Our last ‘normal’ season of 2019 seems like a lifetime ago now. Back then, we had 30+ events across 4 different series. Things were humming along and we all felt like we were heading in the right direction. The ongoing pandemic has changed the event landscape in NEMTB, and a return to that ‘normal’ state from 2019 seems a bit unlikely in the near short term.

The continuing challenges have had us thinking about ways we can change our strategy to rewrite normal instead of trying to return to a pre-pandemic model. Based on racer, promoter and community feedback, we’re looking to make some foundational changes in 2022. All in an effort to simplify the process of racing a bike (and promoting an event) in New England. We are proud of everything we had built and were rolling with in 2019, but we think it’s time to get back to basics and focus on what we all love: racing and riding bikes.

The biggest change impacting racers will be the removal of the membership requirement for EFTA events in 2022. We will not be selling annual memberships, and there will be no requirement to purchase a 1-day license if you are not an annual member. Just register, and show up ready to race! Nothing else to keep track of.

We’re also going to put a pause on the EFTA NECS series (the one you all are used to) for now. So all of the old series and age category structures will no longer be required at EFTA events and will not be tracked throughout the season. Each event will be run at the Promoter’s discretion and they will set the categories as they see fit.

Because of the structural adaptations we are making to accommodate the changes in our community, instead of series points and a Champion’s jersey for 2022, we’ll be running a season-long raffle. Each EFTA race result gets you a raffle entry, so the more you race, the better your chances! We’ll be working with local partners to offer as many awesome prizes as we can muster.

We hope these changes will streamline things for everyone and help to get us back to a full and fun 2022 season! There are some additional ideas still being discussed and we’ll have additional details on the raffle coming soon so stay tuned…