Shane Young
Darren, I understand your pain. :) I being one of those big guys,
okay, small (220) for a big guy, know what you mean. But I look at it a
bit differently. Clydesdale is a step up from Beginner and a step below
Sport. How is it below Sport? Well you are racing guys that are not 50
to 100 pounds lighter than you, so supposedly a bit slow of a pace. If
you are winning Clydesdale you should be in Sport. It is a compromise
that the racing organization has made.
It is easier to make another class, like age, bike style, and or weight,
but harder to make a different length in course. Usually this means
another route or a shortcut. This means two things, one there needs to
be more volunteers and there is often confusion and people get upset
because they got disqualified for taking the wrong route.
There is a growing amount of people that like racing faster but shorter
courses. They may have the speed but not the endurance. NORBA's
solution to this is STXC (Short Track Cross Country). This is much like
CylcoCross without all the getting off and on. Last year, PIR had a
STXC series, not sure how successful the promoters thought it was, but I
raced one and thought it was fun. I think it would be nice to have a
small STXC series in the state, much like the Cyclocross series.
Well that is just my 2 cents worth, or my vote.
Shane
-----Original Message-----
From: Darren Smith [mailto:drds-@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 12:48 AM
To: ob-@topica.com
Subject: [OBRA Chat] big guys unite
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Subject: Clydesdale MTB racing (OK, with a little whining but bear with
me).
A couple of years ago I emailed OBRA about changing the mileage that we
larger riders have to race and since then I have not really raced
mountain
bikes so I havent pushed the issue. Im ready to give another go at
lobbying
to change the distance to the shorter one. Lets face it, us larger
fellows
are built for short distances. Even if there was a keg at the finish
line,
I think that some of us might even be too tired to have a drink. Trying
to
compete on a 25 mile course vs a 15 or 10 mile course is like night and
day
especially with the skinny guys yelling at us on the single track (its
lucky
you little guys are fast, its not nice to pick on the big guys you
know).
Hell, the last time I did Picketts I came in dead last, thought I was
going
to die at the end. I have numerous excuses, but in the long run, the
distance is what killed me (OK, it was the sand, the hills, the hills,
and
did I mention the hills?). If I wanted to race the sport distance, I
should
just enter the sport catagory right? If there is going to be a
Clydesdale
catagory, make it for clydesdale size guys. Im 250lb, physics has made
it
so that anything longer than 15 miles is no fun. I think there would be
more interest in the Clydesdale class if the flyer said we are doing the
shorter or middle distance. The Spring Thaw flyer prompted this email.
The pro's, sports, single speeds, and Clydesdales are doing 25 miles. I
can
see that the larger kids are going to plug up that glorious three miles
of
single track and the little guys are going to be angry again. We are a
sensitive group and we dont like "track right/left" etc to be yelled at
us.
So, in closing, if there is support for this, Im sure we can get some of
the
promoters to decrease the distance and make it a more enjoyable event
for
our large bodies.
Darren A. Smith, DC, CCSP
Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician
11385 SW Scholls Ferry Road
Beaverton, OR 97008
(503)524-9040 office
(503)351-9653 cell
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