I understand this is Cat 5 stuff. But many of you folks are missing
the point. Racing, in any venue, requires first that you accept the
venue... warts and all. It's idiocy to claim that PIR, and most any
road course can be ridden the same. They're different. They require
different approaches and different tactics and to some extent,
different skills. The point is, develop the skills while you're a Cat
5... practice them diligently at whatever level you attain. Believe
me, when a coach takes his paid pro team out to train, they don't just
go out to ride miles. They do drills that hone skills that they
learned as juniors, practiced as espoires, and continue to learn.
And, by the way, skill development and excess testosterone do not go
well together... so forget about the roller derby stuff.
Ask yourself these: Is my pedaling as smooth in a sprint as it is
cruising in the pack? Can I ride on the left edge of the fog line and
sprint without loosing that line? Can I displace my bike to the side
or back enough to avoid being taken down by another rider? Enough to
avoid a pot hole in my path? Can I take a hit on my shoulder without
going down? And then the skill question pertinent to the "four rider
blockade... can I move smoothly through a handlebar wide gap between
two riders? These are racing skills. Every cycling coach will start
his or her riders out with the simple ones (touch shoulders, touch
wheels) on training rides with his juniors and beginning racers. The
skills grow with experience and with practice.
This isn't stupid risk taking, it's racing. The risk was in getting
on the bike in the first place. And, by the way, mountain bike racers
and crossers (and trackies) are among the most skilled riders, not the
most risk averse.
Now... let's talk about something else.
Jerry
On Apr 1, 2008, at 10:34 AM, jboquiren@comcast.net wrote:
> Try some tactics some people use in shorttrack speedskating. Don
> your Kevlar skinsuits first though :)
>
> Joseph Boquiren
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: "Don Hanson"
>
> > I wasn't there at Piece of Cake but I heard about it from another
> older
> > master's racer who was there, racing in the 4-5s. Maybe there
> could be a
> > few more events with separate classes for us old racers. I only
> recall one
> > last year, the State RR, where there was a separate start for us.
> Start us
> > a minute behind another class and leave out the wheel cars, if you
> must.
> > That would cut down on the congestion during the sprints.
> > I was in a race with a bunch from Team Zoka last season. They were
> 4 wide
> > and very vocal. They were spending more time looking over their
> shoulders
> > than watching ahead. With about a mile to go, they had the pace
> held at
> > about 20mph. Was it worth risking an attempt to bust through their
> & gt; blockade? With about 40 other riders, those held in the rear,
> depending on
> > the 'contact riding skills' of whichever rider was 'rammed, slammed,
> > elbowed, kicked, pushed, whaterver'...in order to get past their
> rolling
> > road block?--that kinda makes the racing a bit 'sketchy'. Not
> worth taking
> > out the whole pack with a big crash. Tactics like NASCAR or that old
> > Roller Derby. TV sport?.. A slug-fest on bikes?..hmmm..
> > Don Hanson