Hermes

BTW, nice SRM. Now you can have confidence in your level of pain.

Racer Ex 

I look at the bathtub as being half full.

<rimshot>

IBOHUNT

Optimism, gotta love it

Racer Ex 

Front disc wheel or trispoke?

Wind from SW
Gusts 75.4 mph

On the bright side it's only hitting 60 at the moment.

revchuck 

Jameson's.

Racer Ex 

Makers 46.

Ten miles up the road:

[TABLE="class: weather-summary"]
[TR]
[TH][/TH]
[TH]High[/TH]
[TH]Low
[/TH]
[TH]Average[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR="class: data-speed"]
[TD]Wind Speed[/TD]
[TD]88 mph[/TD]
[TD]--[/TD]
[TD]67.6 mph[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="class: data-gust"]
[TD]Wind Gust[/TD]
[TD]114 mph[/TD]
[TD]--[/TD]
[TD]--[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

My guess? Chairlifts were on hold.

IBOHUNT

Avg 67. Still good to go with a Disc as long as it's not me .

IBOHUNT

Apple Pie ~125 proof

Racer Ex 

There are worse thing than having a dog use you as a pillow.

Hermes

As long as she is German and not passed out.

AzTallRider

True dat!

LAJ

Hermes

I am skiing for a few days and awaiting the delivery of my new power meter.

Racer Ex 

Take your head out of the oven. There are people who are worse off.

sarals 

Happy Birthday, Ex!

revchuck 

Rouge-Roubaix's registration is now closed. 70 signed up in the M40+/M55+ race, the biggest field I've raced in to date. All the local heavy hitters are there, including a bunch of Cat 1/2 guys in their early 40s, plus a ton of folks from out of state. This is gonna hurt.

Cleave

Hi. Found a place to store my rain bike in Everett. Now I've got to pack it up with the appropriate accoutrements and pay Alaska Airlines to fly it up there on my next trip -- one week from this coming Monday. Met a guy this past week who races a little and he said he can introduce me to some folks who live in the area and can recommend some training loops. Next step is to get out of work early enough to train.

It will be interesting to see how this works out because the area is hilly and my rain bike is a single-speed.

sarals 

I've gone from four teammates a month ago to one today. Heidi crashed today in the Bariani Road Race. She was pinched off from the left and the rider in front of her hit her brakes at the same time. She had a wheel overlap and touch and then went down. She has injured her hip, shoulder, and arm. So far as we know, nothing is broken. Norma crashed out in the Folsom crit, and fractured her pelvis. So, it's now me and Yvonne, and we don't match up well. Heidi was a good bridge between us, and Norma and I matched very well. How the chips fall? This had promise of being a really good season. There have been a LOT of crashes in the women's fields in NCNCA so far this year (three in one race last week). Why? The fields have been big, and promoters have been combining fields. Heidi crashed in a combined P 1/2/3 and M35+ Open race. Norma was in a 3/4 M35+ field. Varying strength, ability, and experience seems to be the thread. I hope a discussion opens quickly about this. I'm on the NCNCA Women's Committee. Our mission is to attract women to racing and hopefully retain them. If this carnage keeps up, that mission is going to be difficult to sustain.

sarals 

I'll say!!

IBOHUNT

Dang Sara. I hope that everybody heals quickly

shovelhd

No kidding. Tough way to start the season.

happybday29475

Sara, that's a very tough way to begin the season.

It also strikes close to home. I'd like to see the sport grow as well, as well as become safer, and I agree with you that the 2 are closely linked.

Here in CO, I know lots of strong riders/racers who won't go near crits because of the perception of danger. As an anecdote, I had a couple of strong cyclist friends watch come watch a crit last summer. I talked them into it because there was a pub with outside tables right on the course. As it happened, LAJ's crash happened right in front of them, and also they witnessed a couple of other ambulance rides over the course of their beers. Their judgement on racing? "No thanks, it's not for me", and there's no getting them back.

I think that if USAC/anybody else wants to grow the sport, this needs to change. These days, it's tough enough to grow a sport that doesn't reward participation, since there are so many alternatives that do. If you then throw in a hurdle of having to overcome a relatively high comfort level with risk, well then you get a niche sport.

Like many, I advocate crit skills training and practice. I'd like to see the cat 5 category events really emphasis education rather than just finishing.

Also, and less commonly discussed, I think there should be a greater emphasis on safe course design. This is emphasized in the road (car) racing world, where modern tracks are largely designed so that dangerous corners have sufficient clear run-outs that lack in walls, posts, or trees. It's my experience that crits are run wherever they can get permitted, which is difficult enough but yet does not give consideration to course safety. I would guess that chief referees have to approve of a course before a race is held, but in my opinion they are either unversed in safe course design or are under other pressures since permits are so tough to get these days.

LAJ

very well said rapwithtom.

I also sympathize with Sara, and it is a tough way to start the season. After reading that, it did remind me of last season, as thee gals were dropping like flies, for some reason. The early races for them were particularly bad, but those races weren't on courses known for trouble.

I firmly believe in the skills training part of racing, but getting folks to show up, even to the ones put on by our team, was futile. It's a shame, but it's usually the case. I like to think I know how to ride, but the crash thing tends to prove otherwise, so I was the first, and usually one of just a few, to sign up.

Very fit older folks that can't ride a bike, is the common theme here, and it would be good to implement something along rapwithtom's thoughts.

Course design is a great idea, and needs to be better thought out. Sadly, folks are going to run into each other, even if they race on a drag strip, if they can't ride a bike.

shovelhd

I agree. It's a double edged sword though. You need races to grow the sport, but there are some dangerous courses being permitted. That doesn't mean technical, there's a difference.

Another missing piece is rider discipline. It's a he said she said situation when a rider is reported for illegal or dangerous riding. The same crap happens from the same offenders. The rider reporting tool is a start but it will take more than this. Again, a double edged sword.

sarals 

Tom, thank you!

The women's fields are such a mixed bag. There are 3's who have catted up because they're strong and they won races. But, they can't handle a bike bolted to a trainer (sorry if I'm being mean). I had another girlfriend in the Bariani race, who ended up going off the back and tried to put together a chase group with some other women. These riders were all 3's, and 3's can ride, right? I guess not! She said there were five other women, and only two of them had a clue about a paceline, and that some of them had the idea that holding a line was something that was three feet wide. Scary.

In the RKO Livermore crit the week before, of the three crashes in the women's 3/4 field, two of the riders who went down weren't even touched before they lost control. There is video of it. They freaked out because they were being pinched, or they thought they were. Nonsense!

What can be done about that? Clinics? Yeah, but that's not the complete answer. Mentoring? Mentors can't see the whole field. A women's cat 5? Stricter upgrade requirements, like maybe a road test? I don't know.