miyata man

Found here along with a lot of other pertinent info. Looks like a really cool race to introduce yourself to all the good local roads.

Ttoc6

Saw all that stuff. It's an interesting format (check out the hill climb, kinda enduro style). Already managed to spawn quite the discussion on the UT cycling FB page. Glad there are people active on there. The post on their definitely brought out some people that ONLY race USAC sanctioned anything.

Only fear in an event like this is the possible lack of waiver / event insurance. I've done the non-sanctioned thing in OBRA before and that doesn't bother me. And I'd like to support a new, startup type race butttt not if it puts me at a big risk.

And they have to let me skip a stage cuz there is not way I'm making a 3pm race on my first day of work. Utah and their refusal to do anything on Sunday is going to be a big life change for me..

miyata man

The answer to getting a beer with the game on Sunday is always

WY tho

rubiksoval

So, usacycling's ranking system... Apparently some cycling miracle happened today and two of my results from the weekend magically morphed upwards, er, downwards...improved... in ranking numbers such that yesterday I was a 60.xx and today I'm a 56.xx and now currently ranked 7th for elite crit nats registration.

So that kind of makes me question the validity of the whole thing. Of course, if it keeps me in the top 30 once everyone is registered and gets me a call-up at nats, that would be...pleasant... but maybe/probably if it happened to me it'll happen to 80 other people and you'll need like a 54.xx ranking to be top 30 and get a nice front row seat to the big show.

Anyway, this is all very strange. Took me two seasons to get into the 70s and now all of the sudden I'm in the 50s. Not sure what's going on. Maybe it's just a glitch and tomorrow I'll be demoted back to 60s.

Edit: so now I'm ranked 50th in the nation in crits. Buwahahaaha. Think I'll go eat a cookie and celebrate.

Flatballer

Speaking of races without insurance, there's an unofficial run what ya brung evening training crit in Charlotte that I used to do and is a pretty popular ride among racers.

Last night there was apparently a crash, a bad one. The road is open but half coned off, just an industrial park. A tractor trailer appeared and bad things happened from there, although I'm not sure what. One guy has broken ribs, broken vertebrae and a head wound. And oh yeah, no health insurance.

I can't help but think I wouldn't race bikes in uninsured races of I didn't have personal insurance. Some folks are raising money online and look to be doing well for him.

Wylde06

That's one thing I like about my club races, we are usac insured. Our entry fee is only to cover the insurance cost and permit fees (we use 5 or 6 courses, so 5 or 6 permits).


Too bad about the crash, hopefully the guy heals up quick

globecanvas

That's awesome, but yeah ranking points have a high degree of randomness.

merlinextraligh

I wouldn't be relying on USAC's insurance either.

If you have no health insurance, your deductible is $5,000, which is likely quite a large sum for most people without health insurance. The maximum coverage is $25,000, which is chump change for a serious injury.

The USA Cycling Coverage is thus pretty much a joke. No way is it adequate if you don't already have health insurance.

And if you do have your own coverage, your policy is primary, and USA Cycling Policy pays 70% of the bills above the deductible, after the primary coverage is exhausted.

Which means it saves you Zero dollars if you have your own insurance.

topflightpro

I'm pretty sure a couple folks on here were able to use the USAC insurance to cover some of their crash-related bills. IIRC, Shovel and CanuckBelle were able to get some money through it.

Also, it must be paying something, because when I attend the annual promoters meeting, we are told that USAC race fees are going up due in large part to increased insurance claims, which are pushing up premiums.

himespau 

That's a pretty tight coverage window for injuries that can be traumatic. I guess it lets they say they cover injuries while not having to pay an arm and a leg. I guess it's better than nothing.

Reminds me of the coverage I bought in grad school (I was on a fellowship that gave me an allowance for health insurance but said I'd have to buy it myself - from the one choice the university offered). Seems like it was a grand a year, but the first time I went to use it they said, "sorry, we're secondary if you have anything else and it looks like you're eligible to be covered by your parents' insurance until you're 24, so we'll only pay after theirs runs out" (and my folks had no deductible, no copay, insurance up to a couple million or something insane through work). Pissed me off because I'd wasted that $1k that I didn't need to spend because it didn't do anything (and I just pocketed for the next year or 2 until I was in eligible for parental coverage), and I needed some medical treatments that I didn't want my parents to know about (the reason I'd gotten the personal coverage) and they got the insurance notice of coverage anyway.

rubiksoval

Today it looks like things have been "fixed". Back down to 59.xx and ranked in the 100s overall. I went to bed so happy, so fulfilled...

The glory was so sweet, yet so very fleeting.

merlinextraligh

I'm sure they have claims they pay. Every serious injury for a rider without health insurance, they pay $25,000. Even a trip to the ER on a small injury, they can have exposure when the bill goes over the $5,000 deductible.

On very serious injuries that hit limits of the rider's own insurance policy they also have the $25,000 exposure.

I'm sure USAC buys the policy that they do to keep thing as affordable as possible for promoters, and riders.

And if you have no insurance, it will pay 70% of your bills above $5,000, up to a maximum payout of $25,000

My point, however, is that the coverage is very limited, and you really need to have your own health insurance.

Ttoc6

I'll have my own health insurance (through my parents until I get it all transferred over). The bigger issue to me is the holding liable clause that is in the waiver. I want to make sure I'm not going to have any angry Fred's that try and take the whole race to court over a cracked frame in a crash.

I've had my scary moment with USAC insurance in my life time. They did right by me, but it definitely made me financially nervous for a number of weeks. Not again.

globecanvas

Totally off topic even for the off topic thread. But for two nights in a row now, something has opened the garbage bin, pulled out a bag of garbage, placed the bag on top of the recycling bin, closed the garbage bin, torn open the garbage bag and selectively eaten the protein without spilling any garbage on the ground.

We've had bears before and their method is more to knock the garbage can over and scatter the garbage all over the yard and eat absolutely everything out of it, including ripping open ketchup bottles. Raccoons have knocked the cans over in the past too but I don't think they could get the leverage to open the lid, pull out the bag, and close the lid afterwards. My kids suspect "hobos" but we don't live in the 1930s so it's probably not that. I'm thinking of setting up a camera trap tonight.

topflightpro

I vote hobos too. They really don't have much room in their handkerchief sack.

Ygduf

Quit throwing away protein.

caloso

Do you keep your protein in a pic-a-nic basket?

globecanvas

It was chicken bones and some 2 week old egg salad. I almost feel bad for the bear/raccoon/hobo.

Ttoc6

Woke up early this morning for the movers to come by. What an odd experience to watch your life's posessions leave the house you were raised in. I'll see it all again in 20 days, but for now I'm living out a duffel bag.

Sent one bike frame and I kept my road bike I've been riding most recently with me. So, with no school, and no responsibilities for 17 days (beside entertaining family coming in for graduation), I'm going to try and make the most of it.

mattm

Hobos. Or ghosts.

Hobos are still a thing, they just call themselves "gutter punks" and have more tattoos these days.

miyata man

Disclaimer: Ultrarunning Content


Three of the last four years I've showed up before dawn to do setup and run the main aid station at the local 24 hour ultramarathon. Then patrol the course backwards on a bike from sundown through dawn. This was the first year I actually had fun. Fun because it was unbearably humid and 90+ degrees which meant I was happily overworked the first 15 hours.

A second reason it was fun is we had one of the best female 24 hour runners in history, currently 2nd ranked internationally, show up again this year and make her entire family suffer through her 12 hour systems check before world's in a few weeks. She has done this race the last 5 years and was always really strong. Then this February she took the US Women's 24 hour record by running close to the best distance ever! (I forgot to ask for confirmation on exact "not internet records" placing, but for sure top 5 ever.)

Where that added to the environment overall, I personally enjoyed one of the women doing the 24 this year. She called the race organizer and asked if they could help her with support since she was unable to get anyone to come with her to help train for this hot mess. Keep in mind most people can't walk for a few days after running 100+ miles and she shows up alone far from home and just hopes it turns out well. It did, she was so fast she had to start walking laps to have someone to talk to and easily won the women's race. Wish I would have rode along and paced her more than I did. Not many people are still good company at that time of night and she was.

Most importantly, because the conditions were so awful everyone lowered their expectations early on and were fresh when it cooled off at night. I didn't spend all night riding around with the woman above because I'm there in an official capacity to look everyone in the face and assess their condition to continue. A dubious distinction if you've ever seen a number of 50-75 year old men bent into abnormal positions continue to beat themselves further into the ground. Not pulling anyone aside for medical attention is always a welcome outcome. Nobody was even getting weird other than the well seasoned guys dancing and playing music in the tent across from the aid station.




Given I'm not a runner and, to put it politely, shy away from any 'sports for charitable purposes' events the reasons why I participate are very simple. Nearly everyone involved with organizing it are the type of intelligent compassionate people that use their success in life to give back in meaningful ways rarely associated with the modern meaning of charity or 501 c 3 status. The few others are still in school or just beginning their adult lives. Instead of giving money or participating in endless meetings disassociated from those they will be impacting. They quietly make sure funds are available and give greatly of themselves in person where it is needed. In this case it's helping the next George Washington Carver, Jewel Plummer Cobb, Carlos Fuentes, or Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid's get an education and voice in the world where they otherwise might not have.

You can take it as given there are a lot of successful people involved at all levels helping bring others up to their level. The overall focus and reach goes much deeper into impacting everyday people. The women's winner this year is a teacher and I spent a good chunk of the night laughing at and with another. Much like the works this race supports, their involvement is with another organization that instills self confidence and opportunities where it wouldn't otherwise flourish. What they provide is minimal funds devoted towards running equipment and no commercial development of athletes. All of it is helping kids make the right choices in life by giving them the chance to see a path forwards and then after a few years introduce them to a healthy activity, running.

You'll notice I've avoided using any names here due to concerns about the internet and SEO optimized sites in particular. If any of the 20 odd regulars here desire further info you can contact me privately. Otherwise I hope you have enjoyed my short read on another endurance sport.

Doge

Can you make racers in a year?
Kid started a campaign to get some bike racers - who aren't bike riders from the undergrad population at school.
He's got a super fast LD runner (2:30 marathon kind) signed up and a very fit cross country skier who reports were on a training ride was dropping all but a few. The goal is a TTT team that is better than this year's was.

This concept of recruiting already fit athletes and bringing them into the sport is a new one to me.

topflightpro

How so? Isn't this what you were doing with Daniel and rowing - trying to transfer his cycling fitness into a rowing scholarship?

miyata man

Speed skaters in particular are highly favored choices for national teams whose cyclists can't be retrained. Sort of like when the US couldn't show up in Europe without being laughed out off the continent.

Doge

Now that you bring it up - I did it and it didn't work.

This is the other direction ->Cycling. Have you seen others already "as fit" recruited from others sports into cycling?
How did it work out?

There are a few parts here...
-Athlete.
With already developed aerobic system, and not moving due to injury, both (so far two) these guys are good in their respective sports. Both, like Daniel, have other priorities now, so free from the "going pro" concerns.

-Recruited.
So they did not "naturally" decide to get into cycling. That is a very subtle thing but the primary reason Daniel didn't keep rowing was he didn't want to leave cycling and the carrot was not worth it to him. So it didn't work for him from a rowing perspective. He viewed both cycling and rowing as non-career activities, so it didn't matter. It is similar here. The carrots are freedom (cyclist get off-base training privileges), team and perks maybe not in the other sports.