.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Don't make me race against anyone who's faster (or younger) than me - Whuh wuh whaaaah
It seems lately that I'm getting a strong push on both the dirt and road side for "micro-categories."
Racers saying they don't want to race because they don't like something about their category:
Masters 3/4 don't want to race if they have to ride with Masters 1/2.
Masters 1/2 don't want to race if they have to ride with the young 1/2s.
Masters 40+ don't think they should have to compete with Masters 35+.
Women asking for women's Masters category.
Cat 4/5s over 35 or 40 y.o. who want a masters subgroup in the Cat 4/5 race so they don't have to ride with the fast guys in the Masters race.
(Hmm, most of my grief seems to come from Masters racers.)
SingleSpeeders who want age subgroups.
Big racers who want Clydesdale groups.
Etc., etc., etc.
I'm really starting to question what the point of it all is. Does a racer feel bad thinking they finished 15th out of 30, but feel better if they were 4th out of 8, and better still if they were 2nd out of 4? Do we just keep narrowing the groups until they all consist of 3 racers, and all 3 get to "podium."
At the end of the day, 9.5 times out of 10 the racer who comes out on top will be the one who rides the most, has the better genetic gift, is the most determined, trains the hardest, ate a better breakfast, has skills, has good equipment for the job, and had a good night's rest. Those factors count for an order of magnitude more on race day than whether they are in the within the same 10 year age bracket.
At some point shouldn't we all focus more on challenging our personal limits than on how thinly we can slice the subgroups?
There's only so many juliennes in a frog hair.
.
Racers saying they don't want to race because they don't like something about their category:
Masters 3/4 don't want to race if they have to ride with Masters 1/2.
Masters 1/2 don't want to race if they have to ride with the young 1/2s.
Masters 40+ don't think they should have to compete with Masters 35+.
Women asking for women's Masters category.
Cat 4/5s over 35 or 40 y.o. who want a masters subgroup in the Cat 4/5 race so they don't have to ride with the fast guys in the Masters race.
(Hmm, most of my grief seems to come from Masters racers.)
SingleSpeeders who want age subgroups.
Big racers who want Clydesdale groups.
Etc., etc., etc.
I'm really starting to question what the point of it all is. Does a racer feel bad thinking they finished 15th out of 30, but feel better if they were 4th out of 8, and better still if they were 2nd out of 4? Do we just keep narrowing the groups until they all consist of 3 racers, and all 3 get to "podium."
At the end of the day, 9.5 times out of 10 the racer who comes out on top will be the one who rides the most, has the better genetic gift, is the most determined, trains the hardest, ate a better breakfast, has skills, has good equipment for the job, and had a good night's rest. Those factors count for an order of magnitude more on race day than whether they are in the within the same 10 year age bracket.
At some point shouldn't we all focus more on challenging our personal limits than on how thinly we can slice the subgroups?
There's only so many juliennes in a frog hair.
.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
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