| Subject: | RE: Junior Gearing. A Parent's Perspective. |
| Date: | 12/18/2000 12:26 AM |
| From: | Duncan, Todd |
|
As a former Junior myself, I raced under the Junior Gear Restriction rule in the mid 80's. It's not a hassle to have to go out and buy a new set of gears for yourself or for your junior racer in the family. The hassle comes when you have to go out and buy yourself or the junior racer in you family a new set of knees or other joints that have become damaged due to the forces put on them while riding. This is one of the larger concerns with this rule (among others), to protect young cyclists while they develop. Odd -----Original Message----- From: Rhonda Wilson [mailto:mrwi-@worldnet.att.net] Sent: Monday, December 18, 2000 10:24 AM To: ob-@topica.com Subject: [OBRA Chat] Junior Gearing. A Parent's Perspective. --- Support our Sponsor ------------------------------------ Build your family tree for free this holiday season. Ancestry.com is offering free access to the entire site until Dec 21, 2000. Come sign up today for totally free access, no credit card required. http://click.topica.com/aaaa50aVxiDpaVFJhYa/MyFamily_com ------------------------------------------------------------ As trainer, coach, chauffeur, equipment procurement specialist, clothier, personal nutritionalist, secretary, race volunteer, accomodations planning expert, and financier for a junior... I am against an OBRA rule on junior gearing. (I'm a mother of a junior) Let's establish a "guideline" instead. While I agree with the principle of teaching juniors to spin, I think that the gearing restriction puts an additional burden on two groups of people who are already overworked. 1. Race officials. I'm not an official myself, but I have assisted the officials during juniors competition. I remember helping out with a dozen little details that need to be done before the race. If you've worked a race in any capacity, you'll know what I mean: radios, flashing lights, lists of riders, maps - that sort of thing. To that, some people want to add either a roll-out or a counting of gear teeth? Has anyone noticed how difficult it is to get all of the juniors to the starting line on time much less getting them to a gear check a half-hour before the race? In my experience, the officials and race organizers already have enough to do. 2. Parents of juniors. I suppose that some of the older juniors can handle figuring out the gearing rule on their own but with a lot of juniors, the job goes to the parents. I don't know about other parents, but I personally spend a good deal of time getting Dustin properly equiped. My winter hobby seems to be searching the internet for new and used "stuff" for my growing son. It's not just the bike either. Clothes are expensive and not cheaper because they're small. Not only that, but Dustin refuses to cooperate when I tell him to stop outgrowing shoes. :\ Anyway, my point is simply that this is just one more equipment hassle that I don't need. All of this being said, I must admit that I did read and conform to the rule two years ago when we set up Dustin's first "serious" bike. Of course, I'm a mechanical engineer and found it to be a bit of a challenge ... I think that I'm the exception... Imagine my disappointment when nobody, ever, bothered to check! That brings up another point, creating a rule that is not enforced is unfair to those who conform. We shouldn't make this rule if we don't mean to enforce it. I think that we need to recognize that with juniors, there is a huge disparity between the most prepared and the least prepared. I've been to plenty of junior road events with younger kids riding mountain bikes sometimes with knobby tires. A gearing restriction, if enforced, would only serve to exclude beginners. Finally, I seriously doubt that restricting gearing will improve a junior's spinning. For a beginning junior, even a 52x16 is going to be too big of a gear much of the time. When Dustin was first learning, I rarely saw him use the largest sprocket of his triple. The only effective way to teach cadence is to ride with the junior and coach them as they go because every situation is different. What's too big a gear in one situation is too small a gear in another. I can see that for races like Junior Nationals - which are restricted to experienced and reasonably well-equiped juniors - a gearing rule may be sensible and practical. For most races, however, it seems impractical and ineffective. How about if we establish a guideline? Thanks for reading. Rhonda Wilson (aka Dustin's Mom) /=-=-=-=-Click Here & Support Our Sponsor-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=\ Imagine a credit card with a 0% introductory APR on purchases (for complete pricing information and important terms and conditions, please click on the link below). 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