Ron Frerichs
I realize volunteer time is in short supply as it is; but the idea that all
races should staff a well defined area, away from the finish line, that is
open for riders to report their finish position, register protests, etc., is
a good one.
I've never promoted a race, so I'll leave the details to the experts. But
it seems we're losing riders and officials because of a broken process.
Let's fix it.
From: Geri Bossen <GeriB-@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: GeriB-@hotmail.com
To: bra-@cognisurf.com, ob-@topica.com
Subject: [OBRA Chat] Re:POC
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2003 21:29:39 -0800
Nancy had a challenge at the race. We did not have the proper equipment to
tape the finishes, no power or battery for the camera. Nancy and I scrambled
and got my personal video camera setup for her to use.
We asked everyone who felt they were in the top 15 to come and give us their
name and number--I even took down their description to make identifying them
easier. This was to help us figure out the results on my small screen on
battery power. Luckily someone from Eugene rushed the other OBRA camera to
us and we were able to get it set up for the second set of races.
It is often helpful to let the official know if you were in the top 15.
Maybe we need someone there just to take that information so Nancy does not
have to. At POC that fell to me because I was there instead of out with
another field. I had traded with the other Jerry because of the camera
situation. I must have gone to the rest room because I missed most of your
bell ringing and the comments you heard.
It is tough being an official. After 2 years I still cannot believe how good
Nancy and Candi are at getting the results. Nancy does a great job-- she
keeps all of the equipment organized and does an awesome job of doing really
fast accurate results.
You-all need to watch a finish video to figure out why pinning your number
on correctly is so important. PIN IT ON YOUR SIDE--- FACING THE CAMERA NOT
UP ON YOUR BACK. THE BOTTOM RIGHT PIN NEEDS TO GO IN YOUR ARMPIT (on the
right side) THEN YOU NEED TO PIN THE REST FROM THERE. THE CAMERA CANNOT
READ YOUR BACK. THE OFFICIALS IN THE CARS NEED TO BE ABLE TO READ THE OTHER
NUMBER ON YOUR BACK. WE ACTUALLY KEEP TRACK OF WERE ALL THE RIDERS ARE
THROUGHOUT THE RACE. THIS INFORMATION ALSO HELPS US TO FIGURE OUT THE
FINISH.
Geri Bossen
----- Original Message -----
From: Brad Cockman, DC
To: ob-@topica.com
Sent: Wednesday, 02 April, 2003 12:35 PM
Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] [OBRA CHAT] Centerline & Masters Racing
I'm still counting my blessings that I decided on the 3's race versus
the Master's, now for more than a couple of reasons.
I was at the finish line ringing the bell helping out poor Nancy a
little, all alone in the OBRA truck trying to do 12 jobs at once. As
she's looking at video trying to pick placings from the various races
that were finishing she was under an Iraqui bombardment from racers
bitching to her for one reason or another or trying to find out where
they had finished RIGHT after they had crossed the finish line. Nancy
somehow maintained her composure when she had every right to tell these
people to go straight to hell. The BBQ potato chips must have had some
kind of sedative added to them.
Damn people, leave the poor OBRA volunteers alone. If you have a
legitimate complaint find the chief referee. Flying off the handle like
a couple of the Master's did after the crash is pretty embarassing and
just plain old not nice when you're talking to the wrong person to begin
with. If sh*t like this keeps up we'll soon be showing up at races and
wondering where all the yellow shirts went.
On another note, the layout of POC doesn't really lend itself to safe
riding conditions. Flat course which keeps packs together, super narrow
roads with little or no shoulder (and dead vermin) and big fields is a
prescription for disaster in my book. Any better roads in that neck of
the woods?
Ron Magnus wrote:
>
>
> Hello all,
>
> How ironic; for the past two weeks there has been such a plethora of
> noise about centerline violations and the reasons one way or the other
> they occurred. For the record, I was made aware of the original cause
> of this thread back on the morning of March 17. I was conducting a
> class in the Los Angeles area. One of the students was a Pro racer who
> had been at the race in Arizona and gave me some of the details such as
> they were first hand. The following day and onwards OBRA chat erupted
> with so many comments mostly constructive that I felt pretty good about
> the way people viewed this important matter especially since some of
the
> long time racers/riders could recall a similar situation with the same
> results that occurred in Washington County a good number of years ago.
>
> Fast forward to last weekend's Piece of Cake Masters event. Two age
> graded categories in one field consisting of 54 riders take to the
road.
> Not unusual compared to some of the other larger fields of the day on
> the same venue. Since this event went the way of many Masters events
> where there is little "real racing" the field size stayed pretty much
> the same until the start of the final lap. Now some individuals are
> getting anxious, about 4k from the finish line two individuals cross
the
> centerline in a left turn on one of the narrow streets (makes no
> difference if it's a significant crossing or not), there is a lot of
> loud comments from the field, the two riders move quickly back into the
> pack, so quickly that it causes a rider to loose control right away and
> then send another rider to the pavement incurring head, shoulder and
> chest injuries. Let's now move forward to the 400 meter region from
the
> finish. Our pack of Masters has pretty much regrouped and is chomping
> at the bit for the final sprint, once again some riders are observed
> moving left across the centerline incurring the attention of the pack.
> Almost at the same time two riders on the right side of the pack start
> to sprint and knock into each other, they go down, one rider suffers a
> significant facial injury cutting an artery.
>
> Today we see on OBRA CHAT that the Masters field has further
> "distinguished" themselves with obscene language that can easily be
> heard by corner marshals and bystanders young and old.........ARE YOU
> HAVING FUN?????
>
> Folks this is supposed to be a fun hobby.....it sure doesn't appear
that
> way these days, such a not so nice example to be presenting to others.
>
> I suppose you can chastise me as much as you want for making these
> comments as I normally sit back and just read. Keep in mind that the
> comments noted above are observations noted by many, so be careful on
> your responses lest you put your foot farther in your mouth.
>
> Ron Magnus; Portland, OR
> 503-244-4866
>
>
>
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