Originally Posted by
Doge
My experience is primarily the youth (15-16) and junior (17-18), the "local" kremese and the junior UCI stage races. While most finishes are well protected, mid race, anything they can ride on goes. As you know, a sidewalk may have a 3" curb. More often than not, if the kids can jump onto the sidewalk to cut the apex, they will. Daniel was not into that level of risk, and generally did better on open road vs city. I did see a number of crashes. So while I accept the skill is high, seems the risks taken may be higher still. Not all that different than the Redlands PRT crit with 6+ crashes by pros.
oh, yeah--that was definitely the case in this race. a couple sections of the course had barricades, and while the course was closed that didn't mean riders only rode on the road -- anything was fair game, and jumping on/off the curb happened rapidly and randomly. if i was a spectator in some of those sections, i'd have been on high alert.
an analogy i'd draw is that i grew up driving in cities and merging into highway-speed traffic was normal, but after living in a rural area for a long time i lost that 'edge.' after a couple days back in that atmosphere, it all comes back to me. the level of danger is the same but you get accustomed to it. i suspect the same would have been true after a few more races.
Originally Posted by
Doge
Driving in Portugal with my wife I commented these drivers were crazy - they must be crashing. I went home and looked it up. Yup, they die more per mile than in the USA.
driving in paris @ rush hour was way more intense than any bicycle race, but i feel like bike racing prepares me for tough driving conditions. anyone else feel that way?
the 12-exit roundabout around the arc d'triomphe on the champs was super intense. when i picked up my wife & kid at the airport and drove them downtown my wife's comment was,
'i could say alot of bad things about you, but a lack of guts is not one of them.' maybe she could have chosen her words a bit better.
i'd say that driving around brussels within minutes of picking up my rental car (after not having driven stick for 20+ years!) while trying to figure out directions AND eat my breakfast was maybe even more intense.
Originally Posted by
Doge
My basic view of competitive cycling is it is a European sport. They want it more and will do more to win (than us over here). That was Daniel's take away too on being a pro. He said he'd have to move to Europe - and he didn't want to. So that was settled. Way to kill a dream, but also great timing.
well, better to figure it out sooner rather than later. dreams change over time.
the same could be said of many things: for example, there are kids who actually realize the importance of college w/r/t landing a good job, and they treat it that way; many others are just coasting through and treat it more like a hobby. racing there isn't *just* a hobby -- it's a way out.
maybe that's like junior football here?