Sunday, March 30, 2008

POC

I just got home from racing Piece of Cake. One thing needs to be said about the 1/2 race. The centerline rule isn't a suggestion. I've never heard an offical say, "Guy's, we'd really like for you not to cross the centerline today." No. It usually goes like this, "This is your first warning, you'll be dq'd the next time." At least that's what I've heard.

I've never seen such disregard for one of the biggest rules in ameteur racing. Especially after a dude got hit head-on today after he went across the centerline. Where was our officail when this was happening. Where was Mr Kneuven? He doesn't put up with that crap.

11 comments:

Old as dirt said...

Maybe it's ok to cross the centerline in the last 5K? It's been happening in WSBA races too, you only get thrown out if you cross the centerline before the last 5K (and suspended too!) Last 5K is fine.
If you or I did it, we'd be sure to be Dq'd.
That is not a good precedent to set, those TR guys will do it all the time now....

g said...

That last 5k was Absolute Bullshit.

Old as dirt said...

Well, at least they DQ'd some guys to help discourage that kind of behaviour. I think so many people complained.
It is hard to see numbers from the follow car when guys are sitting up at the back, making it further to see the guys up front.
We should continue to police ourselves, and hopefully the officials will respond accordingly if enough people report violators.

K-Man said...

Check results- DQs and relegation.

g said...

And I'm glad to hear it.Hopefully this won't be a re-occuring issue.
The bummer with self-policing is that it is nessecarily imprecise - I mean, we had to have had 15 guys over the line and although it looked obvious who was initiating and driving it, it's hard to tell from the other side of the road when riding hard and keeping your eyes ahead of you. We really need officials to be on that kind of thing - heck, neutralized the race at 1k if you need to make a point. Of course I don't expect an official to get all those number and be able to enforce the rules right away, what with being in a car behind the field and all. I'm glad that we do self police, anyways.

Anonymous said...

Bring Rick back!!!

K-Man said...

The official in your race was trying to get numbers, but there was no safe place to pull up next to you guys. Believe me, the officials were trying their best under the circumstances. The person who was assigned is also no slouch- the person is often asked to officiate at national level events - collegiate and USAC races too.

G said...

come on out to the roubaix on april 26th - i promise that it will race like the exact opposite of the piece of cake.

Jim Golds said...

I was the guy who was "hit head on after crossing the center line" - just to clarify the matter, my crossing the yellow line was involuntary - caused by some jackass who was taking his raincoat off in the middle of the field. As he took down the rider to my right, I thought I might get lucky and they would fall away but they didn't. The wave of falling riders lifted me off my bike and threw me across the yellow line. Just as I was contemplating the patch of asphalt that would break my fall, a car passing in the other lane happened to rush into my field of vision at the last moment to break my fall by smashing into my skull. So, before you spread any more misinformation about this guy violating the yellow line, these are the facts. Make it known that I am hunting for the jackass jacket-taker-offer because I've got a real need to sort his shit out.
Now, what I really need is to find someone who can repair an aluminum bike and I came here because I know this old, dirty guy who has a sweet aluminum bike and thought maybe Marcroft could help!

Brian Marcroft said...

Thanks for the clarification on what happened to you in the race. I'm glad to know that you're are doing well and eager to race this week. I certainly wouldn't want to be the 'jackass jacket-taker-offer.' Good luck with that.

Unfortunatly I can't help you with you busted bike frame. I'm not an expert on alum, but I'm pretty sure once a frame as been bent up you can't fix it.

Those frames you see out there with my name on them are in fact steel. Mmmm steel. They ride ohhh so nice.

g said...

do not attempt to repair aluminum. you cannot straighten it safely (cold setting steel creates a harder, more brittle part, cold setting aluminum creates a weaker part that could be cracked), and you cannot re-weld it - the heat will change the properties of the welded area and you cannot re-heat treat the whole frame to bring it back to T6 or whatever the original temper was for that alloy. sorry.
get a nice super thin steel frame with some trick machining to lighten the heatube, bb and dropouts, and love the ride.