Who wants another Ride The Lobster?

I agree on all points. Shorter days is a must though.
On the food issue, it's obvious they tried to pamper us a little bit.
The lobster and seafood was very generous, but I was dying for some
pasta. We could have had spaghetti every night and it would have been
fantastic. It's cheap, delicious, and loaded with fuel.

Overall though, I was impressed with the organization of the whole
event. I think next year would be too soon, but every other year would
be awesome.


tholub wrote:
Let me throw in some suggestions for improvements as long as I'm he



- Shorter days

I realize it's supposed to be an athletic event and not a parade,
but I think it would still be challenging if the days topped out at
90 or 100 miles instead of 120. The field got so spread out that
often you wouldn't see anyone in the last half of the day; the
first half was a lot more fun.


- More hills

If we'd gone up around the Cabot Trail, the race would have been
more interesting. A cycle race needs a big climb, and maybe a
climber's prize for the fastest person up it.


- Have a prologue

Most bike races have a "prologue"; a short race, usually a time
trial, to set the initial standings. That could then be used to
seed the starting positions in the real time trial later (which
were problematic the way it was done). It could even be done just
as part of the first riding day; a 5km time trial on city streets
before the full-on road race starts.


- Close the road for the time trial

Having cars on the road in the time trial is really dangerous. In
Joe's write-up he talked about having to pass a car on the gravel
shoulder because the car was stuck behind slower riders; I actually
passed a car on the left for the same reason.


- Better ordering in the time trial

Three of the top five teams started their slowest rider last in the
time trial. That really reduced the excitement on the road, and
made the race take longer than it would have otherwise. Ideally,
the time trial would start in slowest-fastest order for all 105
riders; teams shouldn't get to choose which riders go when. You
could use the prologue finish ordering to determine the start
order. Or, you could do it as a team time trial; start all three
riders for each team at the same time, and start them in order of
the team standings.


- More cowbell!

http://tinyurl.com/633ftq. Less than $2 each. Get a sponsor to
buy them and give them out to spectators, or sell them for $5.
They're fun for spectators and really help with the atmosphere.






--
BoojiBoy

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