there's been a very interesting discussion thread on the d20 list regarding results and expectations.  thread starts here with a post from patton but drags ass and doesn't really pick up steam until bill comes through with some good material here.

the best post, hands down, was this one from cusmano:

I was liberated from the tyranny of the numbers when I realized that some of my fondest experiences racing did not result in a strong finish. I mean, some of my other fondest did -- don't get me wrong -- but rocking out with a leadout or a strong chase or getting in a break, even if I got dropped, those were great things. For those of us maybe not born to win the field sprint, the sport still offers these great experiences. Although sometimes just knowing that two-thirds of the people who started either didn't finish or finished behind you can be a cool thing, too.

yup.  liberated from the tyranny indeed.  he could have inked some sections of the manifesto himself.  if i was capable of getting religion, i'd say hallelujah.  however, i cannot.  i am told that i am on the bullet train to hell.  (c'est ici, le train a grande vitesse (tgv) for you angry french strikers who keep posting in the damn comments) 

so i will simply say "right on" to comrade cusmano and echo his sentiments.  bicycle racing is a hobby.  the reality of this hobby is that virtually all local races pay only a few spots, the uscf offers upgrade points to only a few spots and local recognition is available to a portion of the riders that finish.  the reality of the situation is that there are a few riders in the lead and a number of other riders who all finish at roughly the same time.  the reality of the situation is that most of us do not get the filthy lucre or the upgrade points or the local recognition.  we just don't.  you race because it's a whole lot of fun.  you race because you love to race.  you race because you want to see if you can do a little better by whatever standard you measure your performance by.

i would politely suggest that if an extremely accurate accounting of your time and/or place is critical to you, then you should not race.  you should begin to move towards events which cater to this such as cyclosportif, time trials or multisport, or branch out into touring or adventure racing.  these are tremendous fun and rewarding adn you generally won't run into issues where your competitors tell you to slow the %$#@ down.  that seems to be the issue here.  people out of contention are told patiently and logically not to sprint for placings.  they are told why it can be a problem.  they don't have to agree with me that sprinting for 39th place is stupid.  however, they can't deny the fact that the majority of people who are obviously out of contention are sitting up, and they are accelerating into or through those riders at a reckless pace (high risk) for a low placing (no reward). 

please note that i am not saying that finishing a race has no value.  it's just where the value is.  i sometimes worry that prize winnings or reimbursement concerns or bar points or other forms of recognition motivate people to do things that they would not do ordinarily.  isn't drugs in sports just a particularly egregious form of this exact same concern?  people have lost the concept of amateur athletics as a hobby, a recreation, a productive outlet.  you can be passionate about cycling while still keeping everything else in perspective.

- posted by scott

a lot of love for arch, and team snow valley, and the town of walkersville for hosting us this past saturday.  a really nice event.  the course is hard, but not too hard.  i like that a lot, as i think that it allows the racers to make the race.  from a promotion standpoint, the event went off very smoothly: on time with no hassles, smoooooth registration, great police support and generally helpful disposition from the locals who were no doubt surprised to see huge masses of cyclists swarming down the roads. 

there are lots of ride and race reports out there right now.  my personal favorites of late have been coming from the rockville harley blog where robb hampton is dispensing some good material.  in addition, we were unable to deliver the results that i had hoped for at walkersville, so i will not dwell on any sort of blow by blow.  i do have some general things i'd like to say which are inspired by that particular (30+/40+, walkersville) race but apply to a lot fo the races we do.

yellow line fever: I want to talk about yellow line races, riders getting DQ'd from yellow line races for crossing the yellow line and the exceedingly tough balancing act required of officials in maintaining order.  a lot of people have strong feelings about yellow lines races.  think you're the only one that's upset about double yellow enforcement?  think it's easy and clear?  think again.  and again (sort of off topic).  and again (completely off topic).  maybe there's something about the human or competitive psyche that doesn't do well with artificial limitations.  maybe racers press for advantage right up until the point where the officials start dq-ing whole fields.  you can like it or you can not like it, but in our area, you can pretty much be assured that most road races will be yellow line affairs.  that's just the way it is. 

yellow line racing has a very tight dynamic to it.  there are not a lot of places to pass, and the riders need to be mindful that when the occasion arises, there are others who are also thinking about moving up.  in our area, it appears that the most common technique for handling these races is for one or two of the teams that are greatest in terms of numbers or strength to mass near the front, send off a small combination of riders and then congest the front.  you can be sitting in the third row of riders back, and watch helpelessly (as i did on saturday) as several waves of riders jump off the front.  this induces a seething frustration that i hereby name "yellow line fever".  yellow line fever is characterized by aggressive behaviour and poor judgement.  racers opt for suicidal attacks into the wind rather than get trapped in a rolling mass of unmotivated riders.  this malady is easily identified in those racers, helplessly trapped at the back of a 100 rider field, whose only recourse is to yell "go" and "up, up, up" and 'let's get moving" as they watch yet another group of three slip off the front.  this produces a secondary frustration effect in the riders who are near, but not exactly at, the front of the pack, who desperately want to "go go go!" but are not able to because there are two rows of riders in front of them, from yellow line to road's edge.  so the people near the fornt want to block, the people right behind them want to go and the people in the back are just screaming.  did i summarize that appropriately?  in this race, there were actually a considerable number of places where people could move up but chose not to because of the wind.  so i was getting frustrated hearing people yell when i thought there were lots of places where they could move up.  so there was something for everyone.

i would also like to go on record as saying that i appreciate what the motor refs did.  they walk a very fine line.  at one point or another, almost everyone was over the yellow line.  but the motor refs in the 30/40 field seemed to show excellent discretion.  there were times when an accidnet occured or people needed to push out for safety.  as long as riders were not taking advantage by moving up when this happened, the officials seemed to be willing to let it go.  and they seemed to be just vocal enough to keep us from thinking we could get away with it.  they made an example out of tony which was regrettable.  but tony chose a really bad time to attack and he attacked waaaaay over the yellow line.  no matter what you heard, i was there and riding right next to bill, his teammate and we both just shook our heads.  i heard the motor official coming up the line and he had just yelled at us a few minutes earlier to express his frustraiton that we were not staying on our side of the yellow.  the fever was peaking, tony attacked and the refs threw him out.  simple.  and after that, people were better behaved.  i like the enforcement.  i think this is the rare case where "if you haven't done anything wrong, you haven't anything to fear" is appropriate.  everyone benefits from yellow line enforcement.  we have all seen races where the enforcement is lax and the liberties taken get greater and greater until something bad happens.  i doff my chapeau to the motor escorts and officials for that race.  i think they did a good job.  and if you disagree with me, don't bother writing me your opinions in the comments because i am not really very open-minded on this issue and i don't really care if you disagree.

smackdown: on a slightly different note, the finish of that race was simply over the top and out of control.  normally, master's races in our area are fairly smooth and fast and safe, but this was a veritable circus of assclowns.  we rode a tight echelon as the wind was coming hard over our right shoulder down the finsihign straight.  most riders overlapping the riders in front of them significantly.  rottier elected to take the far right, up in the wind, but forward.  in the case that side opened, he'd have a very clean look at the finish line.  i was the last rider in the echelon, with my teammate on my wheel and total smackdown happening in the gutter behind me.  now mind you, i was on the very edge of the road.  my tires were on pavement but the left side of my handlebars was over the gravel and grass.  coming into the finish, i felt a guy bump me and say "i'm on your left"  that's hilarious.  there is no left.  my tires are on the white line and my handlebars are hanging over the side of the road.  the only way you could be on my left is if you're off the road.  completely ridiculous.  and what did this person think i would do?  slow down, say execuse me and get out of his way?  like i somehow mistakenly got in front of him and he's giving me a face-saving way to remediate the problem.  wow, how generous, thank you.  i am really surprised that guys were fighting that hard for places in the gutter.  that's how accidents happen and from the sounds, i believe that we dodged a bullet and are very lucky that we didn't leave several people on the asphalt.  I have said before that it's not worth sprinting for 38th place, as you're more liely to injure yourself or someone else that to get a lot of gain out of it.  if your time or placing is so critical, do a cyclosportif or a timed tour.  in racing, there is a dynamic where the top people are going all out and once the top 10-15 places have been decided, that's it.  if it were up to me, i'd only publish the top three results and list everyone else who finished alphabetically.  you may think i'm digressing but i'm not.  guys are desperate to scoop up the last few bar points so they go tearing through fields and endangering everyone.  i think there is a perverse incentive at work and i don't think it's constructive.

i found myself cooling down on the course, muttering that these yahoos should read the manifesto.

- posted by scott

The debate continues on the D20 and vacycling lists about race results and what’s reasonable to expect as far as after-the-fact changes. Scott brought up this issue here with regards to one of the Quicksilver Winter Solstice Series races. In that case, it was pretty clear cut: the rider left immediately following the race and results were posted probably within 10 minutes of the finish.

But in the confusion about the results for Jeff Cup, a number of interesting twists have arisen. First off, the rider with the original [you’ll have to sign up to read the actual messages] public complaint had waited for 1.5 hours after the race to see the results. She was not up for a prize or BAR points. As she explains she was waiting merely to see that she was included in the results at all. Why? Her club has a policy of registration fee reimbursement based at least in part on level of race participation. It’s a simple enough system, and probably pretty common: Your cash payout is dependent on a certain level of activity, and in some cases progressively so.

This type of setup is meant as a means of encouraging people to get out on their bikes and race.  But is this kind of approach good for the team? Or the riders? Or bicycle racing in general? Wouldn’t this encourage team members go ahead and ride races only to reach some magic number to justify an increased payout? What about riding to win, or to help your team, or—gasp—to have fun? Since when do slow, amateur athletes believe they should get some sort of payday for a hobby? Let’s face it: in the grand scheme of things, 99.9% of D20 racers are slow. Honestly, you are slow. I’m sorry it’s true.

There’s another issue here that I want to address, but I want to make sure that I don’t come across in the wrong way. Promoters and officials donate (some may make a little money, but it generally pays less then starting wage at your neighborhood fast food joint) an inordinate amount of time making these races happen. You may spend twelve hours a week training, but some of these folks spend twice that filling out and reviewing insurance forms and processing your upgrade requests. And I know that I’d rather spend my time on the hills of Arlington then making sure item 2b has been checked.

However, there apparently was quite a long delay between race finish times and result posting at Jeff Cup. In some cases a reported three hours. Now, that’s a heck of a long time to wait (nearly twice as long as race itself in some cases), and I don’t know if I could have stuck around for the posting and protest period, even if I had won my race. Jim Patton summed up a number of the difficulties in getting timely results for racers, especially in races with multiple fields running at the same time where the finish is distant from the registration area. I don’t have any complaints about this and know for sure that officials and promoters want nothing more then to have complete and accurate results posted within minutes of the finish.  (And frankly, I think we’re all a little spoiled with the availability of pro race results—I know the finish order here in DC of a race in Italy within ten minutes of the finish, photos and everything.) But here’s a new twist: Jim suggests using some sort of automated system to help speed things along. And why don’t promoters want to do it? Reduced prize money!

If there were no cash prizes, if there were no reimbursement considerations, if the officials only recorded the top ten finishers and there were no BAR points, we’d all be a lot happier me thinks.  Read the manifesto. Race for the race, not for the money.

-michael

About half way through the first lap there was a crash at the front of the group. I was about half way back and behind the crash. The guy fell down on my side, I braked and swerved, and narrowly missed him (I was close enough to be conscious of where my pedals were in rotation so as not to slam his back). Just at that moment the pace picked up tremendously. I chased for quite a while and was never able to catch up to the group in front of me. It was pretty tough mentally, as I matched their pace for several miles, but just couldn't catch up. Then there were small groups of riders together for the rest of the day. I ended up riding a lap or three with comrade Josh. We were caught by the 4s (who started 10 minutes or so ahead of us) just before their finish and the road guards erroneously waved us off to the side. We sat there for a few minutes until we saw another group of 5s roll by. We chased back on to them and found comrade Roy among them. Then we finished the last lap mostly together.
 
It was a tough, tough time. I don't think I could have stayed with the front group without the crash anyway, but it was nice to get out and put in a good effort and--maybe more importantly for me--not quit. At this point, I feel like I'm right on the edge of ability. If everything is smooth, and I make good decisions, I can be in the mix until the end. But I'm not strong enough to make up for chance or poor choices. I’m looking forward to the Carl Dolan race in a few weeks.

-michael

of ongoing interest to me is how people who are busy manage to fit cycling into their lives.  for me, at this time of year, the answer is often commuting.  the dc area has horrible traffic.  i won't even bother to link to abundant factual resources for that claim.  we spend a ton of time getting from point a to point b and then back again.  and all too often, we do it in gigantic vehicles.  this particular post is not an anti car screed, but rather a celebration of how easy it is to throw your stuff in a bag, throw a leg over a bike and roll out.  i commute from fairfax city to my office which is uncomfortably close to the capitol.  it's about 20 miles, and there are lots of ways to do it.  I can take back roads up towards vienna to catch the wo&d at the vienna community center or at gallows or cedar.  but more often than not, i tend to ride the roads.  it's fast and the traffic is usually so bad that I move faster than the cars which makes me feel uncomfortably smug.  i like my commute and i do it often.  wanna hear about it?  sure you do.  here you go.

it all starts with the magic of leaving the family truckster at home.  here, the general conveyance vehicle for the revolution in cycling earns a well deserved rest day.  this thing is like the farm truck from the suburbs.  but note that the recent addition of my basque cross air fresher (thanks sim!) has made the smell of revolution in my vehicle especially pervasive.

so we roll out the door and onto the roads.  i am your tour guide as we navigate the intricacies of the suburbs.  and the suburbs are nothing if not intracate.  fairfax city and fairfax county have no overall bicycle plan, bicycle map or bicycle lane network.  a number of progressive counties do including arlington county (plan, maps, coordinator), alexandria (plan, map), montgomery county (plan, maps, coordinator) and the district of columbia (plan, maps, coordinator).  fairfax county is coming along.  a groub called fabb is making great headway and it looks like momentum is on their side.  take a minute to check out what fabb is doing and get a feel for how they are shaping their repsonse to make bicycles a standard fixture of commuting.

one of the reasons i support their approach is that fairfax city has an unsual design.  many of the communities have only a single road into them.  it sort of shelters the community from through traffic, but it also makes it harder to crosscut, to get quickly from one place to another.  fairfax city does have a series of connector trails but it is my understandign that the city has been strongly lobbied from releasing a map.  people have concerns about connector trails becoming thoroughfares.  I find this to be really petty nimbyism but it s a reality.  as we reach the perimeter of my neighborhood, you'll see what i mean.  can you spot the connector trail?

how about now?

getting closer?  how about now?

there it is!  and it even has one of our communities upstanding businessmen who is walking towards the vienna metro.  so lifelike.  the city is filled with these little trails, but unless yoiu have the time to explore every nook and cranny, you'd never find them.  and now, gentle reader, yoiu think you're homefree.  hardly.  in an attempt to dissaude people from using the trails, the abutting neighbors routinely dump large amouts of yard waste onto the trails.

this is an action photo headed towards a bridge on one of the connector trails.  I swept this trail just a few days earlier and you can already see that someone has deposited a bunch of leaves and stuff and it has been sort of blown aside and crushed down to make a singletrack on the asphalt.  nice.  but soon enough, we are out on the roads again.  now the probelms change in their nature.  the intersection pictured below has an interesting quirk, it's signal light is fully triggered by magnetic plates. 

that's great if you're a car but my bike doesn't trigger the light.  this is one you basically have to run.  I'll post some extended thoughts on issues like this later.  we all tacitly understand that a lot of cyclists run lights.  some say the whole light system is strictly for cars and if the transportation system was more bike friendly, it almost would not be needed.  but lights and laws are with us for the foreseeable future.  more on this later.

the roads near here are congested. 

dodging through traffic can be an unfortunate reality.  most people don't even realize that a lot of roads don't have shoulders.  you sometimes have to improvise and find some space of your own.

when there is a shoulder, it's often cluttered with sand, gravel and glass.  It may even be less safe than riding between cars.  this action shot is from near merrifield on 29, my standard commuting route.  the cars along this route are generally pretty nice.  i rarely have a bad run it with traffic.

i tend to follow 29 until i get near east falls church and then i jog through the neighborhoods to get to the wo&d.  there are people who ride the roads and people who only ride the trails.  i ride both, and i like both. 

i sometimes find that racers tend to look down their noses at conmmuters and recreational riders and i've never understood that.  a lot of these guys and gals log as many miles as you do and their much less eager to tell you how totally ass-kicking they are on the bike.  pictured above is a nice guy named woody i met that day.  very friendly.  i hope i run into him again.

and before long, we're done.  across the potomac and into dc.  dc traffic is sooo muh easier to ride in. 

i don't know if the cars are just more accustomed to bikes or more tolerant or in less of a hurry.  but the riding tends to be predictable and i would take urban traffic any day over suburban roads with their unpredictablility. 

so that's my commute.  i hope you enjoyed it.  if anyone is reading and regularly rides my route, please feel free to drop a line and we can hook up and ride together and i'll buy the coffee in dc.

posted by scott

(editor's note: the planned discussion for nominations from the people for a working committee to develop a statement of support and solidarity with the workers and students striking in france has been put on hold for what is admittedly a fairly bourgeois topic)

Castelsarrasin /Bouygues Telecom GIANNI FERACCI Team Bike

When the news hit late last year that the team would be on full carbon Gianni Feracci bikes for the 2006 season, a big smile generally appeared from ear to ear on most of the team’s faces. 

The bike is full Carbon sloping frame, with full carbon fork and integrated headset.  The frame has some interestingly shaped tubing which makes it nice and stiff.  However looking at the downtube might make some people think that a little extra time in the wind tunnel for old Gianni F might not be a bad idea.  The down tube looks almost backwards as it is triangular, but the largest and flattest part of it is facing forward on the bike acting as a wind catcher.  Of course in reality the difference it makes is minimal.

The carbon fiber monocoque frame reveals a slick and nicely integrated FSA headset.  The front derailleur is a clamp on as opposed to a more common braze-on which usually helps to avoid people over tightening the clamp and damaging the carbon tubing.  The drive chain is provided by Shimano with a full Ultegra 10 speed set-up.  A few riders are using Dura-Ace, but the majority of the team is on Ultegra.

The bikes come without pedals or saddles, as each rider usually has a preference as to what they put their butt on.  Here we see John Parks opts for a Selle Italia seat and a very American choice of some lightweight Speedplay pedals.  On this bike John has also opted to use his own Bontrager seatpost and stem instead of the team issue Amoeba steam and Uno seatpost.  We also see that John has a very low front end, which allows him to develop more power and distribute his weight better on the bike.  John also has a nice aerodynamic position.  John also runs a more traditional brake hood set up.  Most riders tend to have their hoods much higher on the bars these days (hence Shimano’s now longer levers) to allow for a little more control, and a more natural wrist position on rough roads.

driving down to charlotteville...

driving back from charlottesville...

i sort of feel like that's what i got out of sunday.  it was frustrating in a lot of ways.  i have read some blogs where people talked about making great moves and riding boldly and reaping results.  i got none of that.  as for the race, i have virtually nothing to report.  this race was a very clear example of gambling and losing on my part.  i made a concious choice to leave the break out there for three laps.  i worked hard to chase on the fourth lap and probably burned myself out.  on the fifth lap, i gambled all my remaining energy on a small break that was forming going over the hill.  that was the wrong move and when roger attacker shortly thereafter and everyone watched him go, that was that, game over.  I pulled out of the race and onto the grass 500m befoe the finish line.  I was in the front ten riders going past the 1k to go flag, but my legs were cramping very badly and I was worried that I would lock up and cause an accident so I just pulled out.  i'll try to be a bit shrewder at walkersville this weekend.

- - - posted by scott

below are exerpts from the text of a speech delivered to the cyclists gathered at the plaza de la revolucion to commemorate the traditional start of the mid-atlantic racing schedule; the jefferson cup.  the actual speech was well attended and lasted a little over three hours.  select portions are reproduced below.

- - - begin text - - -

honored guests, cyclists, workers, citizens: our commemoration of the traditional start of the mid-atlantic cycling season is characterized by its simplicity. there is no military parade, in spite of the fact that we considered this as a possible day for a military parade. actually, this has been a year of hard work. the off seaosn has been characterized, in every sense, by great efforts in all fields, of great savings in every sense, in which every man and woman on a bicycle has played an important role. and since work and the fulfillment of the assigned goals were more essential to us, we decided, confident that we were interpreting our people's best interest, neither to spend a gallon of fuel in military parades on this commemoration, nor to lose a single moment of work. [applause]

several commemorations of this type have taken place in recent years, but this commemoration certainly has gathered the most people ever at the plaza de la revolucion. [applause] this is not only a great multitude but a compact one, and there is something that is much more valuable than the extension of compactness, it is a multitude, a people who are extraordinarily more aware. [applause]

and we sincerely think that there are reasons why the revolution's awareness and strength have grown. And we think that we have well-established reasons for optimism. And we think that this optimism is based on real and palpable facts. and we think that the time is approaching when we will not be as interested in material satisfactions which will come as we will be in the moral satisfactions and in the time and the circumstances in which this has been possible.

it is natural that on this commemoration, in which we have practically graduated not yet as revolutionaries, not with a university diploma, but we could say that we have completed the primary grades of the revolution and we are entering junior high school, ending 10 years and beginning the next 10, when the most difficult 10 years have ended and the most fruitful 10 begin, when the period ends in which we passed from practically absolute ignorance to a certain level of accumulated experience, when we have attained a pace of work and progress far exceeding the pace we had in the beginning.

it is natural that we give a very brief synthesis of the effort, an account rather than a keynote, an idea of what the result has meant to the revolution, and at the same time the general line, the task of the next phase.  our cycling team has made its effort specific and we believe that this is of interest in the field of cultural development in general, in social development and at the same time in economic development.  we do not need to talk about something which many know as the educational effort, begun at once, characterized by the eradication of money in cycling, the enormous progress made up to this time in this field. this is not only symbolized by a mentors for every rider and a self supporting, non-heirarchical, sponsorship-free structure, but also in the fact that we have, after several months of revolution, more and more riders coming under the banner we unfurl.

in the ideological field the road followed has been infinite. the people of today and their political culture, organization, discipline, awareness, and sense of duty can hardly be compared to that of the people even 10 years ago. nevertheless, a revolution must rest on an solid structure. the cycling structure is one in which our people set themselves the most difficult goal, the most most extraordinary tasks: consciously denying ourselves sponsorship dollars under modern racing and training conditions.

face it our people did, bravely, without any experience, as they did with only the enthusiasm of their masses, because the few who knew how, belonged almost entirely to that privileged minority which was not in agreement nor could agree to changing the economic structure of cycling.  and it was, as we said last night conversing with some visitors, as though with great ignorance about everything, overnight we set ourselves to take charge of everything and make something of everyone with no experience at all, but further than that false illusion which produces the class society, the capitalist society, the illusion of shelves filled with goods, that illusion so highly flaunted by the privileged societies and which makes the masses believe in the illusory idea that cycling prize money is all that is necessary to reach and have access to inexhaustible riches of happiness, as if they were mines with infinite resources.

what the masses ignore is that these supposed riches gleaned from cycling treated as a business are nothing but the surpluses of misery, the surpluses of misery which they must have in order to incite people to further incessant work, in order to force work amid low morale and bad conditions.  naturally, cycling prize and sponsorhsip money is illusory wealth which disappears in a few short days, a scant time after the masses have all too brief a taste of this wealth.  and the masses really know now that the wealth has yet to be created because the masses know how to add and subtract and multiply and divide. And when you divide any of the levels of production which a market-oriented and business focused  cyclist achieves, even a second grade schoolboy would immediately discover that this was a miserable production.

now then, has the revolution increased happiness in the first few months? no, it has not increased happiness . what is more, our people did not increase the happiness of the nation in the first few months of the triumph and were even unable to produce themselves the little happiness that was produced by the privileged structure that preceded us.  however, this is rapidly changing.  what we will produce here, will be produced under very unhuman conditions. hunger, sweat, fatigue, cramps, toil.  the worst and most terrible things that a bike and rider may combine to produce.

we with our revolution, a bold historic undertaking, begin by again repeating the words of the manifesto, calling all like minded brothers and susters, riders and racers, to rally around the banner of the racing union and to sweep forward as the vanguard redefines what cycling is to be in the twenty first century.

- - - end text - - -

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