agoodale

Don't mean to interrupt the car talk (I also drive a payment free old truck) but...I attended the our local race association meeting this weekend. A few interesting tid bits:

USA Cycling rule book is being completely re-written. Although not final yet these probable changes were highlighted:
* Upgrade period for 4->3, 3->2, & 2->1 will be expanded from 12 months to 24 or 36. Automatic upgrade points remains the same.
* For 1 day TTs riders may enter in their category or higher. Be prepared to be smoked by a cat 4 who's category sold out.
* Equipment limitation for jr. TTs

* Drug testing in local races got a big "Meh...". No details were given and there was very little discussion. My interpretation was that it won't happen this year.

* Race Directors now have to get certified by passing an online test. I foresee this certification getting more & more challenging in the future as USA Cycling is pushing races to become more professionally run to protect against lawsuits.

* There was a significant jump in new races for 2013 in SoCal. Many weekends will now have Sat & Sun racing options. Not sure if other districts are seeing the same increase.

TMonk

lets get a regular crit series in san diego please

wanders

They make it sound pretty terrifying. Almost like Stephen King inspired the concept.

"When you die, out in the middle of nowhere, we will not retrieve your carcass from the course. You are responsible for your own funeral arrangements."

merlinextraligh

If I do it, I'll go with the CTS group, so they can come pick up my corpse.

ericm979

I turned 40. You can't dye your hair unnatural colors and hang out in clubs when you're old. It's stupid. And I got really out of shape and had to Do Something. Just going to ride to get in shape turned into a few centuries, then the Death Ride, then racing.


I've done track schools in a racing kart and motorcycles. It's a whole nother level. But I like having a reasonably powerful car for the street (currently a Mazdaspeed3 with some mods), just because it's fun. I don't have to use all the power all the time. That said if I was going to be serious about driving I'd get an old Miata and do track days... or get a kart.

Creatre

What exactly does this mean, and which way is higher? So if I'm a Cat3 can I race Cat5 or Cat1? And does it have to be sold out, or just random? (I've never seen a TT around here sell out a category, usually only a couple people each category)

AMFJ

What about 5-->4 upgrade? I thought I read somewhere that it might be changed from the 10 finishes?

agoodale

Cat 3 can race Cat 2 or Cat 1. I'm not sure of the reason for the rule change.

big john

Cars suck, that's all you need to know.

agoodale

The 10 finishes requirement will remain the same. I don't recall if the time period will be expanded for cat 5s.

shovelhd

The triathageek lobby.

Creatre

Hmm odd.

That's probably the reason. But seems to me that doesn't really solve the problem though, because it's still not giving points out. As a person that has won multiple TTs I'd much rather have points from TTs than being able to race a category or more higher. That does me or Tri peeps no good other than a) give me more chances to lose b) give me (maybe) a little more money if I did good (though TTs usually give crap winnings).

merlinextraligh

Allowing people to upgrade on TT results would be a very bad idea. One of the reasons that upgrades are done on race results is to ensure that you're prepared to race safely at the category you're upgrading to. TT results would show you had the fitness to race at the higher category, but not necessarily the race skills.

Hence you'd end up with some strong triathletes racing Cat 2, with very little idea of what they were doing.

Perhaps you could allow a small portion to come from TT results, but beyond that it would be asking for trouble.

gsteinb

very

Creatre

I totally agree. Some triathletes are scary in a group. On the other hand, like no one does TTs because they don't give points, at least in this part of the country. We have omniums with a crit/tt one day and a rr the other. No one does the TT because it has almost zero benefit but to wear you down for the other races. I go for the omnium so I have an advantage from the lack of participation in the TT, but that often backfires in the later races because no one else woke up early and did the TT then sat around all afternoon for the 2nd race.

I think they could probably implement a system where you get maybe a 3-2-1pts (for 1st,2nd,3rd) and they only count if you have a minimum of 25 mass finishes or something. Maybe what they are doing here is the first step towards that though, at least TTs are getting some attention.

hammy56

shovelhd

We've got that now.

merlinextraligh

One possibility would be to give upgrade points for omnium results, similar to the way points are currently given for stage race results.

topflightpro

The TT rules change could be interesting.

My old cycling team puts on a TT each year to satisfy its USAC event requirement. TTs are generally pretty easy to put on. Unless the weather was bad, that TT generally gets between 100-150 riders, most of whom were triathletes.

There were a lot of ridiculously strong Cat 5s out there. But there is no incentive for a top-level triathlete to race as a 5 since USAC dictates that cat 5s can only win prizes and not cash. Allowing those triathletes to race in higher cats with bigger cash prizes might bring more people out.

caloso

Perhaps not a top-level triathlete, but there are plenty of serious age groupers who don't have any interest in buying a yearly USAC license for a handful of TT's. Instead they buy a one-day license and make off with all the points from the TT at the start of the M35+ 4/5 omnium. (Not that I was bitter about that or anything.)

agoodale

I think that's a good guess of what's going on. I think we all know some strong triathletes who would kick our ass in a TT (but we don't want to be near them during a group ride.)

Picking a good start time based on category would be another guess. If you're a triathlete and you're competing in a USAC race solely for training or personal goals then more choices for start times would be nice.

agoodale

The rule specifically stated it was only for 1 day TTs. Stage races were obviously excluded. I'm not sure of their stance on Omniums. Racing out of category would certainly screw up Omnium points. On the other hand they are officially multiple single day events. hmmm....

ridethecliche

I've been out of work for 3 months now. I think I should file for unemployment...
Hopefully I'll get enough to help pay for rent when I move back to boston so I can land a job without burning through all my pitiful savings...

Ultraslide

Holy smokes ...

jsutkeepspining

Speaking of cars, i have a couple fun stories. Most involve me realizing that my driving ability can not handle supercars, and that going over 130 is pretty scary.