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Impact of Pandemic on Racing

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Impact of Pandemic on Racing

Old 04-14-20, 07:01 PM
  #226  
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USAC stuff was on a bit of a decline before this hit... especially SCNCA. We'll have to see how we bounce back from this. Ultimately/some day people will still want to put spandex on and chase each other around, but from an organizational perspective it might be totally different, and we might have to grow handlebar mustaches, get gravel bikes and start saying "rad" a lot more.

Personally I was really only jazzed for district TTT elite's, our local TT series (non-USAC) and weekly track racing (non-USAC). I've already got 8 USAC race days for the year, only needed 2 more to get my team benefits. We'll see what (if..) they do anything for me there. I'd be fine going without race reimbursement if it meant the San Diego Bicycle Club stays afloat at large. I already got free clothing out of it anyway.

I think I'll miss track the most - I've got good legs this year and was looking forward to attacking the longer scratch/points races!!!
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Old 04-15-20, 06:37 AM
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****.. I say rad a lot. And I get my gravel bike back from the shop tomorrow.. Am I part of the problem?
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Old 04-15-20, 07:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Ttoc6
****.. I say rad a lot. And I get my gravel bike back from the shop tomorrow.. Am I part of the problem?
Maybe...

Lol j/k man. Just messin', and trying to convey that gravel is popular (around here) among the more "hip" and trendy crowd.

A couple weekends ago it was supposed to be the SDMBA "Arch" ride that we did together when you were visiting San Diego - it was a highlight for me and I'm totally bummed that I missed it. For all else, the Archipelago ride is a ~45 mi trail ride with ~5,000' elevation taking a neat meandering route on typically closed county or private trails that connect "islands" of open space in San Diego, ending at a local brewery. It's a total blast!



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Old 04-15-20, 07:41 AM
  #229  
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That was such a fun ride @TMonk. I've been getting the flashback pics on google recently from that trip down there. Leg buster for sure though! I didn't take enough pictures during the ride to have anything of value to share, but that whole trip was incredible. San Diego sure is a beautiful place.
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Old 04-15-20, 10:53 AM
  #230  
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We had our monthly call in meeting last night for the USA Cycling LA I am President of. I sent around emails beforehand to see if there was even a point. Everyone said we should. It felt like a funeral for racing. Quick recap of who had lost their jobs and which races for sure had already cancelled for the year. Doing some quick math on permit lead times with the city, etc. At this point I don't see how we will have any racing.

Nothing official but looks like Tour of America's Dairyland might be taking place in August.

Personally I believe the sport will come out a ton stronger when this passes as people will be motivated to get out there and try it again and see friends again. My Facebook feed is filled with all sorts of people posting about all the cool old race stuff they have found while digging through and cleaning out their places. This is seeming to get them motivated again. I had a friend who found all the old tv coverage of the Coors Classic through the late 80's and uploaded it to Youtube for me to watch. i have actually found weird motivation in that. Those were the guys who motivated me to race in the first place.

With our park district here I would be surprised if Northbrook Velodrome races this season. Washington Park up in Kenosha may be able to wiggle something out as it's Wisconsin and they usually permit under ABR.
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Old 04-15-20, 01:12 PM
  #231  
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Originally Posted by Psimet2001
We had our monthly call in meeting last night for the USA Cycling LA I am President of. I sent around emails beforehand to see if there was even a point. Everyone said we should. It felt like a funeral for racing. Quick recap of who had lost their jobs and which races for sure had already cancelled for the year. Doing some quick math on permit lead times with the city, etc. At this point I don't see how we will have any racing.

Nothing official but looks like Tour of America's Dairyland might be taking place in August.

Personally I believe the sport will come out a ton stronger when this passes as people will be motivated to get out there and try it again and see friends again. My Facebook feed is filled with all sorts of people posting about all the cool old race stuff they have found while digging through and cleaning out their places. This is seeming to get them motivated again. I had a friend who found all the old tv coverage of the Coors Classic through the late 80's and uploaded it to Youtube for me to watch. i have actually found weird motivation in that. Those were the guys who motivated me to race in the first place.

With our park district here I would be surprised if Northbrook Velodrome races this season. Washington Park up in Kenosha may be able to wiggle something out as it's Wisconsin and they usually permit under ABR.
“I know it seems hard sometimes but remember one thing. Through every dark night, there's a bright day after that. So no matter how hard it get, stick your chest out, keep ya head up.... and handle it.”

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Old 04-15-20, 03:20 PM
  #232  
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I really think racing is going to be lit once this is all over, or hope...

(useless content)
Today on my walk, some lady was yelling at a construction worker for not setting up a cone near a hole; it looked like he just walked 10 ft away to get something. She said, 'I need to see your boss, there are children here'.....so I piped up and said, 'Can you put on a mask? There are children here...'

Rarely do get to put in a smug comment like that, I usually come up with it 5 minutes after the fact and think...'oh I should have said that'
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Old 04-16-20, 09:47 AM
  #233  
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USA cycling punted a few events to later in the summer, indicating a confidence they can be run that I surely lack right now.
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Old 04-16-20, 01:43 PM
  #234  
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USAC sent notice about race postponements.
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Old 04-16-20, 03:54 PM
  #235  
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Alot of people aren't going to be happy about this...

....except 2019 National Champions. They're probably ecstatic rn.
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Old 04-17-20, 08:44 AM
  #236  
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I was targeting the Masters Track only because it was nearby this year. With not much lifting recently, very busy either with work or looking after Junior, I haven't had much time. And frankly it seems less important.

I'm hoping it's next year, to be honest, and still in PA. Otherwise I suppose I can target 2 years from now, when I age up.
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Old 04-17-20, 09:52 AM
  #237  
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Originally Posted by carpediemracing
I was targeting the Masters Track only because it was nearby this year. With not much lifting recently, very busy either with work or looking after Junior, I haven't had much time. And frankly it seems less important.

I'm hoping it's next year, to be honest, and still in PA. Otherwise I suppose I can target 2 years from now, when I age up.
Rumor was that it was moving to September or October in LA. But I guess we will know more in two weeks.
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Old 04-17-20, 10:05 AM
  #238  
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Originally Posted by topflightpro
Rumor was that it was moving to September or October in LA. But I guess we will know more in two weeks.
Yeah, at this point it's out of my hands so I'll just take the news as it comes.

I should finish building my bike though. I think I can work on that in the next week or so.
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Old 04-17-20, 10:27 AM
  #239  
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There's literally no chance that's going to happen in LA, unless there's a velodrome in louisiana I'm unaware of.

Los Angeles mayor says large gatherings like concerts and sporting events may not come back until 2021

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Old 04-18-20, 01:10 PM
  #240  
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Yeah... pretty sure nothing on that list is going to happen this year except for Cross nationals. In December and here outside Chicago. It will be a go.
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Old 04-20-20, 06:31 PM
  #241  
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I was kinda thinking of taking my kid to CX Nationals this year. I'm hoping it's still a go.

Just got an invitation to a local physical distancing TT series. Everyone is supposed to go out separately once a week and post a time on strava. This could be fun.

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Old 04-21-20, 07:19 AM
  #242  
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Originally Posted by caloso
I was kinda thinking of taking my kid to CX Nationals this year. I'm hoping it's still a go.

Just got an invitation to a local physical distancing TT series. Everyone is supposed to go out separately once a week and post a time on strava. This could be fun.
My team tried that. Problem was, people started going out in groups to do it.
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Old 04-21-20, 08:39 AM
  #243  
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Originally Posted by topflightpro
My team tried that. Problem was, people started going out in groups to do it.
That is what I am worried about.
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Old 04-21-20, 09:16 AM
  #244  
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I want to make sure I understand the time trial matter. Is it that racers cannot execute social distancing and ignore the guidance of health officials (it strikes me that would be easy to keep a distance from others in prepping for a TT and then racing), they cheat and ride the time trial as a team/group, do not understand what a time trial race is i.e. no drafting or all three?
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Old 04-21-20, 09:29 AM
  #245  
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The idea was that a route was posted, and everyone could ride out on their own, do the route any time during the day, and post to Strava for official record keeping.

But then small groups started riding out to the route together or ran into each other as they headed out there around the same time.... Doing it over a week might make more sense and reduce the possibility of people grouping up.

As for the social distancing, I don't know that everyone gets it. For example, they say stay in groups smaller than 5. And I frequently see groups of 2 riding together, which I guess fits that limit. But when one of those two goes out with 10 different people over the course of a couple weeks, it kind of eliminates the distancing and all 11 of them might as well be riding together.
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Old 04-21-20, 10:15 AM
  #246  
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And because we're going faster when riding (and breathing harder) we travel a further distance in the time it takes for an aerosolized droplet to hit the ground, so the recommended social distancing spacing between individuals while cycling is 20 feet or more if directly behind (or anywhere in their draft). Basically, if you are able to get any draft or wind protection at all, that study says you're to close to fit the true definition of social distancing (and 20 feet behind is out of the draft, so it's a bit more than just being able to draft). If there's no crosswind 6 ft sideways or staggered is still supposed to be fine.
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Old 04-21-20, 11:36 AM
  #247  
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Originally Posted by Cypress
I have hope. I’m still working 40 hours a week, I ignore the sensationalized media outlets (all of them) that are screaming/yearning for the End of Days, and I ride my bike to put a smile on my face. Having the structure of a workout plan seems to be the only sense of control that I have outside of work, so I’m not giving that up.
THIS! I have sympathy for urban folks who've lost their jobs and are literally trapped inside, but for huge swaths of the country, we're still working (albeit with huge constraints), and that daily training ride is absolutely essential therapy and tension release. Watching my power numbers respond to training is even more fulfilling, given that I'm not getting to test myself against fellow racers.

I see no reason not to train on the assumption that races will resume in June, or July, or sometime this year. If I miss road season altogether, I'll be a monster for CX season and maybe tackle some of the longer gravel races I haven't done because I'm usually burned out from road season. If there's no winter season, I'm going to come into next spring fitter and better trained than I've ever been.

It does no good to be fatalistic. The pandemic will end at some point, and those of us who've stayed healthy and sane are going to come out of this much better than those of us who give up.
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Old 04-21-20, 02:43 PM
  #248  
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It looks like San Diego is going to open the parks. We will see what that includes and maybe it will include Fiesta Island.
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Old 04-21-20, 03:08 PM
  #249  
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Originally Posted by Hermes
It looks like San Diego is going to open the parks. We will see what that includes and maybe it will include Fiesta Island.
Ventura County opened some parks and beaches but they don't want people traveling from outside the county to use them. My favorite mtb riding area is there but I'll stay away for now.
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Old 04-21-20, 05:23 PM
  #250  
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Looking for contradictory opinions here.. After a long discussion with co workers, it seems to me that "flattening the curve" doesn't actually limit the number of people who get the disease, but rather just lengthens out the time it takes for that number to actually get it. Obviously this is not justification for why anyone should go out and do group activities, but it seems to be that it is almost inevitable for many people that they will get sick. The social distancing and such is to limit the sharp peak that would overwhelm our hospitals and medical ability.

I guess the best way to imagine what I'm trying to say is that the integral of the flattened curve and the non-flattened curve is the same, but the derivative over the curve is obviously wildly different.
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