COVID-19 and the 2020-21 NorCal season

Things will be different this year due to COVID, but cycling is one of the safest activities available, so the official word from NorCal is that there will be a season!  Black Mountain Composite plans to run practices and to attend whatever events/competitions NorCal ends up running.  Student attendance at practices and events is optional, as always.  We also plan to run a few fun rides this fall so people can check things out, and then start regular practices in January.

NorCal Events

The plans for the NorCal events are still TBD, but they definitely plan on holding events!  The events may take any combination of the following different forms
  1. Progressive virtual challenges for teams and individuals
  2. Small regional races in time-trial format (single solo timed lap)
  3. Classic races
Classic races would depend on large gatherings being allowed once again, so this is pretty unlikely to happen.

Fee Structure

In order to keep the league funded in the face of so many unknowns, the fee structure is changing this year.  The NICA/NorCal fee (combined) for high schoolers will be $150 instead of the usual $75.  In exchange, the race fees, if there are any race events, will be $25 instead of $50.  For middle school riders, the fees have traditionally been $25 or so, but I don't have any information yet on whether middle schoolers will have a different fee from high schoolers this season.

Practices

Exact details are still TBD, but the current thinking looks something like this:
  • We will be designating small groups which NorCal calls "pods" to consistently practice together
  • We will assign a consistent set of coaches to each pod to the best we are able to staff
  • We will require that riders wear masks at the practice meeting spots, but not during the ride.
  • We will spread out our meeting locations so that each pod's meeting spot is separate from other pods, instead of everyone all meeting in one spot like we've done in the past.
  • Core will either be outside or online
  • We may have fewer practices than we've had in the past to accommodate our need to organize and staff into pods.
  • We probably won't be able to do carpooling so even Saturday practices will probably be local