michael's post below is a very good one and makes the principal (and principled!) point.  in addition to that, i think it's useful for people to keep in mind that as a cycling district, it's not about talk, it's about action.  the uscf doesn't put on races in our area and mabra doesn't put on races in our area.  promoters and teams made of cyclists put on races.  and as bill indicated in the thread michael linked to, it's a marketplace.  promoters offer events on dates and with categories they think will be successful or will be in line with their unique idea about what a race should be.  for example, if you're hot under the collar about the lack of juniors races, don't complain.  to anyone.  period.  put on a race for juniors.  it's relatively easy.  the same thing is true for advocates of more women's races.  and the same thing is true for advocates of more men's-master's-37+-category-3-and-4-but-not-5-who-have-a-minimum-of-2-kids races.  think you can't do it?  think again...

i mean really, let's be serious.  even if you felt overwhelmed at the prospect of putting on a race, you could ask a more experienced club or promoter to help out.  or you could bag the idea of racing altogether and put on a clinic, or even a bake sale to raise money to put on a race.  whatever the case: don't talk about it, do it.  make rosie proud.  create an event that satisfies exactly what you think is missing in the current environment.  and to really emphasize michael's point, if you run the race this way, you don't care of it makes money or not because it's helping you meet goals that you are passionate about.  it really is a win-win situation. 

the initial email referenced in the thread seemed to be rhetorically rolling it's eyes at the announcement of a weather closure for the race that was cancelled.  (full disclosure :: racing union is one of the promoters of that race, and i personally think the series is a smashign idea!)  tony delnegro comes through with "This is another good reason to race in September/October instead of Feb/March...".   while everyone is entitled to their opinion (though some are clearly more equal than others) i don't think it's constructive to tear down anyone's race.  if you don't like it, don't go.  promoters offer races.  you do the ones you like.  you don't crab about the ones you don't like.  if there are insufficient races to suit you, rather than bitch about it, look at the glass as half full; there may be a niche where you could be a very successful promoter and help other people out.

eli follows up with a more thoughtful composure: "I've always wondered why the D20 schedule is empty during 2 of the
best-weather months in the mid atlantic - Sep/Oct - while packing races into cold spring and insanely hot, humid summer months. The 2005 Walkersville, Championship RR and Giro spring to mind as obvious examples.  I know we all like to suffer, but is there a reason for this, or did the race season just evolve this way over time? "

i think bill luecke give some well informed and thoughtful answers.  i will follow through with data as well, which is also courtesy of bill.

MABRA race history1.xls (177.5 KB)

this is a link to a spreadsheet with race event data from 1995 to current.  you should be able to get some sort of factual idea about when events take place by looking at this.  i believe that a detailed analysis will show that the schedule is becoming more front-loaded over time, though which races types and areas you include and exclude from your analysis will obviously have a tremendous effect on the outcome.  please note that there are a number of issues with this data that make very rapid analysis difficult.  there are a number of non-cycling events in the listing including various annual dinners, officials clinics and national events which people need to know about but that do not impact local cycling.  some years include abundant listings for races from outside the d20/mabra area and some years have virtually none.  in addition, there are many types of events and the explosion of cyclocross events and series in the last few years will produce will skew the race data unless you account for it. 

and even if you don't want to analyze the trends and patterns in race data, this list shows you what sorts of races occur at what times during the year.  I have stripped out the email addresses but most of these people are easy to get ahold of and can tell you a lot about the dynamics involved in putting together a specific race. 

bill luecke brought up the point about the mabra board specifying at what point in the year the district championships had the be held.  i don't believe that this was or is a very successful approach.  promoters are good at offering events.  racers, to a lesser degree, are good at showing up, paying money and having a good time.  in summary, i do not believe that there is anything wrong with the current situation: i think it reflects the vast majority of promoters and racers.  in my opinion, the only thing missing from the racing community (of which i am a member as well) is less bitching and more "thank you"s to promoters, even those whose races you choose not to do.

- - - posted by scott. 

update: on re-reading this post, i want to be clear that i am not calling out eli for his message.  eli does a lot for the local cycling community that people are probably not aware of: sponsoring teams, offering primes and prizes at races, organizing events, etc.  eli has earned the right to talk some smack.