June 3, 2020 at 11:30 a.m.
Hodag BMX slowly getting back on track
Club has resumed weekly practice, return to racing still up in the air
Hodag BMX slowly getting back on track
Perhaps the most notable step took place last Friday as the club held an organized gate practice for the first time this season.
"I'm kind of counting the small victories, getting the track open, getting the gate practice underway, really seeing how things will function and operate," Hodag BMX track operator and coach Rob Deede said in an interview with the River News. "Obviously that's kind of our goal, eventually we will get back to racing, but when is the question."
Just like virtually every other sporting endeavor, Hodag BMX's plans for the 2020 season were put on hold when the response to the coronavirus altered the landscape of day-to-day life in mid-March.
The first step back for the club came May 15 when the track, which is located inside the City of Rhinelander's West Side Park, was allowed to open for recreational use. That allowed a limited number of riders to use the track on their own.
In doing so, the club capped the number of people at the track at one time, insisted everyone on the premises maintain at least six feet of physical distancing and strongly encouraged those at the track to wear a mask.
"We want to be able to offer something while being as safe and smart about it as possible. We've been working really closely with the parks director (Jeremy Biolo), with the health officer for Oneida County (Linda Conlon) and following other guidance as well," Deede said.
The second step came Friday with the first gate practice session for riders, who had the chance to make an online appointment to practice during one of several one-hour time slots during the late afternoon and evening. Deede was on-site to instruct the riders and while the track's starting gate can hold up to eight riders at a time, no more than three were allowed in the gate at one time - and the majority of runs had only one or two riders.
Though it is unclear when racing may resume, Deede said the practices are an important step to make sure riders are ready once the green light is given.
"You never want to get to a point where you jump right back into racing, or right back into competition, because it's dangerous," he said. "If a kid's not in shape and not ready, doesn't have the motor skills and has not been working on their skills and they go right to competition, they have a higher risk of getting hurt. That's something we definitely don't want."
Listening to opinions
Deede said the club has been trying to handle the gradual reopening of the facility in a way that is both compassionate to its members' views and responsible to the community at-large. He said there is a wide variance in opinion even from the track's membership about how to move forward - from those who feel they should already be back to racing, to those who want to proceed with extreme caution.
"One of the things I hear a lot is, 'If you don't feel comfortable, then don't come.' I don't think that's an appropriate answer," Deede said. "It basically cuts out a large portion of the population, basically saying, 'If you don't like it, don't come.' We're like, 'OK, if you don't like it, what are your concerns and what can we do to really, again, continue to make this safe but make it so you see this as safe too.' That's one of the strategies we've taken at every step on this.
"We're engaging on a weekly basis with our volunteers. We're engaging on a weekly basis with our highly-involved families. We do have a very wide array of opinions, and I think that's really good. Getting a lot of different opinions is really how you will get the best result."
Financial impacts
For the BMX Club, which is run by volunteers and is funded by private money, the stoppage due to the COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it some serious financial obstacles.
"This has been pretty detrimental to our season," Deede said. "We want to not just kind of fold up and say, 'Hey, we're not going to do anything this year,' but it's definitely been impactful to our overall financial decision-making."
Deede said the club's main revenue sources include private donations and sponsorships, race-night registrations and concession stand sales. All three of those streams have been stopped for the time being.
"We're kind of in a holding and conservation pattern," Deede said, noting that the Hodag BMX board did not feel it was appropriate to hold its annual donation and sponsorship drive during a time in which many local individuals and businesses are feeling the financial impacts of the pandemic. "We really have to protect the money we have saved. Luckily, we're in a position were we have a really good board, really good donors and volunteers that have worked really hard to make sure that we have some financial security. We're not going to close up shop if our season is significantly interrupted, but it definitely is a huge setback for us to be able to continue to provide the quality that we strive to provide and the quality that folks have come to know."
Return to action
The biggest questions remains if, when and how the track will return to racing. While the Wisconsin Supreme Court voided Gov. Tony Evers' Safer At Home Order, Deede said the track is currently following the recommendation of health officials to limit outdoor gatherings to 50 people or less. A race, he said, would put the track over that threshold.
The track would have held five races already this season, and would have continued racing on Mondays and/or Fridays through the first Friday in October. How many of those races will actually take place remains to be seen, that includes the club's tripleheader weekend July 24-26 that features its USABMX Race For Life event and its Wisconsin State Qualifier event which brings in hundreds of riders from throughout the state and the Midwest. Deede said it's too soon to tell whether that weekend will be a go or a no-go, and the decision to race or not is being reevaluated on a week-by-week basis.
He said there is a silver lining to the pandemic, however. Whenever the club races again, plans are in the works to implement a number of innovations at the track that will not only limit points of congregation where the virus could potentially spread, but enhance the overall race day experience for riders and fans.
"The silver lining to this is that no one likes standing in line, period, right? So we're looking at strategies and utilizing technology where you'll have contactless registration," he said. "Someone can go on their computer before they get to the track, or go on their smartphone and sign up their racer ahead of time, and be able to do all contactless payment transaction. That's one of the big steps that we've done and now it's practicing that, so we get more comfortable with it.
"We're looking to have where people can order their snacks and stuff over a phone app, and pay for it over a phone app. They'll get notification when their order is ready and they can just walk up and pick it up. Again, no standing in line, minimal direct face-to-face interaction, minimal close contact is what we're really trying to drive down, because we know that's how the virus spreads."
How races may look when they return is also undetermined. According to the document, "Sports Event Planning Considerations Post-COVID-19" published by the U.S. Olympic Committee May 7, BMX racing (cycling in a group) falls into Level 2 of a three-level scale that classifies sports based on their risk of COVID-19 transmission. The document states Level 2, or medium-risk, sports, "involve close, sustained contact, but with protective equipment in place that may reduce the likelihood of respiratory particle transmission between participants OR intermittent close contact OR group sports OR sports that use equipment that can't be cleaned between participants."
Individual cycling is classified as a Level 3, or lower-risk, sport.
"We can engineer out a lot of close contact," Deede said. "Some of the things we're looking at is when the gate becomes operational, only three riders in the gate at a time. That way we know they're going to be maintaining at least six foot of physical distancing. We're encouraging that six-foot physical distancing at all times. We're, again really trying to engineer out close congregation which, by nature of cycling, you can get rid of some of that. I think that's one of our unique benefits and has allowed us to move more forward."
Advice to other sports
Deede is uniquely capable of understanding the desire of riders to return to competition and the emphasis of health officials have put on proceeding with an abundance of caution in regard to when social distancing guidelines become less restrictive.
Deede is a registered nurse and worked with the Oneida County Health Department back in 2016 when an outbreak of pertussis closed the School District of Rhinelander early for the winter break and forced Rhinelander High School sports teams to cease operations for 17 days.
Other area sports programs have been forced to cancel or severely alter their seasons. Deede's advice to programs, and even high school teams, looking to do something later this summer is to use common sense and be prepared to react to an ever-changing landscape regarding the virus.
"What we've been practicing is be smart, hear out the opinions and try to come up with something that is going to be a best compromise, keeping safety paramount, first and foremost," he said. "The other thing we're looking at is the willingness and the ability to pull back. We are gradually and strategically making steps forward, but if we have to pause or if we have to pull back, we absolutely will. That's something we've tried to be very clear with. This isn't a one-way door."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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