Originally Posted by
Phatman
The gear restriction isn't a lifetime thing, and I tend to think its a good thing. I'm not sure I can definitely say that the lower gears improve pedaling technique, but I think that its probably good thing for kids under 18 to be handicapped when compared to adult riders, it effectively prevents overeager parents from pushing their kids too hard and too early into world class competition. Other sports have age-grouping leagues to limit this, like little league baseball and the high-school-->college-->professional progression in football. In sports that don't have those systems like gymnastics or some extent, track and field, you get a decent amount of exploited kids that burn out before they reach adult competition.
You have examples of other sports where a kid is playing the adult pros and they are limited? If a little league player was good enough for the AAA they would have a bat restriction? The progressions you list are for all competing in a class having the same restrictions. The point of rules in the open classes is not to coach, not to teach. They are to provide a fair even competition so we can find who the best is. If the idea is to teach and coach, why not apply it to everyone in that class. Why does a Cat 5 30 old beginner not need to learn how to spin and Cat 1 and Pro kids do?
Rules being about parenting? My parenting would say a rider forced to spin higher RPMs is subject to injuries that a rider that can shift [to a bigger gear] is not. World Class Completion happens years before they get the big gears. They can get WT contracts while still on restrictions, the parent pushing thing is not valid they must compete at the world class level as a kid to get the contract later (Primoz and a few others being an exception), not that that should be the point of a rule either.