| Subject: | Piece of Cake/Masters Categories/Centerline |
| Date: | 03/29/2004 03:36 AM |
| From: | Schreck, George |
|
This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand this format, some or all of this message may not be legible. ------_=_NextPart_001_01C415D7.75BF4935 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I would like to thank Rich Cramer and the rest for an excellent race. As one of the people who criticized Rich for not having Masters categories by age, I forgot that the prior year I had complained about the fact that there were so many crashes on the course from having inexperienced riders mixed with experienced riders. Well, Rich made the correct decision and the 2/3 race was very safe and steady despite the high pace from time to time. I noticed that the 4/5 race had a number of crashes, with one of my teammates in the trauma center for the next four days as the result of a crash. On a course like the Pierce of Cake, ability categories definitely was the best decision. My apologies to Rich. At my age, I tend to forget what I say from year to year. As for the centerline issue, I believe that it is the responsibility of the riders to enforce it as well. In our 2/3 race, we called out infractions regarding two different racers in the last lap, and they both were disqualified. Self-policing definitely will discourage riders from what essentially is cheating by crossing the centerline to better their position. People need to realize that avoiding being caught in a bad position near the end of the race is part of the skill of racing, and it often requires the willingness to work at the front and not hide from the wind in the pack. If you do get caught in a bad position and cannot move up legally, the solution is to determine where you went wrong and adjust in the next race, and not decide to ignore the rules. In the Master categories, I think you will find that if you benefited from breaking the rules, you will realize at the end that you wasted your energy, as you will be DQed. With respect to the road without a centerline, most of us assumed that it did not apply to that road, it being no wider than one lane anyway and without a line to guide you. In that situation in a race, as long as there is a lead car, I do not think there is much that can be done or should be done. Essentially, the whole road was fair game, and with a lead car, the situation was fairly safe. If you are going to have a violation, you need a wider road with a clear boundary, which was not the case. George Schreck Phone: (503) 813-7211 Fax: (503) 813-7190 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This email is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else, unless expressly approved by the sender or an authorized addressee, is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action omitted or taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you believe that you have received this email in error, please contact the sender, delete this e-mail and destroy all copies. ============================================================================== ------_=_NextPart_001_01C415D7.75BF4935 Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="MS Exchange Server version 5.5.2657.73"> <TITLE>Piece of Cake/Masters Categories/Centerline</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">I would like to thank Rich Cramer and the rest for an excellent race.</FONT> </P> <P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">As one of the people who criticized Rich for not having Masters categories by age, I forgot that the prior year I had complained about the fact that there were so many crashes on the course from having inexperienced riders mixed with experienced riders. Well, Rich made the correct decision and the 2/3 race was very safe and steady despite the high pace from time to time. I noticed that the 4/5 race had a number of crashes, with one of my teammates in the trauma center for the next four days as the result of a crash. On a course like the Pierce of Cake, ability categories definitely was the best decision. My apologies to Rich. At my age, I tend to forget what I say from year to year. </FONT></P> <P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">As for the centerline issue, I believe that it is the responsibility of the riders to enforce it as well. In our 2/3 race, we called out infractions regarding two different racers in the last lap, and they both were disqualified. Self-policing definitely will discourage riders from what essentially is cheating by crossing the centerline to better their position. People need to realize that avoiding being caught in a bad position near the end of the race is part of the skill of racing, and it often requires the willingness to work at the front and not hide from the wind in the pack. If you do get caught in a bad position and cannot move up legally, the solution is to determine where you went wrong and adjust in the next race, and not decide to ignore the rules. In the Master categories, I think you will find that if you benefited from breaking the rules, you will realize at the end that you wasted your energy, as you will be DQed.</FONT></P> <P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial">With respect to the road without a centerline, most of us assumed that it did not apply to that road, it being no wider than one lane anyway and without a line to guide you. In that situation in a race, as long as there is a lead car, I do not think there is much that can be done or should be done. Essentially, the whole road was fair game, and with a lead car, the situation was fairly safe. If you are going to have a violation, you need a wider road with a clear boundary, which was not the case.</FONT></P> <P><B><I><FONT COLOR="#800000" SIZE=5 FACE="Bookman Old Style"> George Schreck</FONT></I></B><I></I> <BR><B><I><FONT COLOR="#800000" SIZE=4 FACE="Bookman Old Style"> Phone: (503) 813-7211</FONT></I></B><I></I> <BR><B><I><FONT COLOR="#800000" SIZE=4 FACE="Bookman Old Style"> Fax: (503) 813-7190</FONT></I></B><I></I> <BR><FONT FACE="Arial"> </FONT> </P> </BODY> </HTML> <P>------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br> <br> This email is confidential and may be legally privileged.<br> <br> It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else, unless expressly approved by the sender or an authorized addressee, is unauthorized.<br> <br> If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action omitted or taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you believe that you have received this email in error, please contact the sender, delete this e-mail and destroy all copies.<br> <br> ==============================================================================<br> </P> ------_=_NextPart_001_01C415D7.75BF4935-- |
