gschreckchat@comcast.net
If someone is a 1/2 and over 40, they are not sandbagging by racing masters. It is one of their categories. Is there something wrong with having strong masters riders and a hard fast quality masters race? Are masters races only supposed to be slow plodding affairs. The reason why the 1/2 category is small is because there are not enough young people taking up bike racing and bike racing is a sport that is aging. That is not going to improve by forcing old guys to race in the 1/2 category and reducing the quality of the masters races. Also, having raced in some Cat 3 races, I have not seen any dominance on that front, as most of the strong cat 3's have been upgraded.
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George Schreck
gschreckchat@comcast.net
(503) 502-0425
-------------- Original message --------------
From: Erik
Forget about "sour grapes". What a cop-out. I have nothing to do with cat 3/4/5 or masters racing whatsoever, and this whole scenario pisses me off.
If you're not a beginner, stop whooping up on the 4/5's - you're not helping anybody by soloing in 5 minutes ahead of the group. There is no such thing as a "Cat 4/5 Champion", mmkay? Okay, so you "won". You're still just a schmuck who should be racing with the rest of the Cat 3's. You're worse than a wannabe, you're a should-be who chooses to stay in his proverbial dirty diapers in a last ditch effort to avoid big-boy pants.
Same goes for the 3's. If you've finally taken some initiative and done some real training and begun "dominating" the Cat 3 races, wake up and race with others at your newfound performance level.
When you stay at a level you have outgrown, you keep the next level from being as competitive as it should be and you keep those you're flogging from making their next step. You make yourself a road block for everyone who actually wants to improve. You're stifling our growth as a legitimate sport. Stop it.
I'm not the only one who's sick of seeing the pro/1/2 field shrink while perfectly capable 3's avoid upgrading because racing might actually be hard again (cat 1/2 "masters", I'm looking in your direction, too. Might you be switching to "Depends" a little too early?). You're all weakening the sport through what can only be called a lack of "juevos".
Yes, I'm judging you . . . and I'm right. You can argue and rationalize your inaction all you want, it'll still be bad for the sport.
-Erik
> Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 00:32:44 -0700
> From: qconant@gmail.com
> To: obra@list.obra.org
> Subject: [OBRA Chat] Re: Wow...rubbed some people the wrong way...
>
> sorry in advance, I can't resist...
>
> Regardless of if someone is actually a sandbagger, it just sounds like sour grapes if you complain about it publicly. It really does. It sounds like "I should have won, but someone else was faster, stronger, or more wily than I".
>
> Alot of us spend a great deal of time not winning, or even placing in a spot worth talking about. It's not fair, but that's just the way it goes. There's always someone out there who either has better tools, or can use what they have better.
>
> I dunno. Next time, mark the sandbagger and be their shadow, maybe you can use them to your advantage.
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