Questions and comments on the change in race results at PIR:
Sorry this is so long; I don't have nearly the experience of most on
this list, so my remarks should be taken with more than a grain of
salt. Having said that:
Does this policy extend to all fields in all races? only PIR (due to
bunched sprint probability)? Only Tuesdays?
I am not sure what a quick review of the month's standings of the 3/4
would reveal, but my guess is that it would show only a handful of
riders have meaningful points. Of the 85 people who showed up for
yesterdays race there might be about 50 (probably more but for the sake
of argument) who will play no meaningful part in the prems or the final
sprint. Would it have been best for those people to just stay out of it
altogether?
Of the top finishers are a majority in the 3/4 field 3s? Would it be
best if the 4s who are not supporting a teammate stay out?
I recognize that due to the way PIR is (flat with fairly open curves
and exposure to prevailing winds) it leads to bunching and in the less
experienced fields (anything I will be in) there is a lot of accordion
action going on, some poor bike handling, people not holding their
line, confusion regarding neutralizing (even after tons of remarks on
this list about that), etc.. This leads to a higher probability of
crashes. I accept the risk and try to ride safely and with
sportsmanship. I anticipate slowdowns (which is usually pretty easy),
hold my line, and generally just remember not to take it too seriously
(after all, it is suppose to be fun). However, if I have an opened
line and can go without endangering myself or anyone else I will try to
go hard, not because I expect to beat Dan Watson, but because I want to
try to finish well (to me that might mean top 15) in a 3/4 field of 85
riders. For me, as a 48 year old 4 without much experience, it is a
significant challenge to do that. I have noticed that I am not alone in
a desire to take even 15th. Last evening I finished 20th and although I
realize that is nothing to be happy about I am still interested to see
how close I can come.
I completely understand the reasoning of limiting the placing to 15. I
realize it must make reviewing the tape a lot easier. I only ask you to
consider that we cannot remove the risk of poor judgment, mistakes,
accidents, bad sportsmanship, inexperience, and crashes with this
change.
No, I do not have to see my name on a placing to know if I am
improving, but I like it. It will be a little less fun for me to race
at PIR when we are only placing the top 15 and even then, there will
still be people sprinting for 65th place.
Sorry for such a long post -Jake Bigham
On Apr 27, 2005, at 9:18 AM, Ken Finch wrote:
There was so much talk about this kind of thing on the
list this spring and yet these problems still happen.
People, please talk about and teach things like this
at your team meetings and to those you ride with. I
still believe it's only a small percentage of riders
who read this list. The only way to teach those people
who don't read it, about these issues is through the
teams and just talking to other riders. And let's make
an effort to mentor to new racers, whether on our
teams or not. There's a lot of them out there this
year.
It's too bad Candi had to do this, but I compeletly
understand why.
Ken Finch
Team S&M
--- Candi Murray <cmur-@obra.org> wrote:
Last night there was a crash in the 3/4 field
because a rider was
sprinting for 49th place into the back of slowing
riders. To assist in
this not happening again in the future we will only
pick the top 15. If
you wish to know your place and are not in the top
15, count.
Candi Murray
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