Daily Dose 6/25
Another weekend in the books, and one that was filled with a lot of sweat and miles on the road. Oh, and a little bit of much needed rain in some areas. I was reminded the hard way that this time of year you have to be determined to stay ahead in the game of hyrdration and sodium levels. Add to that enough food in order to keep the tank from running on fumes or the rubber band will snap eventually. Now that it's Monday we can all start the process over leading into another warm weekend of riding.
The other day I blogged about Late Fees - Enough Already, and I want to commend the Cookeville Criterium promoter for suspending these fees on Sunday. I visited their website a few days ago and that was the message communicated there, and when I paid for my races on Saturday I only paid a late fee for Saturday's race. However, the reason for not charging $5 on Sunday was due to an online flyer malfunction. Too bad they didn't do it for the right reasons, but at least powers greater than ours helped reached the outcome we desire.
I will touch on something else somewhat related, and that is the practice of charging a re-issue fee for replacing lost numbers. As a promoter I am all for being a little strict on this and not showing verbal mercy on someone who has lost or does not have their numbers. In this situation before I have made it clear several times to riders that it's their responsibility to keep up with them, and that I don't just shrugg it off as no big deal as some (not all) riders do. Afterall, race numbers are not free and cost more than you think for so few of them.
However, after letting my displeasure be known to the offender, guess what, I give the racer a number - at NO cost. As I've said before, the racer is the customer and our jobs as promoters is to make their experience a good one. Lost numbers happen once or twice at most during a weekend. It's not a problem that's out of hand, and most promoters are going to have ordered more than enough just in case turnout is high.
Some promoters charge $1 to $5 for a regular race weekend, while at some bigger stage races it may $20 to $40. For the smaller events this change in number sequence isn't rocket science since everything is on paper, but for larger races it's a bit more complicated due to the structure of how information is stored. Plus, there are more officials and volunteers involved overseeing the info.
In my opinion the one outcome that should never happen is for a racer to not get to race due to a lost number. I don't care what the fees are, what the circumstances are, what rule must be bent, whatever, but at the end of it all the racer deserves a number and should be allowed to enter a race they've already paid for. Period.
I'll throw in another scenario, it's especially true if you're talking about someone under the age of 20. Young kids make unintentional mistakes, all worth punishing or admonishing over, but it should not result in a kid not racing unless he has become so careless as to affect his or her own safety or the safety of others. Losing a race number falls into the admonishing category. I say all this because a young kid missed out on racing in the state championship because he was unable to pay the number re-issue fee. This outcome simply should not happen. Yes, the young man certainly learned a lesson, but the lesson would still be learned had he been allowed to race without paying a fee he could not afford.
Masters of the TTT, CSC makes it two for two
If you look at the time splits you'll notice that CSC gets stronger as the race progresses. Tinkoff Credit Systems team finished in second just .43 seconds behind CSC. To lose a 48.6 kilometer TTT by less than a second will likely leave you pretty disappointed and second guessing pedal strokes and pulls throughout. Oleg Tinkov mentioned winning this race was a big objective for his team, but he still must be happy to perform so well against the depth in the ProTour field. Unfortunately the rosters aren't listed for each time with the results.
Stevic survives Health Net hammering at Nature Valley; Armstrong awesome
The final stage of Nature Valley was supposed to be on Sunday, and I have yet to check the news or results. However, check out the criterium course description towards the bottom of this article. Supposedly the course has the steepest grade of any crit in the country at an insane 24% incline for 300 meters! They can't even put barriers on it because they slide down the hill.
Doping isn't the only way to the top for athletes
Olympic gold medalist Edwin Moses writes an opinion/editorial piece for the LA Times that is worth noting. Among many things Moses says, his best is this: "Counsel to all would-be champions: in training for competition, there are no shortcuts. Anyone who tells you differently is selling pure compromise. "
Protecting the guilty?
The International Olympic Committe is looking into stripping Jan Ullrich of his 2000 gold medal. As the writer suggests, what about all those East German medals won in decades past? Oh wait, there's an eight year statue of limitation rule and stripping medals further back than that would create juridicial problems. Well, they either cheated or they didn't, and when there's irrefutable evidence then medals should be turned over.
This does beg the question regarding Ullrich, and that is was he doping at the time he won the gold medal? My head isn't in the sand on this, but it is feasible that he won without dope at that time. If it cannot be proven that someone doped within a specific time period then those results should be allowed to stand.
Floyd Landis' results prior to the Tour de France last year have been allowed to stand have they not? Just because someone gets caught in one period does not mean they have always or would continue to be a cheat. Assuming past guilt because of a current guilty situation isn't enough to continually condemn their career.
Speaking of Floyd.....
Positively False: The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France
I stopped by the bookstore the other night and read the first couple of chapters of Floyd's new book. The story of how he got into racing and the lengths to which he'd go to race is interesting. We're talking about a kid who had no idea how the world really worked, and while he was just getting into the sport he was also learning things about life he had never been exposed to before. I applaud his parents for not holding him back and allowing him to make his own decisions. With his family's religous beliefs the assumption would be to hold him back and condemn what Floyd was seeking, but each time early on they gave Floyd the ultimate decision. I will either buy this book or keep stopping by the bookstore to read more since it has definitely peaked my interest.
Another book I flipped through was.....
From Lance to Landis: Inside the American Doping Controversy at the Tour de France
David Walsh is no stranger to writing controversial books about doping, and in particular about his favorite subject, Lance Armstrong. One section dealt with Betsy Andreu's accounts of Frankie and how he was all of a sudden a climber in the Tour. She put Frankie on the spot and let him know pretty clearly his actions were wrong, and it goes into more details of all the relationships involved. Another involved the drama surrounding Christophe Bassons and how he was speaking truth about doping back when it was fashionable for riders to keep their lips zipped. Another section I found interesting was the details surrounding up-and-coming junior Greg Strock, Rene Wenzel and Chris Carmichael. Check out this Velonews report to get caught up on the details.
I've said this before, Bassons is to cycling what Jose Canseco is to baseball. People don't want to hear the truth sometimes because of who it's coming from or how the message is delivered. However, the one thing detractors cannot refute is the message itself.
Marx & Bensdorf/Smith & Nephew Grand Prix
For those of you gravity challenged racers out there this race in Memphis is just for you. It's one of the flatter race weekends available, so drive down and tackle the heat minus needing your 39/25 gear to keep up! Online registration closes on Wednesday, and yes there is a $5 late fee for each day registration.
The other day I blogged about Late Fees - Enough Already, and I want to commend the Cookeville Criterium promoter for suspending these fees on Sunday. I visited their website a few days ago and that was the message communicated there, and when I paid for my races on Saturday I only paid a late fee for Saturday's race. However, the reason for not charging $5 on Sunday was due to an online flyer malfunction. Too bad they didn't do it for the right reasons, but at least powers greater than ours helped reached the outcome we desire.
I will touch on something else somewhat related, and that is the practice of charging a re-issue fee for replacing lost numbers. As a promoter I am all for being a little strict on this and not showing verbal mercy on someone who has lost or does not have their numbers. In this situation before I have made it clear several times to riders that it's their responsibility to keep up with them, and that I don't just shrugg it off as no big deal as some (not all) riders do. Afterall, race numbers are not free and cost more than you think for so few of them.
However, after letting my displeasure be known to the offender, guess what, I give the racer a number - at NO cost. As I've said before, the racer is the customer and our jobs as promoters is to make their experience a good one. Lost numbers happen once or twice at most during a weekend. It's not a problem that's out of hand, and most promoters are going to have ordered more than enough just in case turnout is high.
Some promoters charge $1 to $5 for a regular race weekend, while at some bigger stage races it may $20 to $40. For the smaller events this change in number sequence isn't rocket science since everything is on paper, but for larger races it's a bit more complicated due to the structure of how information is stored. Plus, there are more officials and volunteers involved overseeing the info.
In my opinion the one outcome that should never happen is for a racer to not get to race due to a lost number. I don't care what the fees are, what the circumstances are, what rule must be bent, whatever, but at the end of it all the racer deserves a number and should be allowed to enter a race they've already paid for. Period.
I'll throw in another scenario, it's especially true if you're talking about someone under the age of 20. Young kids make unintentional mistakes, all worth punishing or admonishing over, but it should not result in a kid not racing unless he has become so careless as to affect his or her own safety or the safety of others. Losing a race number falls into the admonishing category. I say all this because a young kid missed out on racing in the state championship because he was unable to pay the number re-issue fee. This outcome simply should not happen. Yes, the young man certainly learned a lesson, but the lesson would still be learned had he been allowed to race without paying a fee he could not afford.
Masters of the TTT, CSC makes it two for two
If you look at the time splits you'll notice that CSC gets stronger as the race progresses. Tinkoff Credit Systems team finished in second just .43 seconds behind CSC. To lose a 48.6 kilometer TTT by less than a second will likely leave you pretty disappointed and second guessing pedal strokes and pulls throughout. Oleg Tinkov mentioned winning this race was a big objective for his team, but he still must be happy to perform so well against the depth in the ProTour field. Unfortunately the rosters aren't listed for each time with the results.
Stevic survives Health Net hammering at Nature Valley; Armstrong awesome
The final stage of Nature Valley was supposed to be on Sunday, and I have yet to check the news or results. However, check out the criterium course description towards the bottom of this article. Supposedly the course has the steepest grade of any crit in the country at an insane 24% incline for 300 meters! They can't even put barriers on it because they slide down the hill.
Doping isn't the only way to the top for athletes
Olympic gold medalist Edwin Moses writes an opinion/editorial piece for the LA Times that is worth noting. Among many things Moses says, his best is this: "Counsel to all would-be champions: in training for competition, there are no shortcuts. Anyone who tells you differently is selling pure compromise. "
Protecting the guilty?
The International Olympic Committe is looking into stripping Jan Ullrich of his 2000 gold medal. As the writer suggests, what about all those East German medals won in decades past? Oh wait, there's an eight year statue of limitation rule and stripping medals further back than that would create juridicial problems. Well, they either cheated or they didn't, and when there's irrefutable evidence then medals should be turned over.
This does beg the question regarding Ullrich, and that is was he doping at the time he won the gold medal? My head isn't in the sand on this, but it is feasible that he won without dope at that time. If it cannot be proven that someone doped within a specific time period then those results should be allowed to stand.
Floyd Landis' results prior to the Tour de France last year have been allowed to stand have they not? Just because someone gets caught in one period does not mean they have always or would continue to be a cheat. Assuming past guilt because of a current guilty situation isn't enough to continually condemn their career.
Speaking of Floyd.....
Positively False: The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France
I stopped by the bookstore the other night and read the first couple of chapters of Floyd's new book. The story of how he got into racing and the lengths to which he'd go to race is interesting. We're talking about a kid who had no idea how the world really worked, and while he was just getting into the sport he was also learning things about life he had never been exposed to before. I applaud his parents for not holding him back and allowing him to make his own decisions. With his family's religous beliefs the assumption would be to hold him back and condemn what Floyd was seeking, but each time early on they gave Floyd the ultimate decision. I will either buy this book or keep stopping by the bookstore to read more since it has definitely peaked my interest.
Another book I flipped through was.....
From Lance to Landis: Inside the American Doping Controversy at the Tour de France
David Walsh is no stranger to writing controversial books about doping, and in particular about his favorite subject, Lance Armstrong. One section dealt with Betsy Andreu's accounts of Frankie and how he was all of a sudden a climber in the Tour. She put Frankie on the spot and let him know pretty clearly his actions were wrong, and it goes into more details of all the relationships involved. Another involved the drama surrounding Christophe Bassons and how he was speaking truth about doping back when it was fashionable for riders to keep their lips zipped. Another section I found interesting was the details surrounding up-and-coming junior Greg Strock, Rene Wenzel and Chris Carmichael. Check out this Velonews report to get caught up on the details.
I've said this before, Bassons is to cycling what Jose Canseco is to baseball. People don't want to hear the truth sometimes because of who it's coming from or how the message is delivered. However, the one thing detractors cannot refute is the message itself.
Marx & Bensdorf/Smith & Nephew Grand Prix
For those of you gravity challenged racers out there this race in Memphis is just for you. It's one of the flatter race weekends available, so drive down and tackle the heat minus needing your 39/25 gear to keep up! Online registration closes on Wednesday, and yes there is a $5 late fee for each day registration.
posted by NashvilleCyclist.com at 6/25/2007 11:37:00 AM
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