"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - post your number collection

Was saving these up for one of those elevengear jackets... Or I could keep going and weatherseal the house if I keep at this for a while...

How big's your collection?

stopped counting after ten
maybe 1000, give or take a couple hundred
the majority between 1992-2003

not the sentimental type.

besides, you have to give your numbers back after a race "over there."

I was supposed to keep my numbers ?

I was supposed to keep my numbers ?

here's a pic take inside of creakyknee's house.

http://adamunderhill.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/hoarders29.jpg

Occasionally if I win a jersey I'll keep the number attached to it. CDR has a major number hoarding issue.

Take the first 6 numbers and play the 6/49. I garentee you a 99% chance of winning.

i kept my first one; i'm not really interested in the others. impressive stack, though.

I kept just one 777 :D

Was saving these up for one of those elevengear jackets... Or I could keep going and weatherseal the house if I keep at this for a while...

How big's your collection?

Tidy up your desk. It'll make the stack look bigger.

I was supposed to keep my numbers ?

most of them are "participant's ribbons"

CDR has a major number hoarding issue.

Yes.

I make short notes on the back of each number. If I forget (usually if I do a bunch of races in a row, like Sat, Sun, Tues, Sat etc) I may forget to write the notes. If the number is generic then I'll toss the number.

Also I'll toss if I raced really poorly, although in some years that was still better than not racing so I'll make the note "attacked at gun, dropped in 1.5 laps" and keep the number.

My first number was #53, painted on the back side of a rectangle of vinyl table cloth. I think I kept it for the $1 deposit but I'd have to put my hand on it before I could confirm I kept it.

I kept one number from Belgium - the others I returned, and because I did so badly in the races, and because they didn't have change, I usually got my whole entry fee back.

Come to think of it, I should have kept one. Many years ago I got the number 69 at a race. The attractive woman at registration made a comment about it ...... <snip> ... <snip> .... <snip> ...... Leaving her apartment, I waved goodbye and headed off to meet up with some friends in Aspen .......

Tidy up your desk. It'll make the stack look bigger.

I see what you did there.

I thought it would be fun keeping them but I started using glue mid-season and the fun quickly went away. Tossed 'em.

I think I'm up to 32 races now.

I tack them to the wall in my garage with a date, the result, and a short note about how the race went. Space has become limited so I'm going to have to find another use for them soon.

I'll play. Best finish is two 4th places in there and a pretty good handful of top tens in crits. The podium still alludes me.272829

Wait, so you guys are getting new numbers for each race?

In WA we have one (cloth) number, and we use it all season. Of course for stage races and omniums we get the tyvec ones.

Wait, so you guys are getting new numbers for each race?

In WA we have one (cloth) number, and we use it all season. Of course for stage races and omniums we get the tyvec ones.

wait, so you've only raced in one state?

Wait, so you guys are getting new numbers for each race?

In WA we have one (cloth) number, and we use it all season. Of course for stage races and omniums we get the tyvec ones.

Yeah every time I propose that plan here in Tex it's explained to me (as if I am a small child) how it's impossible, can't work, etc.

Wait, so you guys are getting new numbers for each race?

In WA we have one (cloth) number, and we use it all season. Of course for stage races and omniums we get the tyvec ones.

WA = small racing population.

USA Cycling shows 900+ California racers with results in Cat 3 alone. I'm sure TX, FL, NY, CO, etc... have the same problem.

In the race we promote we typically get 500-800 racers over the weekend. It gets tricky just to get racers to keep a number for 3 days with that many.

once we all have chips implanted in our skulls this won't be a problem.

once we all have chips implanted in our skulls this won't be a problem.

My wife's church showed here a movie about this day when she was in Kindergarten. "Rapture" I think it was called. I'm pretty sure all the bike racers burned in the end. So as you say....no problem.

Come to think of it, I should have kept one. Many years ago I got the number 69 at a race. The attractive woman at registration made a comment about it ...... <snip> ... <snip> .... <snip> ...... Leaving her apartment, I waved goodbye and headed off to meet up with some friends in Aspen .......

I won a race series a few years ago where the prize was a trophy and a yellow number. The number I got was 69. Unfortunately I misplaced it before I got a chance to frame it. Some day it will turn up and I'll hang it on the wall.

Other than that I don't save numbers, except for wadded up in my gear bag until I throw them out.

Yeah every time I propose that plan here in Tex it's explained to me (as if I am a small child) how it's impossible, can't work, etc.

If you have a reasonably large population of transient riders (like in SoCal) then it's a major hassle to have some people with permanent numbers and others with temp, or numbers that have to be returned. Plus if you have a lot of riders you've either got degeneracy or long numbers, which are effectively degenerate because a lot of the time officials only look at the trailing digits.

I put on track races for 6 years, where we had a fixed location and only one promoting organization, and a smaller potential population of riders, but it always seemed like too much hassle to us to do permanent numbers. We regularly had large numbers of out of town riders, and even within SoCal the people who show up vary significantly-- we could sell out the 1/2 field two races in a row and have the number of people who did both be only a few.

I use new numbers every week in the Bethel Spring Series. A number of racers asked why I don't have them reuse numbers. It's difficult - my spreadsheet lookup doesn't work without consecutive numbers so it'd take me learning a lot or having a really long list of starters (because I'd have to set aside a bazillion numbers for each field). Plus the trailing digits (last 2 numbers) shouldn't repeat else the officials get confused.

The primary reason for not doing it is that when we did use the same number each week we had a dramatic drop off of registrants in the later weeks but the same size fields. We had a lot of riders "warming up" nearby and jumping in the race. Although there are a lot of things wrong with that the biggest thing is that the insurance policy goes out the window at that point.

I managed to use the same number for the Tues Night Worlds for this whole season. Leaving it in the car, along with about 30 pins, made it possible. And yes I paid each week.

wait, so you've only raced in one state?

incorrect

I make short notes on the back of each number.

That's what I do too. Keep it down to only 1 word. So my collection of race numbers, from good to bad, have the following written on the back:

First
Second
Second
Fourth
Seventh
..
..
Sucked
Sucked
Sucked
Sucked bad
Flated
Sick

I'd rather post my jersey collection (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_-dr8QLLd9Fg/TQuH12J3YCI/AAAAAAAAGHY/OjyRmB-uvrY/s1600/JerseyCow1.jpg).

wait, so you've only raced in one state?

incorrect

"Delusional state" doesn't count.

"Delusional state" doesn't count.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/botto/bf/a5d2aa1f.gif