the weekday training diary continues with what has to be the big dog of mid-day training in the dc area: hains point.  the park is named to honour peter conover hains, a military engineer who was an engineer of the eponymous point and the physiography of a number of other dc features you probably assumed had always been that way.  it's commonly used for all manner of recreation as it's centrally located, accessible and scenic.  hains point even rates a wikipedia entry. 

it's not uncommon to see riders there throughout the day, but the 12:00 ride is the most entertaining.  the ride generally leaves relatively close to the start time with the riders doing a single 5k parade loop to warm up.

there's often a fair amount of chatter and jokes during the first one or two laps which makes the ride a lot of fun.

because it's also so long and straight and flat, a lot of people favor it for solo training.  for time trialing or longer lactate threshold workouts, it's a great place to work.  the loop has two lanes and generally, the cars take one lane and the cyclists take the other.  in bad cross winds, the road is wide enough to ride a true echelon and being put in the gutter there when the wind is coming hard off the river can be absolutely miserable.  Still, it's wide open and scenic and a great place to get a workout in.

be warned, after the first lap or so, the ride pace gets hot.  the ride generally strings out with lots of attacking and little groups forming to chase and bridge.  there are people who say that hains point is like a 365 day circuit race series.  and they are right in a lot of respects.  if you want to go hard, there's someone there who will go hard.  if you want to sprint, there's someone there who will sprint.  if you want to spin and tell jokes, there's are always people to do that with.  it's a really phenomenal resource, especially given it's location right in the middle of the city.

be aware of two things.  the first is that springtime flooding can be an issue.  the second is that durign the cherry blossom time, many people will avoid hains point at all costs.  the number of cars driving two abreast at ten miles an hour is crazy and the cyclists response is no better.  try the ride, i think you'll like it.  introduce yourself and i'm sure you'll make friends.

-sg

i'll be honest, i'm always looking for an advantage.  not pushing the boundries of fairness, mind you, just trying to eek out any extra bit of performance; physically, or tactically.  training races have come and gone and the real season is about to get underway.  it's go time and we've got to train the body and the mind.  these bike races aren't going to win themselves... 

i heard that there was some sort of big time meeting of bike racing officials.  now these are the guys that determine who finishes where in a bike race.  can't hurt to try to figure out what they are thinking, can it?  typical genius in my part.  get in the mix, figure out what's going on, collect a little covert intel, and be out of there.  nice.  always thinking, that's me. 

but how do slip in unnoticed?  we don't interface with officials much.  i would need a diguise.  something so that they would not recognize me, but i'd fit right it.  my first attempt at undercoverness was smooth and subtle, and I figured I'd mix in with that whole official's crowd effortlessly.

my wife and son disagreed, with some less-than-tactful remarks about my appearance.  they were fairly emphatic in their insistence that i would not blend in.  not blending in?  no problem.  how about something secret-agentish.  those guys are famous for blending in.  i was worried that a sean connery / austin powers look would have way too much mojo so i went with the next best thing. 

again, i was told that the image was all wrong.  still drawing too much attention to yourself.  still pretty easy to spot.  still sticking out.  there was only one option left.  ninja. 

ben was fairly insistent that though this would allow me to creep unseen into the meeting, hide and shadows, etc, it was far too lethal for a meeting of bike racing officials.  so i finally turned it over to them.  and man did they get it right.  flawless.  check it son...

a) the ray ban aviators, mandatory and soooo fly.

b) blue oxford with officials patch

c) notebook for logging racing numbers

d) pocket recorder to record numbers and thoughts about lunch

e) timer

so after all this, you're probably looking for some payoff.  regrettably, i came up with nada.  the whole thing was yellow line this and rule 2.a.4 that.  pit officials need to do the following: yadda yadda yadda.  and all this endless talk about looking out for the safety of bike racers.  it's as thought they think the endless string of comical, reckless, and boneheaded things we do are our own fault.  whatever.

- sg

Mario Cipollini said "I want to start a team that has a particular identity, easily identifiable with a jersey that will stay the same over the years, independent of sponsors." I think he's been reading the manifesto. Thanks for the support Mario!

-Michael

the inaugural quicksilver winter solstice series has come and gone.  there were some high points and some low points, but my general impression was that almost everyone who came had a good time.  i hope that people take the time to give a little thanks to eric marshall for his idea and his organization.  he came up with a slew of pretty innovative ideas: electronic registration with barcode scanning, drive through registraiton, heated community tent with amenities, and pulling together a consortium of clubs to help spread out the workload.  with the exception of barcode scanning, none of these ideas are new but the collective impact certainly made for a nice environment at a training race.  the fees were kept low.  juniors raced for free, and were not even charged the USCF and local organization fees which the promoter subsidized.  as a result, junior attendance was prety healthy and overall attendance was solid as well, building each week.

i can't say much about what was going on during the last week as I needed to drive the pace car for all three races.  it was sort of fun, a different perspective on the event.  it was nice as each race was won from a breakaway so there was some work to do, mostly corraling stray cars off the course.  just to give you a feel for what it's like, here's what most of my day looked like.

exciting, eh?  you want more?  you got it.  the winning break in the A race on the last lap. 

look carefully, there are at least two riders trying valiantly to get across.  the closest one is an artemis rider and i wish i knew who it was because i'd like to show that rider some love.  the break here is absolutely flying and the lone rider was making up time on them.  incredible.  maybe eric engle?  even in the full size photo it's impossible to tell.  so that's my day.

other than that, registration ran pretty smoothly.  eric marshall's new system is just so spiffy. 

I have some videos of the system working.  it's about 15 seconds from scanning of the license to a wet-ink signature on a fully populated standard release.  that's fast.  it's about an equal amount of time for money changing and handing a number and yet again telling the rider the number goes on the right side.  if you all have questions, concerns or comments, you can reach eric here.

and speaking of spiffy, the signed copy of training and racing with a power meter from the hunter allen of the peaks coaching group and cycling peaks software went to Jared Neiters from Warrenton Cycling.  thanks to hunter for providing this nice prize.  and good luck to jared on a productive season.

when the intial plan for the race came out, eric said he would institute a drive through registration system.  agitators and player haters postured, saying that the nexus of cars and bicycle sin northern virgina was already a sufficiently spicy stew without adding this to the mix.  we disagreed and ran with the plan.  but racing union is all about democracy.  we set up an official protest area where those who felt obligated ot act ont heir convictions could use prominent space to make their point.  it was cordoned off for the safety of the protestors by several cones and a knee high length of mabra cyclocross tape. 

and because we just knew the prostestors would have ridden their bikes out, we felt obligated to make it easy for them by providing paperboard (unbleached, and partially recycled, but not made from natural hemp fibers) and non-toxic pens.

alas, the state you see this site in is the state it remained in.  unoccupied.  "build it and they will come" is how the saying goes.  but the saying is wrong.  they did not come.  one might assume that this meant that everyone was cool with what we were doing.  au contraire, mon ami.  there was apparently a mix up in some junior results which generated a disappointing email exchange.

original message:

From: somewhat.understandably.disgruntled.parent@emailinghost.com

Date: March 6, 2006 10:26:38 PM EST

To: race.promoter@promoting.club's.website

Subject: RE: Fw: VACycling: yesterday's Quicksilver results

Dear Mr. Marshall, Your e-mail requests that corrections and changes be sent to you. My son and another junior placed first and second in the race on 3/4/06; but there was a mix-up, perhaps no one was paying enough attention to notice they were juniors and not with the group in front of them. In your reply, you state you cannot do anything about this. What kind of mistakes can you fix? All the racers I know would rather have accurate race results then ghiradelli chocolates and a heated tent. I cannot believe that no one can correct the posted results. These are two juniors that want to keep moving up in racing. My son (name withheld) rode with his teammate, (name withheld) to the race on Saturday, and they needed to leave before the results were posted. I realize this was a training race, but if any results are to be posted, the sponsors, like everyone, should care that they are correct.

eric's response:

now i need to be really clear here: these are my opinions and my opinions alone.  nothing i say, at all, at any time, should be construed to be speaking for the series, the promoter, or any of the clubs involved in promoting the series.  that said, this is a regrettable occurence.  i am tempted to chafe at the anger of the parent.  a big part of what the racing union is all about is keeping a perspective on these things.  the promoter offered you a free race and even subsidized your child by paying the mandatory fees and you are snubbing the race over something that they have no control over.  i also understand the frustration expressed in the email.  when someone works hard for a good result, it's really a shock to have it pulled away and attributed to someone else.  the specific point i want to address is the misplaced anger in the email.  don't be mad at the race or the promoter or the venue.  this was an unfortunate event, and it happens all the time because things go wrong or there is confusion or fate conspires against you.

but first, let's understand the process.  it is the job of the officials that are assigned by usa cycling, the national federation that provides the structure under which most races are run, to administer and adjudicate the results of the race.  the rules of racing and the various officials manuals that provide guidance on administering events are here.  if you show up at a race and you don't know the rules, you don't have a leg to stand on.  the officials post results as soon as possible after each event.  at that point, there is a 15 minute protest period.  if a rider believes that there is an error in the preliminary results, they should speak up during this time.  if the results are changed, a new 15 minute protest period is initiated.  if a protest period expires, the results are generally deemed final.  however, to address the specific point made by somewhat understandably disgruntled parent above, if there are known errors in the results, they should be rectified.  in particular, see the yellow sidebar on page 28 here for more information.  the best thing for everyone is to know how the system works and to treat it with whatever seriousness you feel it deserves. 

what bugs me is the anger that gets redirected towards the promoter, race and venue.  if you are angry enough to boycott an event, it would certainly have been worth it to stick around for the 15 minute protest period.  i have had a considerable number of experiences as a promoter with other races in which riders spent hours contacting other racers and trying to produce testimonials that the event actually unfolded in a way that is different than the results say they did.  no problem, but think about it.  hours of frustration and avoiding races and venues when you could have just stuck around for the results and the protest period.  racers who show up to a venue 2-3 hours early to chew the fat, apply the proper embrocation, locate their teammates, set up the trainer, tune the bike, and prepare their sports nutrition supplements somehow can't stick around after the race to make sure their carefully prepared and hard-won efforts have been recognized?

my personal opinion is that these conflicts stem from an unrealistic assessment of how bike racing works: it's not always perfect or safe or fair.  as i mentioned above, mistakes happen from time to time.  bicycle racers are not perfect, officials are not perfect.  mistakes get made.  technology fails.  oversights are....inevitable.  there is no justice.  if the world was just, there would be no need for the revolution that the racing union is propogating.  remember that cycling is a hobby.  you can be passionate about it, but at the end of the day, it's just a really fun way to spend some time and some money.

- - - posted by scott

for a lot of racers and riders, it's difficult to balance a love of getting out on the bike, or a need to train, with the constant obligations of family, work, education and/or other hobbies and interests.  starting with this post, we'll do a little name checking for some of my favorite ways to squeeze a chunk of training into what seems like an ever diminishing window of time.  i'll throw out some stuff about commuting, weekday training rides that take place during early morning, lunch and after work, and the full on race simulation smackdowns you find at places like hains point.

weekday training rides represent a really good opportunity to squeeze in some good riding or training.  some people choose to do these rides just to get some time outside or some time out of the office.  some people enjoy the camraderie; catching up with friends you have not seen for a while, joking and telling stories and talking smack.  some people enjoy commuting to avoid the hassle of cars and transit.  and some people ride the wheels off their bikes, making up for the short duration with crushing intensity.  all of these are great fun and good reasons to get out.  I'll try to cover each of these and show some of the diversity in the way people choose to ride and train during the week with limited time.  but the first name check goes to my favorite current training ride: pete's hill ride.

our host,flying the stars and bars:

pete's hill ride goes through the hills of arlington just west of key bridge.  if you have never ridden through there, you are in for a surprise.  though a lot of northern virginia is flat to rolling, arlington has these unending rollers, some of which are quite steep.  it's almost as if some crazed glacier from the last ice age 10,000 years ago went a little extra nutty as it receded along the west bank of the potomac.

here are some stats on the ride courtesy of doctor timothy barry:

my favorite part of the ride is the climb up powahatan.  it's not a terrifically difficult climb but the false flat that leads into it saps your momentum and the hill just keeps getting progressively steeper.  the ride tends to string out there, and people stop talking and ride hard.

but in the end, guys are always really friendly.  below, eli and simon smile and chat while the rest of us stare at the rear hub on the bikes in front of us.

and for those that get down with data, below is a link to the power tap file from the 3/7 ride.  the ride data includes my spinning from my office to the site where we leave.  you'll recognize the ride start as the wattage goes up.  since i am chronically late, i had to chase for a good ten minutes so the start seems more difficult than it actually is.

USER_DEFAULT_3_7_2006.zip (34.24 KB)

- - - posted by scott

Sim Green used to live and race in the US, but now lives and races in southern France. Read more about Sim here.

Finally I get some time to write another diary.  Well... more like I finally get my ass in gear to do some typing.  Since my last update the team has kicked off the season with some pretty good races.  I start my season next weekend along with a couple of the other guys. 

John Parks has arrived and has been racing already.  Last weekend was the Grand Prix D'Ouverture de Montastruc with a good field, including some Pro teams such as Aubervillier 93 (previously BigMat) and even a surprise showing from across the pond in the form of Navigators rider Oleg Griechkine.  (ed - picture below: i can never remember if it's oleg or vasilly who's the russian concussion...)

 
I have just got back from a week at the team house.  I went up there with JP to get him settled into his new home.  (editor's note, i have asked sim to write a longish diary entry on the team house where jp is living.  i will try to get input form both sim and jp and a bunch of pictures so you all can see a concrete example of how different the system is over there  - sg)

The house is pretty basic, but there's everything you need there.  JP is having a little bit of trouble adapting to life in France.  The team has been very nice and friendly to him, our DS speaks English and I have been putting him up at my place to insure a smoother transition into the life of racing in France, but just because his situation might be easier than for most Americans who come to race in France, that doesn't make it any easier.  With a little time I'm sure he'll settle in and be fine. 

I have been plagued with some back and knee issues during the last 2 weeks.  I had a week off school and was planning to get in a lot of good training, but sadly I wasn't able to get what I had hoped for.  That said, I still got in 3 hours with the team Wednesday, 3 hours Thursday, an easier ride Friday and a 4 hour ride Saturday.  I felt like crap throughout each and every ride, but I still got in the miles, so that's good.
 
I did want to mention something that might amuse readers in the US.  The team has a mini-bus.  Although I had seen it before I really hadn't paid much attention to it, and it was only the other day as it was parked in front of the team house kitchen window that I noticed there is a big picture of the riders on the side of it, with the every rider's name listed below.  Kind of like on the side of the T-Mobile truck, only... not!  Even as a "mortal on a bike" it's easy to start thinking of yourself as a star when you see that.  Then you go for a ride and you remember quite quickly that you are in fact a mere mortal. 
 
Today some of the team went to south eastern France for an Espoir race, another bunch of riders left early for Brittany in Northern France for a round of the French National Cup (Coupe de France de DN2), and the rest of team is pretty much sitting on their asses (or training) waiting for their season to kick off.  I am in the latter category, where as John Parks is in Brittany... it is snowing up there!  Ha ha, I'm happy I'm aiming for fitness later in the year! 

I've just been reading some of the questions and Answers on the Racing Union website.  The question about capitalization brought about an impressive reply from Scott Gibbons... nice one Scotty, talk about bullshitting your way out of admitting to laziness.
 
My first race of the season is a small National race called Castre.  My next race is the boucle du Vaurais, which is a race Scott did over here last year.  They have changed the format for this year: it used to be a 1 day, 2 stage stage race, and it is now a 1 day race.  My first few races are between 100 and 130km, so it'll be good for me to start with some reasonably short/standard distances.
 
Tomorrow is also the Start of the Giro Del Capo where my buddy Darren (wearer of the Mountain jersey in Langkawi) will be racing.  Sadly he isn't team leader, but I'm looking forward to the race anyway.  Right now, I'd better be off to do some school work and take care of my knee.  I hope you are all staying safe an away from the Bird Flu.

Thanks for reading
Sim
PS: I just got a call from JP, he's up in Brittany and has forgotten his license at the team house.  Woops!
jetlagsports@wanadoo.fr

JP and ex-Credit Agricole rider Mathieu Lamothe

Swedish Aubervillier pro (ex Big Mat) John Nilson

This past Saturday was the last of the Quicksilver Winter Solstice Series training races, and I’ve learned, frankly, that I need more race training. I've noted in my own progress that I’m not thinking about how to finish a race any more, rather I’m thinking about how to finish first. This is a pretty big step for me as any who’ve followed my change from couch potato to bicycle racer can attest.

It was pretty windy for the ten-lap “D” race. After the first lap two guys in front took off. I was very close to the front and could have gone (or at least tried to go) with them. I distinctly chose not to and that turned out to be the big losing moment for me. At the time I figured they would come back pretty quick with the wind. I was wrong. The eventual winner rode solo for more then eight laps and was never in danger of getting caught, and second place just survived the closing group. I ended out of position coming up the hill in the last lap, so did not contest the sprint for third.

I came away with two main thoughts from the series: if you are not willing to be aggressive and risk losing, you are not going to win; and mistakes will be punished, especially in short races like this.

-michael

racing union has received a veritable cornucopia, a horn of plenty if you will, of interesting missives from our dear readers.  many of the questions seem to center on the same topics, over and over, endlessly repeating the same motif, tediously redundant.  you gte the idea.  we address them, here, today.  let's get started.

q. what's up with your club?  what are you guys trying to accomplish?

a. we're trying something new.  the details are here.  the simplest analogy describing what this will lead to can be found here.  change is what we are all about, and change can be hard.  the more you resist, the harder it will be.  resistance is futile, you will be assimilated.

q. i checked out my horoscope this morning.  it says: "the road is long for those who choose to take the long road.  and it's short for those who recognize the short cuts.  all things being equal, why not get there faster?"  does this mean i shoudl dope myself to the gills to become a better cyclist?

a. no.  let's take this in stages.  the horoscope in question is from the print edition of the march, 3 2006 washington post, style section, c11, leo.  i can't link to it as a resource because apparently, the print edition of the post contains different horoscopes than the express which is different again from the washington post online.  since the different versions of the post cannot seem to agree on how the stars should guide our actions, i would tend to conclude that it may be difficult to discern their astrological wisdom.  as such, i must urge caution in making their will central to your race preparation and planning.  on a totally different different note, if you're looking at drugs as a way to get strong enough to beat up on people at industrial park crits, your problems are waaaayyy more profound than we can address here.  oh, and by the way, i forwarded your name and address to usada and the usoc ombudsman.  best of luck.

q. what are you guys, commies?

a. this charming query came in shortly after we launched the site.  thankfully, mail like this has essentially tapered off to zero.  it is worth noting that it's difficult to assert with absolute certainty that the racing union is definitively one thing or another thing.  it is what the members want it to be.  if we want to race bikes, we're a bike racing club.  if we want to work for charity, we're a charitable organization.  if we want to sell all of our stuff and buy a boat and put on eye patches and forcibly board other boats to steal their booty while screamming "yaaaaarrrggghhh, prepare to be boarded", we're pirates.  people tend to want to categorize things.  that, in and of itself, is not bad or weak.  however, one must be careful not to categorize, simply to have something fit into narrow and predefined ideas about how the world operates.  that, is weak.

q. oh my god, your new uniforms are slammin'.

a.  yes, yes they are.  hincapie has done a very nice job.  they always do.  but we keep it real too.  you're not going to overthrow the current regime and orthodoxy and thought patterns if you look like crap.  i would have thought that one look at our exceedingly smooth educational materials would tell you that we understand the dynamics of getting the point across to people.  resistance is futile, you will be assimilated.

q. how come you never capitalize anything in your posts?

a. making arbitrary distinctions between letters based only on their placement within a sentence structure is a clear sign of a mindset that is inclined towards classist distinctions.  really, it's only a hop, skip and a jump from capitalizing sentences to being an indentured servant on some duke's grand estate.  once you reach the point where you need (need??!!) to elevate some letters over others, you've lost the battle and the war.  talk about punked...

one day, you're writing out a letter to a friend, mindlessly allowing the first letter of each sentence to dominate the others in size and the next, well, your probably on your knees in some terrible agricultural backwater, pulling weeds from sun up to sun down for the right to occupy a hovel with the other workers on some landed gentry's estate.  liberate your mind, and your ass will follow.  the fact that i need to write these words indicates the truly sisyphean nature of our task. 

we gratefully accept it.  it is so rarely the case that something that needs doing is simple and fun.  challenges are hard, and it's that particular quality that makes it rewarding.  bike racers, of all people, should be able to appreciate this.  if it was easy, everyone would have it or could do it, no?  that's why they call it racing and not winning.  got more questions?  well that's great, because we have lots of answers.  put your queries in the comments and we'll get you what you need.

- - - posted by scott

a very quick post to strongly encourage people to consider attending the race skills clinic that eli, sonoma the m street racing team have put together.  the schedule will cover a variety of useful topics.  Both the speaker and the people on the panel are very experienced and almost guaranteed to tell good stories. 

cycling is an unsual sport that has a long history.  as a result, there are endless stories of highly unorthodox approaches to racing and training.  so much of this is passed along as a kind of "conventional wisdom", absorbed uncritically and subsequently passed on to others.  stories like this are no substitute for a thorough understanding of the techniques for bicycle racing.

i was chatting with pete lindeman a few days ago down at hains point and he made a very insightful remark about someone who was riding with us: "he knows how to ride real fast but he doesn't know how to race his bike".  we all spend a considerable amount of time training our bodies and neglect some of the most important aspects of bicycle racing: psychology, proper tactics, anticipating events, watchign other riders, and maximizing the utility of one's existing skills. 

this clinic represents a remarkable opportunity to listen to racers and coaches pass along actual experience.  there are probably not many riders in the mid-atlantic who could not afford to miss a sunday ride, and who would not benefit from listening to the speaker and panel, asking quesitons and pondering some of the issues that will be discussed.

You can find out all the salient information about the clinic here:

http://www.sonomadc.com/RaceSkillsClinic2_5_06.pdf

hope to see many of you out there.

- - - posted by scott

For those that do not know, eric marshall is a well known promoter, rider and racer in the mid-Atlantic.  He has been involved in a number of events, almost all of them innovative in one regard or another.  this past weekend, he rolled out something really cool, and to my knowledge, this will be the first time it has been attempted.  as many of you may be aware, eric has been working hard on integrating his existing race-registration system with a bar-code scanning system.  simply put, the system scans the bar code on your license, looks up the rider's information in a database, and produces a completed (and legible!!) standard release with all the information.  It can also assign numbers, produce start sheets and allow for miscellaneous other functions as well.  promoters who have seen this in action are already expressing interest in it.  below is a brief question and answer with eric about promoting races, his new license scanning system, and other new technologies.  I've put a few pictures at the end of the interview as well.     -sg

Q. How long have you lived in the area? 

A. We moved from Philadelphia down to Herndon in 1987 because of a new job for me. Fortunately for us, the economic boom of the 90's made Northern Virginia a lot nicer place to live and work than Philly, and we've lived here ever since.

Q. Where do you work? 

A. I've been president of my own software consulting firm, EMI Software Engineering, for the past 10 years. It's a small entire (just me), but I'm still at the top, which I think is a lot better than the alternative!

Q. Are you in a family way?

A. If you're asking me if I'm pregnant, I'm not. If you're asking about my immediate family, I'll be Celebrating my 25th wedding anniversary in a few months and I have two older teenage daughters.

Q. What got you into biking?  Do you race actively?

A. I've always had a bike to ride, but the fever really bit me after we moved down to Virginia and I started commuting by bike. It was so fun riding to work that I started riding on the W & OD by myself a few times a week during lunches. I sold my commuter bike after just a year for a sportier bike. I rode with the Reston Bike Club for a few years before I tried my hand at racing, which I've been doing for 6 years now. I've been racing a full season both on the road and cyclo-cross, which is a total blast. I had been president of Whole Wheel Velo Club for the past three years, but recently switched to Squadra Coppi.

Q. How did you get into promoting races? 

A. I got into promoting races when I was president of Whole Wheel, as they already had an established race in place, the Quicksilver Crit, which needed taking care of. I did that for the past three years, which included the unfortunate back-to-back monsoon years of 2003 and 2004. The 2005 edition of Quicksilver was sunny and warm and we had over 500 racers, so I left on a high note. Just like Lance. I also co-promoted the only two UCI races in Virginia the past few years, the Capital 'Cross Classic, albeit I didn't do too much on it this past year as I did on the inaugural year before. Sorry Chip.

And of course I'm promoting the upcoming Quicksilver Winter Solstice Series, with the help of four local clubs (Evolution Cycling, Racing Union, Squadra Coppi, and Whole Wheel Velo Club) providing the race-day manpower.


Q. What's been your most successful gambit or idea as a promoter?  What's been your biggest flop?  What would you like to do that you have not accomplished yet?

A. Hopefully the best is yet to come in my bike race promotion career, as we'll be introducing two MABRA firsts with the Quicksilver series, drive-thru registration and license bar-code scanning. Last year at the summertime Quicksilver race we introduced the first, and perhaps only, MABRA Masters 4/5 race, which I thought was very well received as we received many complements on it. This year's only a couple of months old already but it's already bigger and better than last year with our latest race registration innovations.

Q. What's up with EMI Racing?

A. Although I was promoting the Quicksilver races with Whole Wheel, I felt I had a lot of energy I wanted to put into the local bicycling community that was outside of our club's boundaries, e.g., cyclo-cross events. Because I'm a computer nerd and can do such things, I've also written a bunch of software to help in the production of most of the paperwork necessary for the registration process. I've used the software in a half-dozen races so far and it's been an incredible time saver for the registration staff. I wrote the software as web Applications with the intent of putting it on the Internet for other clubs to freely use, but so far I haven't gotten around to sharing it. Perhaps this is the year.

Q. Why did you start the quicksilver winter series?  What are your goals in promoting that?

A. Just another megalomaniacal outlet for my energies. I hope it's well received though, as I think we have a lot to offer the riders. I put a lot of time and thought into providing the best racing experience I can for the folks that show up, even if that includes thinking outside the status quo. That's what motivated me to include a drive-thru registration in the Quicksilver Winter Solstice Series. Who wants to stand in long lines in the cold waiting to register? Not me! Unfortunately, I won't have time to enjoy the fruits of my own labor, but at least I can get a cup or two of our free coffee and hot chocolate.

Q. When did you get the idea to try electronic registration?  Was your background instrumental in your ability to pursue this?  Could anyone with initiative have put something like this together? 

A. As I mentioned above, I've already done a lot to address the inclusion of technology and automation into the registration process, but anything worth doing is worth overdoing! Because the new 2006 USCF licenses contain a barcode of the rider's license number on them, its obvious intent is to use it in some larger electronic system, so I did, and we'll be using it at the Quicksilver series.

Although USA Cycling is reported to be working with Sports Base Online to produce a Proprietary system that provides similar capabilities to what I developed, it's currently not available and will be quite expensive when it's delivered (their words not mine) sometime in the future. Apparently I even pushed the technology envelope *past* its limits. 

Q. I’m interested in the rough flow of how your system works. 

A. The basic flow is as follows: use a lap top and a handheld barcode scanner with a USB interface.  For the operational side, we will run our software on the laptop and produce forms from a printer; everything powered by a generator.  The prospective rider comes up, you scan their license, turn the license scan into a license number, lookup the rider’s information from a database, populate a standard release form with data, and then print out releases and get the “wet ink” signature.  Oh, and we'll give them safety pins as well

Q. What sort of logistical, technological, organizational or legalistic hurdles have you had to leap to get this off the ground?  Do you think it will fly for the training series? 

A. The scanner I finally decided on isn't wireless, but uses a standard USB cable. The guy I spoke with at Sports Base Online about their system says they're currently specifying a specific bluetooth-based barcode scanner, but because it alone costs $500 (!), they'll probably be looking for more affordable alternatives in the futures.

The first barcode scanner that I bought was the one I really thought would be the best one to use, which had the form factor of a pen. You just "write" over the barcode and it gets scanned in. It seemed like it would eliminate the trial and error of "shooting" the barcode with a gun-like scanner from a few inches away, which is the kind I ended up using. Unfortunately, the pen model just wouldn't scan the bar codes on the back of the new 2006 USCF licenses. It would scan plenty of other barcodes I found around the house, so it was working, but just not on the barcodes I was interested in.

I also tried scanning the new licenses on other barcode scanners I found in public, e.g., at my grocery store, my gym, etc. Most of those scanners wouldn't scan the licenses either, so I thought we might have to forgo the use of the barcode scanners. As this is my first adventure into using barcode scanners, I won't be pointing fingers at anyone about my poor scanning experiences, but I attribute the lackluster results to the low print quality of the licenses.

If you look closely at the fronts of the licenses, there is a high contrast between the black letters and the white background. This would allow for accurate barcode scanning. But if you look at the backs of the licenses, where the barcode is, you'll see that there is a lot of smeared gray within the letters themselves, and also between the bars within the barcode. I suspect that without a clearer delineation between the black barcode and white background, the other barcode scanners couldn't perform properly. Another success story for the lowest-bidder mentality.

I also investigated the use of a digital signature tablet, ala modern credit card purchases, for inclusion in our system. But after considerable investigation on the part of USA Cycling's legal department (apparently USAC has never thought about the idea 
before), they determined that the legal implications of electronic signatures simply aren't compatible with today's liability minefield. So it seems we'll all be stuck with "wet signatures" for some time to come.

- - end interview

i have a few additional thought on this.  eric’s plan for the digital signature capture was the most interesting from my perspective.  Eric envisioned a system from start to finish, in which the license was scanned and a digital signature was captured.  The true beauty of this system is that the promoter could print out the standard release at their leisure (say at the end of the race day or later than night) because all the data for the forms had been captured as well as a digital signature so producing a hard-copy of the forms could literally be done anytime.  I can also imagine a worst case scenario where part or all of the data is lost due to unanticipated circumstances (power outage, hard drive crash, etc).  But this is not unusual: finish line cameras have malfunctioned as well.  it’s part of relying completely on technology.  A truly robust system to be deployed in the field will need to be battle ready.  eric is probably 85% of the way there.

i believe that issues may arise with how any system like this interfaces with computerized pre-registration such as bikereg.com that is so popular with all the mid-atlantic promoters.  eric's system seems to thrive in an environment where there is considerable walk up registration, so it may not be of as much utility to a race which has sold out practically all of it's fields and can download and print standard releases automatically.  electronic registration has brought on it's own problems, as I documented so clearly here.  it's sometimes a race to the bottom as people clamber to fill limited slots.  but this is clearly not worse than the way things were before electronic registration where entries were mailed, and you sometimes gambled on showing up to a race not knowing if there were open slots or not.  each technology bring change in the way people do things.  it will be interestign to watch all fo these issues continue to evolve.

a few pictures: 

behind the scenes, setting up generators to power the equipment while the turkey fryer heats water for hot chocolate.   mmmm, hot chocolate.

the tools of the trade: the scanner scans, the computer computes, the printer prints. 

once the system captures your information, it populates standard releases and assigns numbers.  that informaiton is carried through to start sheets and can be ported to results as well.  sweeeet.

if you happen to see eric out and about, show him a little love.  he's done this whole thing on his own time and his own dime.  a large part of the "structure" of cycling in the mid-atlantic is driven by volunteers and people who go the extra mile because they love to see cycling thrive.  there is no hallmark holiday for these people. 

- - posted by scott

I rode better at this week’s Quicksilver Winter Solstice Series training race. We started with a little over 30 people for our ten-lap race. I stayed in good position for the entire race. After about five or six laps the field split with eleven in front. I stayed close to the back of the front group until about two to go, then moved up to the forth spot. Coming over the top of the rise after the first corner of the last lap, a group of three got away off the front. I knew something was going to happen at about that spot, but I was just in the wrong position at that moment and then hesitated too much to be with them. I tried to bridge up, hoping to latch on by the bottom of the hill before the end, figuring it was best to race for the win than settle for forth. I died mid-way across and most of the rest of the group came around me before the finish. I ended up ninth.

Much better then last week certainly, but still not a flawless race for me. I am not the strongest guy out there, so I’m trying to at least be the smartest. To do that I can’t miss the winning break if I can help it. One more week on this course until the real racing begins with Jeff Cup and Walkersville. I’m looking forward to it.

-michael