(John Forrest Tomlinson) wrote in message news:84314734.0307080557.7
...
http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/4416.0.html

"I was appalled by the lack of organization, planning and
professionalism by many of the teams attending our national
championship. Some riders and team managers apparently have no respect
for the sport."

There were a hanful of pro/top-regional teams that registered, most of
the
riders were local riders who formed composite teams. They aren't used
to racing UCI events which require pre-reg. and proper outfits, allow
team cars etc. etc., though anyone who's raced a few years should
realize that the procedures are more strict for nationals. Some riders
were complaining about issues which are UCI/CCA rules, riders should
know better. You can't drop all the UCI hoohah on riders who are used
to doing podunk crits and road races in the sticks to not be confused.

He laments that he didn't get 200 riders in a province of 12 million
people. Well the best riders from Canada were there apart from some
mtn. bikers. There just aren't that many top riders in Canada and
Ontario. Only seventeen riders finished on the same lap as the
leaders. Every Navigator except Walters dropped out, so did a lot of
other good riders. Though some Cat 3 riders raced, most don't see the
point of entering a race like that where they are in way over their
head. I was surprised not to see more American riders (it did conflict
w/ Fitchburg though), being a 1.5 race, UCI points and cash were up
for grabs. Saturn put their four guys in the top 6, basically
unchallenged.


"I place some of the blame on mountain biking and its individualistic
approach."

"Masters A used to start at age 40; now it's 30. About half the pro
peloton is over 30 years old - are those guys masters?"

I actually agree with the latter, though I do 30+ and 35+ races all
the time. But I'm one of the guys responsible for less "young"
masters races promoted by my own club. Guess I'm sort of a
hypocrite...


The issue isn't the age of the riders, or whether 30+ should be a
category, it's the behaviour of *some* of them, though the Master A
race was a bit of a debacle. (the Masters races were held in Niagara
and weren't as well organized as the elite races). If you're going to
put on a race and charge people money to race it, people are going to
expect a certain level of service.

The author is flipping out over a few conflicts, overlooking the fact
several hundred people that raced that weekend. I don't understand the
point of this article. Why alienate the 90% of riders who are good
"customers" just to vent about the 10% (or whatever) that upset you ?

If I was a Master rider "who didn't race in my prime" I would be
offended by this guy's generalization about my character. What kind of
busnessman would publically slam his customers in this manner ?

-Amit