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Old 12-04-18, 08:46 AM
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topflightpro
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Originally Posted by cmh
Thousands of people pay lots of money to enter a Gran Fondo where they have virtually zero chance of winning (unless you happen to be the national champ or protour racer on that day). But if a promoter divides the races into categories so many more people have a chance of winning, and charges 1/2 the entry fee, then nobody will race unless they are one of those people with a winning chance. This is a good topic for a 'Hidden Brain' podcast.

Edit: I'm not trying to single you out furiousferret, I think a lot of people want to enter 'mostly' bike races where they have a chance to win. Just so happens that you wrote that feeling a few posts back.
For many, the Fondo is like a marathon - You do it to say you completed it. Yeah, there are lots of people competing to win the Boston or New York Marathon, but for probably 95 percent of the participants, they want that finishers medal. Fondos are the same. Most weekend warriors aren't going out and riding 100+ miles through the mountains every weekend - I certainly don't. But you organize such a ride and charge a fee and provide support, they now have an event to train for and attempt to complete. They can tell their friends, family, and coworkers that they did a race (it is a race) and finished.

Nothing wrong with that. And we should really stop looking down on that. More people on bikes benefits everyone, including the roadies who still race.

And there is a difference between lining up for a big event like a Fondo once or twice a year, where you don't have a chance of winning, and lining up at your weekly crit, and know you have no chance of winning. If you keep going out to crits and you keep being shuttled out the back, it's not fun. Even at the higher levels, people stop having fun being pack fodder. Take AaronMcD for example. He was crushing it in the 5s and 4s. He was super strong and competitive in the 3s. Now he is a 2, and from all of his reports, it sounds like he is basically pack fodder and isn't having as much fun as he used to. (Aaron, if I have that wrong, please feel free to correct me.)

Last edited by topflightpro; 12-04-18 at 12:08 PM.
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