My little post:
http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...bethel_10.html
I didn't mention my thoughts about one rider during the race. I was riding along, minding my own business, when I saw a cross bike. Thought, ah, see, there are cross bikes here. I didn't see any last week but here's one. Not the 10 or 15 I expected, but one is better than none.
Hey, it's Ridley.
Wait, didn't someone post something in BF about putting together a Ridley for Bethel because it wasn't a priority race? Probably this guy. I looked over the bike. Pretty sweet for a "backup" bike.
So I kept my eye on how the guy was going whenever I ended up near/behind him. Seemed pretty fit, rode smooth, all that.
After the race, I went to the officials to talk to them about some fisticuffs thrown in the race. He mentioned he DQ'ed someone for taking their hands off the bars in the sprint. Whatever, I wanted to talk to the boxers on bikes.
I found them, talked to each of them individually, and asked both of them to talk to each other. Now one guy helps out all day so I have a conflict of interest there, but the other guy has been coming to Bethel forever and is normally a nice, upstanding guy. They both start talking (in a civil way), official comes over. That's when Mister Ridley Cross Bike comes over and introduces himself as a BF guy so I leave the two boxers alone.
I hear at some point "Then you're disqualified" from the official to the guy that helps out (he'd already DQ'ed the other nice guy). Helper guy starts to protest (that's mighty thin ice you tread when you try and argue with an official's call) and the official simply repeated his call. The other promoter actually talked to him after they left the course (after the P-1-2-3 race) and basically told him that he can't pull that kind of sh*t in a race, and if an official says something to you, you can't mouth back.
Anyway, after DQ'ing both of those guys, official walks over as IrishPat and I are talking. He notes IP's number.
"You number 58?" to IP.
"Yeah."
"You're disqualified for taking your hands off the bars."
IP's face just went into shock. Man did I feel bad. I left to let Pat talk it out with some privacy. To his credit he wasn't a jerk or anything about it. Apparently he knows the rules about not mouthing back at the official.
Anyway, IP rode a pretty good race because a lot of good guys weren't there for the sprint and it was very tight coming into it.
cdr