| Subject: | RE: FW: last Sundays race |
| Date: | 08/30/2001 01:06 AM |
| From: | Mark Greenwood |
|
I'm sorry to hear this person had a bad experience. The course was great, and for what little exposure I had to the residents they seemed friendly. I didn't detect any rudeness from the local motorists, as sometimes happens. This brings up something that has disturbed me, though. Very often, I have heard a significant amount of foul language being used at race venues. Not by a majority of people, mind you, but all it takes is a few. What language people use amongst themselves isn't really any of my business, but I hope those who aren't so careful about censoring their conversations might consider that there are often young kids present at these races. I'm sure most of the parents would prefer that you spare their kids from learning all kinds of "interesting" new words. And as indicated in this case, it doesn't do much for our PR with the general public. I'd ask that people at least consider who's in the vicinity at our events before they speak so freely. Let's set a good example and save the "adult" language for other areas... Chris Bright wrote: Fellow OBRA members, This morning I received an e-mail (see below) which I wanted to share with everyone from a resident of St. Paul regarding last Sunday's TT. This person took the time to write an e-mail to share his/her experiences which, unfortunately, were not positive. Admittedly, this person probably has an axe to grind and, to my knowledge, this is the only piece of negative feedback that we've received (other than a perturbed motorist) so I don't want to blow it out of proportion. However, this person lives in St. Paul and can *easily* prevent us from holding the TT there again by contacting his/her local government (in such a small town, this person probably sees the mayor regularly). We have received enthusiastic reviews of the course so it would be a shame to lose it. My point in sharing this e-mail is to remind everyone that we are guests in any town in which we visit. We are privileged to be there, not entitled, so we need to try to make even those residents with negative opinions learn to like us. It is very difficult to find locations for races and we need to treasure them. We spend a lot of time to find TT courses that are safe and accessible and they are hard to come by. From my perspective I thought we all behaved well but we need to try even harder. Thanks for reading, Chris -----Original Message----- From: Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 7:59 AM To: cbri-@pixelworks.com Subject: re: last Sundays race Hello. I live in St. Paul, Oregon. Last Sunday, I walked the "loop", which takes me in front of the high school and thru town. In case you've ever wondered why you get such a cool reception to descending upon small towns, let me explain my experience. Face on, coming directly towards me, I encountered, conservatively, at least 50 bicylce riders. Of those 50, 2 nodded in my direction, 1 actually said good morning. (They were all males; not sure if that has any meaning..) The other 47 looked down or away, or just looked at me as they rode by. One was extremely put out that I wouldn't get out of his way. I encountered loud conversations, several with language, fairly unimpressive on a Sunday morning. Why aren't you having your races on Lower Drive in Lake Oswego? Is it because you've worn out your welcome there? Or most likely, that your neighbors don't want several hundred rude sportsman descending upon them? On your web page, you caution your riders to "please be courteous!" As a group, bicycle riders are known to be rude, and obnoxious, and known to completely think they are above the law. They do not obey stop signs, and use no common sense when encountering semi-trucks, farm equipment and on-coming traffic. Do you wonder why? |
