Sorrow: Big crash in the cat 5 race. Randy. ICP or intracranial pressure due to trauma is scary stuff. I'm virtually certain that if I would have seen it or been on the scene after, I would not have raced. Not because of anything dangerous about the course, but because of the inherent ambiguity and the potential for shit to happen. I really hope he pulls through and has no deficits because of something relatively random that happened doing something he loved.
Confidence in physical state: Pulling Devin up to break, ~2min: 544w
Avg for the race: 255w
Best 5min power: 330w
Avg Speed: 26mph
Max Speed: 35mph (and I didn't sprint at all, basically I rode as a support rider)
Stoked: I had a ton of fun. Probably the most fun I've had at a crit. The hub is a really fantastic group of people and it was/is cool to be a part of it. Also, it looks like very exciting things are on the horizon for cyclocross. And of course, I was elated that Devin won...I felt like we worked well as a team.
Bummed: Quite simply, I'd rather be mountain bike racing. But, I'm glad I hadn't planned on the scheduled UFD mountain bike race on sunday. I'm sorry for those who had too cancel, I know it isn't easy. But I also wish things were different for growing the series and sport in the state. After so many cancellations I know I'm essentially out for the rest of the season. My friend from Wisconsin didn't even understand what I was talking about when I said so many of our races get cancelled due to pre-race day rain. Obviously the WORS races are pretty entrenched and they have a huge budget compared to ours...but they had to get there somehow. I understand the ethic regarding the trail and riding. And in fact truly support it in general. But for mountain bike races, it seems to me that the situation is different. I don't know what the solution is, but I know a lot of people have been bummed and turned off from racing because so many of the races are cancelled. As I said a few posts ago, I don't see any reason why we can't have a series that competes with DINO in terms of the number of racers. I hope I'm not offending anyone and like I said, I completely support the ethic of not riding on wet trail, but it seems like we need to compare ourselves with some Midwest series that have been super successful and at least consider what they do.
8 comments:
Most generally the only people that I hear complain about a race getting cancelled due to wet trails are the ones who never work on trails.
The Dawg, I didn't mean to complain. Perhaps I am as you say...I have only done one work day in Columbia since I've been here. But man, I think if you re-read the post, there was no lashing out....no complaining and no accusations. You're welcome to post and interpret as you see things, but please don't passively aggressively accuse me or anyone else without a thoughtful discussion of the situation. I'd love to hear solutions, not things like your comment.
And now you got me thinking...if I came across as complaining, especially to Mitch, Greg, anyone who works for GORC, Mike Best, and whoever you are on the west side of the state...please accept my apology.
I would have canceled Sunday's race at Brom as well. St Charles parks are tuff. Here is my position that I was trying to express: I hope that over the next few years we as mountain bikers can develop some trust with the parks and recreation areas across the state. Such that when damage is done during a race, it would be repaired. This is all of course within reason, as racing in all-out downpours or thunderstroms is not what I'm saying.
Dan, you didnt upset anyone. I attend a hand full of work days and or mantainence days with GORC every year. Sometimes even help with clearing their section of OT. I understood your post clear as day.
In short you said, "I am bummed the races get canceled, but understand why and agree it's best for the trails when the trails are wet". Thats not complaining. Thats an educated statement and shows your passion for MTB racing. I feel the exact same way...
Thanks Scott. I do love me some mountain bike racing. And want to see it get bigger and better!
I did a ton of trail work before med school...a year in Americorps (building parts of MF and maintaining at Knob-Nasty) and a couple of summer's out west.
Random-internet-post from dude I've never met above however is right too some extent. I'll get it going this fall at rockbridge.
Well I'm not sure were to start on this one. After racing multiple series in multiple states this year, I'm a bit frustrated as you are with the dismal showing of our state's being when it comes to racing.
Bottom line, we don't have near the amount of racers as some other more succesfull series. With that being said, UFD is in my opinion one of the best run series I've raced. They have everything they need to be over the top awesome, minus the racers.
One thing I notice around here is that our racers aren't very enthusiastic when it comes to traveling to race. They want to race right in their backyard, and heaven forbid they think about traveling across the state to race. Of course with the division of UFD, that only makes it worse. Not to mention a very large number of races we have available.
It's great to a certain degree, but when you have 30+ races in one state, it gets to be to much.
I for one would be more happy with a 10-15 race schedule total for the state. To do that UFD would have to consolidate, and MWFTS would have to disappear. Sorry, but the MWFTS isn't what it used to be. We need to find a common ground in which MWFTS and UFD can come together to better the state of our sport in Missouri.
Bottom line, if you cut the number of races, and consolidate it into one series then people will be more likely to travel. Now, they have plenty of options and no need to travel.
I won't even get into my thoughts on a Expert payout change, or even bigger, the need for a real series overall incentive. That was one thing MWFTS used to do very well, and it gave us racers a reason to travel and race every race as possible. I know UFD was in it's first year last year, so the overall was for bragging rights, so we'll see what this year brings.
Enough rambling...
G
Garret, I agree with almost everything you said. We need more racers. UFD will be awesome, I have no doubt. It already is in many ways.
April- 2 races
May- 2 races
June- 3 races
July- 2
Aug- 2
Sep- 3
=14 total. That would be awesome if it were one state wide series.
Include Middlefork, Council bluff, Wilson lake, perry, Swope, Landhal, Castlewood, Greensfelder, Rhett's, Rockbridge, Binder Lake, Lost Valley (maybe september?), Indian camp creek, and Chubb...MO trails and terrain rock!
Maybe a point-to-point on the OT in April or September?
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