baribari

I have heard of hillclimb races with different weight classes.... not to mention age categories.

But handicapped road racing would be punishing faster riders for staying in shape.... which is pretty ridiculous. It's almost like having a tennis tournament where the better players have to play left-handed.

PepeM

Your idea would only 'level the playing field' (it wouldn't really, Nairo Quintana with a 30lbs ballast added to his bicycle would get absolutely destroyed by Tom Dumoulin, but lets assume the weight handicap was applied correctly) on mountains, where weight matters most. How about flat races where small guys like Nairo have no chance of ever winning? Should they be allowed to carry a small motor so that they can produce similar power to the big guys in order to level the playing field? Or should the big guys wear a small parachute so the climbers can challenge the sprints?

Lanterne Rogue

Pretty easy to tell on this thread who is an elf and who is not.

Bandera

It's even easier to tell who has experience actually racing bicycles and who does not.

-Bandera

Jarrett2

OP, maybe on a struggling local racing circuit, some sort of class division might make sense to get people to sign up; but at the highest level of any sport fans only want to see the best compete.

Sy Reene

It's about creating an additional definition of "best". Who can have the best time in a eg. 100 mile race moving a combined eg. 200 lbs of bike+rider?

svtmike

Gosh that would be soooooo exciting. I would be on pins and needles for the weigh in to see which class my rider crush was in on any given day.

Bandera

Like separating races by sex, age and experience in Track, Road and Cyclo Cross disciplines?
A "Beginner Racer" program with Cycling Clubs affiliated to a National program that is itself affiliated to Olympic and Professional cycling organizations "might make sense to get people to sign up".

Oh, Look!

https://www.usacycling.org/

RPK79

This divisive class warfare garbage needs to go to P&R.

Jarrett2

Nope

By weight. Like this thread is discussing.

Bandera

Sheer utter nonsense.

-Bandera

Sy Reene

Perhaps in the same vein as a precedent is limitations on gears in junior cycling. Per USA Cyling "Junior gear restrictions also level the playing field for developing juniors who may be at a disadvantage against rivals who possess physical advantages such as height and power."

baribari

Yeah, but the primary reason for is to prevent injuries, no? And leveling the playing field for CHILDREN is entirely different from handicapping people simply for being in shape. You don't want a 5'9" 160 pound 13 year-old dominating a 5'2" 100 pound 13 year-old because killing a kid's motivation would be bad for the sport.

CliffordK

As I mentioned earlier, the DRT races do that to some extent. Carry yourself + 100 or 200 pounds of cargo. But, everyone gets approximately the same cargo based on the race category. Still, the cargo vs body weight would be greater for the lighter riders.

As far as bumping every rider to 200 lbs... What about the 300 pound riders? Hydrogen Balloons?

I wrestled in High School. 148 lbs.
During practice, I'd wrestle kids from 98 lbs up to 250 lbs.

I could tell there was a HUGE difference in strength between my weight, and those who were, 98 lbs, or 170 lbs. And, those that were 250+, they weren't always that fast, but you didn't want to get underneath them

Anyway, it would place exceptional demands on a 100 pound rider to carry 100 pounds of added cargo and race against a 200 pound rider with no added cargo.

generalkdi

Yes, the other major factor is Dope.