  Running all over the country, keeping old iron running ain't cheap and the reality is the guy who has the funds to make it to the most races stands a much better chance of winning a championship than someone who is limited by tight purse strings.   Also, you don't draw many riders from the Gulf of Mexico. I, for one didn't run a single AHRMA event this year.  My old iron needed parts that were expensive and hard to find. It was much EZ'r just to forget about it and ride my modern bike.  I'm finding racing old bikes is a every-other-year type of deal.


Pete Petrick
175 Jackpiner
Slow but Good