Thank you to everyone for making 2015 a record breaking year. It was a challenging year for MIVA as we transitioned and changed some things up a bit, but a strong board and dedicated membership made it a success. We ended the year with 120 members, our highest ever. We held fewer events overall (to combat volunteer burnout) but brought in greater overall racer numbers. MIVA hosted 14 time trials, 12 crits, 5 hill climbs, the 50/100k Challenge Ride, the Mount Washington Hill Climb, and the Pony Cross with COTR.
I can't thank the board of directors enough for all of the hard work they did in 2015. We met once a month more or less, and well over a thousand emails tossing ideas in the air, voting on decisions, and all the behind the scenes work that keeps the machine running smoothly. Thank you.
The highlight of the year was the Pony Cross race where we shattered our attendance record with 284 racers and hosted a very successful event. The months leading up to it were full of planning, and the night before was a busy one as MIVA came out in full force to set up the race course in headlamps and gumboots.
Other highlights MIVA accomplished or set into motion in 2015:
- -Covered club insurance finally, and partnered with CyclingBC to give our club and membership the best coverage options.
- -Established a first class spin studio to host the MIVA spins at the Swet Haus.
- -We as a club stepped up and MIVA blew the doors off at Pony Cross.
- -We saw the seasons pass ($50) prove to be a huge success in getting people out week after week, creating a great atmosphere.
- -Held more social gatherings such as the summer social and the Cross Night Social.
- -Mike took the reigns and rejuvenated the highly popular Monday Night Rides for beginners, which planted the seeds in many to come out to race week after week.
- -Angelina volunteered her time to lead the Weds Night Rides from Oak Bay Bikes (now Rock City Cycles)
- -We're MOST proud of the fact that MIVA introduced more women to the sport and saw them become some of our most dedicated racers.
TIME TRIALS
We dropped from 20 down to 14 events this year to help accommodate shuffling the hill climbs sooner amongst other things. Race numbers were through the roof as we averaged 25 people per race, up from 19/race last year, and 13 the year before that. In 2 years we've almost doubled. Over the past 5 years MIVA has hosted 86 TTs, with almost 1300. For TT#100 this year, we will party.
CRITERIUMS
Numbers were up and a few hardy souls did every single crit. This year we ran 12 crits, 9 at Boxwood and 3 at Arbutus Meadows.
HILL CLIMBS
We hosted 5 hill climbs, with an average of 23 racers out each night. Last year we averaged....7. The biggest jump was in the female competitors, going from 7 TOTAL female entries in all of 2014 up to 40 this year. Many of these racers were products of the Monday Night Rides
GROUP RIDES
It has to be mentioned that there are many people who set up unofficial group rides almost every week and offer to bring along others all on their own volition. Thank you to people like Shep Stewart and Paul Thompson for doing this, and the rest of you as well.
The Monday Night Rides were the brainchild of Janna Gillick a few years back to teach people the rules of the road cycling and to gain confidence and experience riding in a group. They were very successful and well attended. Over time the next year they became faster and faster, and eventually it was time for a reboot. Mike McCarney took that on this year and met almost every Monday at 6pm from the Ice Center to head out for a 20-25k ride up Jingle Pot. There were times we had 20 people out to these and had to split into A/B groups.
The Wednesday Night Rides were run by Angelina Landry and had great numbers out week after week, eventually morphing into an intermediate group and an advanced group.
Looking ahead to 2016, we're looking at fine tuning things a bit:
- -Purchasing a club trailer to store MIVA goods and race gear.
- -Looking into Chip Timing
- -MIVA/Swet Haus spins every Thursday @ 7pm until mid March for only $5
- -Next gear order will be in December with it slated to arrive in mid February.
- -April 50/100k Challenge Ride
- -May Mt.Washington Climb
- -Spring Gravel Grind (cross full day ride)
- -Spring 'All In A Day' Hill Climb Day where we'll tackle all 5 MIVA Hill Climbs in one day.
- -Time Trials will start late April and go until the end of July, likely 15-16 TTs.
- -Crits will run May-July, likely 12-15 Crits total, Boxwood course if things work out.
- -Crit Practice for Beginners on a closed course in a friendly setting
- -Hill Climbs in August, there will be 5 total
- -Cyclocross Practices Sept/Oct: we hope to have a location to set up a fun course.
- -Pony Cross November
A few of our Board Directors are moving on, thank you to Peter McCaffery, Ron Hewitson, Menno Jongsma, and Matt Evans for all of the hard work. Ron will stay on as our Cross Race Director next fall, and Leonidas Matt is sticking around to be our webmaster as well.
Going into 2016, we'd love to hear from you. Any races/fondos you want in our calendar just let us know. If there are results you can pass on to us please do.
The 2015 AGM Minutes will be made available when they're ready. MIVA welcomes the 2016 MIVA Board of Directors, a good mix of old and new.
- Phil Birrer: Treasurer
- Cheryl Morch: Secretary
- Patrick Burnham: Director
- Jason Hare: Director
- Mike McCarney: Director
- Kiyomi Schulz: (NEW) Director
- Angelina Landry: (NEW) Director
- Sean de Pol: (NEW) Director
Looking ahead to 2016, we need volunteers to help with timing. Peter is transitioning out of timing the Crits, and I'll be elbow deep in diapers so won't be able to time as many TTs. We're putting it out there early in case there are any club members or their teenagers out there who are interested in earning extra credits for volunteering (if applicable). Please get in touch with us if so.
MIVA has its own official Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/midislandvelo/ where all site posts will auto post to. LIKE IT so it gets pushed into the main feed more and more. The MIVA discussion group is still there and a great place to organize group rides etc.
Last, the main email to contact MIVA is now miva.president@gmail.com. We've standardized our boards emails to enable better sharing of documents, and to eliminate the thousands of MIVA emails in my personal inbox! Hit up this quick one question survey on how often you want MIVA emails to hit your inbox please! http://goo.gl/forms/P4ewo2dGvJ
Onward and upward, again.
-Corey
