Racing Union

Archive for May, 2006

a few odds and ends, and a short post as time is somewhat limited. those who regularly imbibe from the font of knowledge and wisdom that is the racing union blog are undoubtedly aware that greenbelt has begun. an old tradition and a really fun race. i was reminded by both promoter and officials of my earliest attendance at this race in a t-shirt and hair net helmet. fun times. the racing is always a challenge, and no matter what the signage implies, it’s never a picnic

officials for week 1 were janet and stefan. friendly as always. thye kept things roughly on schedule and resist the tendency to read us the entire rule book on the start line before letting us go. for that alone, all racers should take a moment to say thank you.

in spite of what was said here, the situation was not all that bad. here we several happy cyclists in line.

races rolled out, with union boots ont he ground, and all seemed happy.

also of interest is a brand-spanking new electronic registraiton system.

having done some reporting on this in the past, i figured it would be worth a few moments of time to check in and see how this new thing works. the users were singularly occupied with the system and did not have time to give me a full tour, but it has the basics: run from a laptop, scanning is done with a usb bar code scanner and a network hub links a printer to the laptop.

scanning is quick. unlike eric’s system, it was not printing standard releases. it probably could. i am going to go out on a limb and make a guess about how this system is set up. i suspect that the system is bound tightly to a database, and the datbase is built from previous years of greenbelt attendance, as opposed to be being built off of the usac registration database. i think this probably has some advantages from the developer’s point of view. route 1 has one of the better web sites i have seen, and i’m not just talking about cycling web sites. i suspect they have designed their system around an easy dump of the data and an easy update of the web site. i have no information here, i am only speculating.

the main point though is that we now have multiple promoters who have, on their own initiaitive, ginned up electronic reg systems with bar code scanning and reporting capacity. i offer congratulations to both of them, and i think people should begin actively considering the merits and pitfalls of adopting some sort of system throughout the region. there are arguments against it, and some of them are exceedingly well reasoned. i have heard officials worry about additional materiel in the race kit (e.g. generators, laptops, printers, scanners), handling the materials under adverse weather conditions, and backup protocols under the worst case scenario. i have seen the systems fail, and the inevitable reversion by the promoters back to traditional paper processing. but as the systems were tested in the field, they seemed to do better. my guess is the landscape will look much different at the end of the season than it did before the season began.

shifting gears slightly, the velo club of baltimore is holding the inaugural hampstead cycling classic. this race is being hosted by a community that is behind the event. we have already seen some high profile races evaporate this year. the environment is not one of great expansion. i am hopeful that people will turn out to support a new event on the calendar and a community that is embracing you. don’t just go to the race. bring the family, buy some lunch, spend sometime, show some love. if you’re low on rubles, spend the $0.39 to send a letter to the mayor thanking him for allowing you to come and race. the flyer for this race on their website has only been posted in a proprietary format. while supporting the event, the union formally expresses it’s displeasure with the digital hegemon that vcb has embraced to communciate it’s critical event data. we offer a translation of the data into a publicly accessible format courtesy of an anonymous contributor. though not truly open source, this should be easier for those whose interests tend more towards open source:

hampstead_flier.pdf (494.34 KB)

critical note which should be obvious but won’t be unless i say it explicitly: this is not meant in any way to supercede their information. for definitive information on the hampstead event, we suggest you visit the vcb web page and the electronic registration page for the event.

I’m sort of up and around. I’ll try to post something later today about this weekend. in the meantime, consider this an open thread. go to the comments. introduce a topic. discuss amongst yourselves.

racing union communication: fd5437-hf6-86jfut

date of issue: 05/01/2005, day 132 of the revolution

begin communicaiton

the supreme council for the revolution in cycling and social order issues the red star for sacrifice towards the cause to comrades line and rottier. this is issued for their racing persistence in the face of injury. these citizens are demonstrating the principles of the union through their actions, and serve as worthy role models for all young pioneers who aspire to race. they are heroes of the union.

end communication

the “C” race went just under 12 miles, according to my computer. this means it was something like 8 laps. average speed was around 22mph. my impression of the course was that really the only place to make moves was in the one 90 degree trun at the bottom of that hill on the back side of the course. there was one rider who stayed at the front for most of the race, with the rest of us jockeying for 2nd-4th places behind him.i got into a break-away at about 3 laps to go with 2-3 other riders, 2 of whom seemed to be working together. We dropped one of these with a little more than 2 laps to go. it came down to three of us in the final sprint, and I just popped. thanks go out to comrade Roy for reeling me in at the begining of the race, when I was all over the front of the group and wasting lots of energy which probably would have come in handy in the final sprint. in retrospect i probably should have jumped a couple of times during the last 2 laps, just to test the other 2 riders with me. dropping one of them would have meant a second place finish, and if neither one went i could have pulled an attack. this comrade needs to learn some tactics to go along with his patriotic fervor and commitment to revolutionary principles!

-joe

there’s a common school of thought that people are not willing to share.

For those that aren’t part of the Wattage-Geek community, most power-trained athletes would rather lend you their own mothers for a few nights then let you see their WKO files, particularly those from a race with sustained and max efforts.

the union acknowledges the uphill struggle that awaits it. if people hoard data, how likely is it that they’ll share anything more substantial with others. the lessons of collectivism applies to all things. in that spirit, i offer the following:

sggreenbelt_5_3_2006.csv (79.02 KB)

for what it’s worth, i got smoked in this race mostly because i did not ride it very intelligently. there were one or two solid attacks in the first few laps. i got caught out several times behind groups of cyclists who were racing passively and could not get around them to follow attacks; ended up spending a lot of gas trying to get across. i might very well have done better by marking several specific cyclists but i don’t find that sort of racing fun so i tend not to do it. but that would have been better than what evolved: i ended up spending a lot of the race doing what i like least which is chasing. the lead to the break was steady for a while 15sec, 20sec, 23 sec, and then doubled over a single lap and it was all over. with about three to go, the people in the pack were just watching each other. that was sort of ridiculous since the race pays nothing and the top five positions were all up the road.

the chasing and bridging was hopefully good training for poolesville. we’ll find out shortly.

Today comrades Joe, Josh, Scott and I participated in the first race of this year’s Greenbelt series of training races. Our executariat raced with the A group and the rest of us with the C proles. There, Joe quickly established himself at the front and I hung on for a while until a split formed and I dropped off the back. As far as I could tell, the field was too thinned to form much of an organized chase (if we could even organize such a thing). Josh and I later found ourselves in a small group with a couple of other riders, but by then the leaders were well ahead. I thought the pace was a little slow and rode away for a lap, but couldn’t stay away on my own. Joe and two others lapped us just before the final lap. Although Josh and I pulled off, I somehow missed seeing the finish, but Joe reports that after his heroic efforts throughout the race he had to settle for third in the sprint. I’m confident he’ll be a real force in the remainder of the series.

We watched the A & B races from the sidelines. In the A race, a break formed quickly and gained a lot of time on the main group. Scott reports he barely missed getting in the break, and we could see him valiantly trying to organize a chase, which regretfully never really came together.

To the future, comrades!

end communication.

–roy

it seems like the national gestalt is that things are going to hell so you just do whatever you please. and this actually maps onto the behaviour and views of cyclists as exhibited during most group rides, commutes, training session, et. al. that I come into contact with. stop sign? so what. sprinting over the yellow line into oncoming traffic? de rigeur! riding ten abreast on small country roads with 20-30 cars lined up behind you honking? you betcha!

this is not a trend you can buck. rather, this is a wave, a veritable tsunami of lawlessness, that I would recommend that all good citizens ride with vigor. it may be a race to the bottom, but it will be fun, and good intentions won’t get you far as things deteriorate. I recommend that people act, forthwith, to assert their independence from authority. if this is the way the jackals want it, i say we give it to them.

please consider this blog post to function effectively as my signing statement. i hereby assert that the various state, local and federal entities have conspired to control transportation systems and that this control is inherently outside the scope of their legal authority. i assert that i retain the sole authority to determine limits on my cycling. the current system of traffic control which includes but is not limited to lane markings, stop signs, traffic lights, curbs, speed limits fundamentally infringes on my rights as a citizen. my interpretation of my rights of citizenship include the decision making authority regarding when, where and how i ride my bicycle. though i acknowledge that the laws have been passed by various local, state and federal legislatures, i do not accept their authority over me in this matter. i hold that i am the only source of limits regarding how and where i ride my bicycle.

i futher assert that the sanctioning body for cycling in the us has exceeded their authority to dictate details of how one may particiapte in activities. no sleeveless jerseys??!! how can it be the case that they can tell you whether your arms are covered with a spandex/poly blend. next they’ll be instituting a raglan cut with their usac logo prominently placed, and which derailleur to ride or tire to use. while acknowledging that these rules are in the rulebook, i follow the president’s noble lead in clarifying the jurisdiction i allow over my actions. in accepting my usac license, i offer a statement that i do not agree with the usac interpretation that they may set rules regarding helmets, field limits, clothing, penalties, event scoring, event permits, prizes, payouts, start of a race, or rider conduct. i believe that these rules are an infringement on my rights as a rider and racer and I emphatically reject them.

as a general summary, i assert sole authority to make rules regarding how and when my actions can be controlled. it seems to work for the current administration, so i’m hopeful it will work for me as well.

- – - posted by scott

the racing union re-asserts it’s position in the vanguard of the revolution in cycling.

while some are content to simply complain, we offer a series of proposals to help bring cycling into line with the values of it’s participants. we have no doubt the special interests (the predatory, capitalist cabal of promoters and the unanswering bureaucracy of our local association) will fight these proposals tooth and nail. we seek nothing less than a revolution in cycling, an inversion of the existing power pyramid and a return of authority to cyclists. we ask for the support of all of you towards these proposals, which we will advance at the annual meeting this fall. help us bring a new day to cycling in the mid-atlantic.

proposal #1: independent verification and auditing of all mabra race results

there has been considerable concern regarding the timeliness and/or accuracy of race results. literally thousands of promoter/official hours are sunk into resolving whether racer x or racer y is really the appropriate recipient of 39th place. given the absolutely critical importance of proper results data, the current levels of safeguards in place can hardly be deemed adequate. we offer a three pronged solution to the current procedures in place

* retention of a subcontractor as a finish results auditor.
* creation of a mabra board member position: race results ombudsman
* creation of a paid mabra position: media archivist

finish results auditor: we propose that mabra contract with one of the big five accounting firms. this firm would function as an external auditor to existing usac officials and their actions. they would be formally tasked with validating the procedures and results used to generate unofficial and official race results. they would function independently and would not answer to the mabra board, but rather to the racer ombudsman (described below). the firm would also be tasked with providing quarterly reports of it’s monitoring activities, and any resultant findings, to the racing community at large.

race results ombudsman: we propose that mabra create a full time, salaried board position to interface between officials, promoters and racers. the disposition of this official would be to represent racers and advocate on their behalf. the ombudsman would also be tasked with several additional functions. the writing of a bi-weekly summary of activity would help racers to better understand how the race scoring process works, and what is being done to ensure that results are timely, accurate and fair. full accounting of any arbitration activities would be described. a monthly summary would also be prepared in advance for each mabra bod meeting so that this issue can receive the attention is deserves.

media archivist: since all race finishes are currently captured on video, and in light of the staggering volume of race paperwork that mabra and the uscf see fit to employ, it defies reason that the video tape from each race is not captured, stored, labelled and made available on the mabra web site. this proposal seeks to create a full time, salaried archivist who will compile and catalog digital video of each race finish and produce and maintain a section of the mabra web site dedicated to the display of raw race finish footage. this added layer of transparency should work in tandem with the previously mentioned measures to add confidence to the race reports that are currently generated.

we find it important at this point to denote that this is not an attempt to denegrate the performance of mabra officials or the current mabra board of directors. rather, these added measures and safeguards should serve to free up these harried volunteers to actually perform their existing tasks. the newly created positions will bring an entire tier of dedicated staff to solving these crucial problems.

the costs for this proposal will undoubtedly be tremendous. but speaking rhetorically, is there any price that can be put on a true rendering of the achievement of each racer? is there any price that can be affixed to verifying that the outcome of a given event is rendered with fidelity? we believe the answer is no and humbly submit that this is not only a just but necessary change in mabra structure.
proposal #2: mandatory drug testing at all mabra sanctioned events
there have been multiple claims over the last several years that certain riders are using performance enhancing products. this is a damning charge. the most unfortunate aspect of this type of charge is that it is impossible to negate. there is no system in place to test for the presence of banned compounds at the local or regional levels of cycling. while we firmly believe that drug use is not a problem at the local level, we can never be certain. this uncertainty is what leads, in many cases, to speculation and, regrettably, character defamation.

given that there are clear rules regarding what cannot be taken (ref: www.usada.org) but virtually no enforcement, we propose that mabra adopt a demonstration program of testing. the testing will follow current usada procedures and use approved facilities, as opposed to introducing new protocols or standards. this is proposed as an increase in monitoring as opposed to a change in procedure.

after considerable discussion, we have two alternative proposals regarding whom the testing should be carried out on. the first simply states that the top three in each field will provide samples according to current usada guidelines. the samples would be collected by a uscf official who was on the race crew specifically to collect, inventory and manage these samples. transfer of the samples would be accomplished by the official under the oversight of the chief referee and in coordination with the labaratory which would be processing the samples. an alternative proposal, which would admittedly be substantially cheaper, would be to only test those racers in category 5 and juniors events. the rationale for this is that an active intervention with beginning cyclists will yield the most benefits in the long run, and deterrence and behaviour modification with experienced cyclists is not as likely to offer the same return on investment. our preference would be a more thorough testing regimen that covered all fields, but we acknowledge that the substantial costs that mabra will inevitably bear in conducting this important and necessary monitoring will cause people to look for ways to make the process easier.

we believe that supporting this initiative will help to instill confidence that races are being conducted on an even playing field.
proposal #3: promoters must offer child care both before and during master’s events

many cyclists are unable to participate in events because of family committments. the inability to find a babysitter, a last minute cancellation, a relative who suddenly takes sick; any one of these could be the cause of a race day no-show. we propose that promoters must retain the services of licensed, bonded babysitters who can look after children while racers are registering, warming up, racing and cooling down.

this proposal has two clear benefits. first, cyclists can race without worry about arrangements for care of their young ones. they need not worry about whether their plans will be shifting at the last minute. secondly, this will clearly help to make events more family friendly. some children dread the inevitable death march to and from the race. in place of current situation which ranges from abandonment to forced child labor in feed zones, we will see constructive games and educational diversions. for younger kids, multimedia programs concerning alternative transportation can be made available. for older kids, learning how to score a race or replace a bottom bracket might offer a step up in moving on the next level of becoming a helpful uscf official or mechanic.

we ask for your support in this proposal which we see as a win-win situation for kids and parents.

proposal #4: creation of a casual dress code for all cyclists while at at mabra events

mabra has, over the last several years, sought sponsorship for both races and ranking systems such as the bar. in seeking this sponsorship, mabra has sought to assure potential sponsors that the racing demographic overlaps with their intended customer base. the racing union strongly disavows the contention that sponsorship is beneficial to amateur sports. our manifesto lays out a very clear case for this. however, we support the goal of improving races and racing throughout the mid-atlantic. to that end, and given that mabra is insistent on pursuing sponsorship, we feel that mabra can, and should, do considerably more to help ensure that the race day environment is appealing to potential sponsors.

in looking for actions which can be taken, one need not re-invent the wheel. other sports have confronted these issues and have come up with well thought out solutions which we can implement immediately. the best example of this is the recent decision by the national basketball association to institute a casual dress policy for all athletes who are at an event, in any capacity, but not explicitly suited to take the court. the dress code itself is described here and examples of it’s newsworthiness are found here and here.

many cyclists attend events in a number of capacities. they may be in the feed zone, waiting to help their teammates with nutrition or hydration. they may be spectators, who were shut out of electronic registration but want to see their peers lock horns on the gridiron. or they may be racing three races that day and find themselves killing the 4 hours between the end of their last event and the start of their next event.

in all of these cases, having the cyclists adopt a business casual dress code would ensure a professional looking atmosphere for the event. the popular image of cyclists as goatee-sporting, mountain dew swilling, pierced and tattoo having gen x-ers is not bringing in one red cent. only by showing that mabra is truly committed to presenting cycling as a mature, urbane, socially representative sport, can we possibly move ahead in acquiring the millions of sponsorship dollars needed to advance the sport locally.

there is a precedent for this proposal. uscf officials are adamant and vocal in mandating that any and all cyclists at a race who are on a bike must have a helmet. this is regardless of whether they are currently racing, racing at another time, or not racing at all during the day but merely spectating. our proposal is entirely in keeping with the spirit of this rule; it’s only the item(s) or garment(s) in question that are being regulated.

summary: the racing union seeks your support in adopting these proposals, and some subsequent proposals we will roll out shortly. we will, to a limited extent, consider feedback, potential modifications or amendments. however, we feel the proposals are very well reasoned and articulated. those cyclists considering major modifications should submit alternative proposals as per the guidelines provided by the mabra secretariat in advance of the meeting.