bbbean 

In the case of the local race, I know that both the STL county guidelines and the race organizer's guidelines were made in consultation with the CDC, local medical authorities, and a number of doctors and other health care professionals. That doesn't mean they didn't miss something, but its a far cry from simply being "made up".

Science moves slow and takes lots of wrong turns along the way. We'll fully understand this virus years from now. Until then, it's all an educated guess and a risk/reward calculation. I fully understand why some racers are opting to sit the season out. I was ambivalent about racing myself. But a review of the procedures and a few email exchanges with doctors I race with convinced me that I stood a better chance of crashing than I did of catching the virus if I followed the guidelines, so I raced. Eight days later, I'm not aware of any cases of Covid-19 associated with the event, but I know the organizers and participants are all keeping an eye out for reports. It was made clear to us that our ability to follow guidelines and minimize risk could determine whether racing happened again this year in STL or possibly in the US, so we had plenty of incentive to behave responsibly.

Ultimately, we all make dozens, if not hundreds of judgement calls every day about whether and when to mask, how often to wash, where we should go, how crowded is too crowded, etc.

himespau 

If you resign, is there someone as passionate about it as you to take up the mantel and keep things going once it's safe to do so. Is that person also as responsible as you to keep things closed when it's not safe?

bbbean 

People left the team because someone raced? I understand not going if you aren't comfortable racing yet, but why leave the team?

On a more positive not, which cat did they race and how did they do?

Psimet2001 

Did well. He raced cat 3 and masters I believe. Podium in the cat 3 I believe. There's been a bit of calling out and doxing in Illinois. If someone goes and does something in your team kit it's then researched via Strava and results and people are calling each other out or sending emails asking for public statements to condemn the action or activity. I got hit up last week by someone who is now no longer on the team saying the lack of a public statement was a deal breaker for her. I had another simply drop out of everything when the rider who raced mentioned on the team forum he was going to race.

These are people who have been important to the team since day one. All of them are. They are friends and have volunteered tons of time over the years. I'm barely keeping up with repairs and don't need this right now.

topflightpro

I opted not to race this past weekend. Just didn't seem necessary for me to travel to race right now. All my races are cancelled for the year. I'm looking at 2021.

I like racing, but I'm OK with everything being cancelled in the interest of general public health and safety.

What I find most interesting is that racing has been declining for years. Guys would rather do the local hammer ride than a real race. Now that races are being cancelled, it seems like a lot of those same people are screaming about it.

Psimet2001 

It was run before me and it will be run after me. At least if I am off the board when the crap hits the fan I don't have to clean myself off and shovel it all up. At the end of the day this is a hobby and I'm a volunteer. I've grown to the point where I recognize that I have done my part. I have little to no fight left in me and resigning might actually get people to listen up....don't know. maybe it's just me being crappy on a monday with a full shop yet I am in front of the computer complaining.

I learned long ago that no one in any role ever is completely irreplaceable. I have no doubt the organization would be fine without me.

Psimet2001 

Agreed. Its the group riders that used to race who seem to be the ones that complain the loudest. Masters racers...of course. One guy in Illinois spent a lot of time complaining and calling people out about our series, when it is, and then complaining when we officially cancelled it. Look up his results and he raced 1 or 2 times in the previous few years.

bbbean 

Congrats. I did two of the three master's races, and was pleasantly surprised to discover most of us were still fit, still had skills, and could put together a good race. A podium at Tilles was a podium to be proud of.

I hate to hear that. I'm afraid factionalism will do more damage to the racing community than the virus.

BB

rubiksoval

You can say that, and frankly, it doesn't really matter that much to me. Up until two weeks ago I was planning on racing myself.

But I copied and pasted from a letter detailing concerns from the LAs with recommendations from the actual CMO of USACycling. So in that context, yeah, they are just made up and some LAs are totally bull****ting their local health boards to get permits.

Again, what impact or concern you have with that personally isn't the point. The point is that there are some extremely opposing views about racing going around.

Doge

The Como Street ride has always been fast, and brought out many pros from USA to World Tour riders. Right now there is money on winning this KOM and my kid just lost his 8 places in one day after 134,890 attempts.
The KOM hunting seemed to have taken a break, but seems to be coming back - this time with little bits of cash put up by the riders. The amount is not significant, but it says it matters.
About 3:30 in this video.

wktmeow

Wow! Eddy has gotten fast! Seems like just yesterday I raced in the 3s with him at Dana Point

Doge

About every other post of min on this is about Como.
Now $400 for the hill. The biggest purse in the USA right now :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGto...MDAOOe8bWYIYYA

Hermes

I watched the video and when the peloton passed the store with motorcycles out front, I realized it was the Santiago Canyon Time Trial course less the climb along the bike path. I miss that TT.

Doge

I would not be surprised if the Rogers Cup purse is north of $1,000 this year. It would surprise me if it got to $5,000 but things are weird.

wattsupdoc

Not sure if it's been covered, but is racing on the table even in 2021 in the Northeast US? Massachusetts' phased opening plan can only get to phase 3 out of 4 without a "vaccine or proven treatment." Paired with their competitive sports guidelines, "moderate" and "higher" risk sports, which I would assume mass start events fit into, can't compete even in Phase 3 without modifications that limit close contact.

I get it, public health, but to think there essentially can't be racing without a vaccine despite being told we're in low risk areas and being pressured to pack kids and teachers into school buildings seems a bit contradictory. There might be caveats or details I'm missing, though.

gsteinb

They're already racing in PA. Albeit with masks.

There are definitely things that seem to be left out of this. For instance, like people mostly don't want to do it. So you take a sport with modest participation, toss a pandemic in the mix, and I'm not even sure how promoters who barely made money would be solvent.

I think a sport of mostly middle aged white guys is a pretty low priority compared to getting schools functioning. What you're seeing as a contradiction is really just priorities.

Psimet2001 

Well I just made it official and cancelled the last race that we typically put on each year. I was REALLY hoping when this all started that this race that would have been on Election week could have been one of the first real races back. It's all kind of meaningless at this point but the act of actually cancelling it has been hard on me. It's the first time in about a decade that I won't be putting on a race.

I do understand there's a lot of families dealing with a lot more serious "first time" situations than worrying about a race and I don't wish to lessen any of that.

Stay healthy and enjoy your ride.

himespau 

Psimet2001 , have you considered putting on a racing series on Zwift or Rouvy or one of the other online platforms?

AlgarveCycling

All our races here in Portugal were cancelled back in May, after the pro Volta ao Algarve. Some were postponed until October but obviously they have been cancelled too. Our entire amateur calendar is on hold until next year and further notice - I did one race this year, that's it.

Our Pro racing calendar has resumed of course in line with the rest of Europe but no amateur racing is permitted. We have just been riding in Groups of up to around 30 max on weekends and having the usual informal 'racing' that way.

cmh

It must be hard Psimet after putting your all into promoting races for years to have to cancel them. I hope we are all on next spring (and safely).

Psimet2001 

Meh - to me that's like watching paint dry. Just no appeal at all - right now. Who knows in a few years maybe I'll like it.

himespau 

Oh, I totally get that, I didn't know if it was possible to use one of those to set up a private race series that you could e-mail past racers from your series invites to so that you could keep the community in place. But yeah, I get not having an interest in dealing with all the garbage associated with that.

gsteinb

I thought you posted a while back you thought everything should be canceled?

I've basically written off next year at this point.

Psimet2001 

Oh I do think everything should be cancelled. This moment for me though would be similar to a racer receiving word that the race they have been training for is actually cancelled. They probably knew it was coming and most likely agree that it's the right thing but they still had some sort of hope it would happen.

I agree that the risks for next year will likely not have improved at all, but after having listened to USA Cycling talk the way they do they are going full steam towards as much racing as possibly next year. The states that don't really care are going to be having races left and right. It will be a year of asterisk as those willing to take risks will race everything they can and feel they are the champions while throngs of those who don't feel safe will continue to take shots at the participants ignorance while implying there's a lot of people who could have beat them that decided not to race.

No one will do well in that environment. All of us companies and sponsors will be saddled with choosing between exposure of our products or virtue signaling. Either choice will be torn to shreds. Such a pleasant thought.

topflightpro

I was talking with a promoter not too long ago about how some people were complaining about how they cancelled their fall season. He said that even after they cancelled, they thought they might be able to put on one event for fun. But then he saw the backlash and response to a couple of races that did happen and decided it wasn't worth the hassle.