Last night I was talking to a guy from Loon State who placed in Sunday's crit. I congratulated him on placing. We talked about the race, and he apologized if he yelled at me- which he didn't. Apparently some guy from my club was behaving badly. I have a pretty good idea who it was. I went on to describe how strange the GP "team" actually is- that I went to a few training rides last year and didn't recognize anyone from any races. This year, I recognized no one the first few races. The club is huge. Anyone can join. I can't ride anywhere without seeing someone wearing the team kit. I have no idea who these people are.
Tonight I took a fixed ride down the Hopkins loop. It was hot, and that was all I could handle. I had the 15t cog, and was riding like a hammerhead. As I followed Lake Harriet to my turn off, I heard someone yell, "Shit. Go, god damn it!" I turned and saw a "teammate" behaving badly. He had pulled to the right of a car that was turning right, and the car didn't want to hook him, as so often happens. It was irritating watching a cyclist berating a motorist that was only trying to drive carefully. It was more embarrassing realizing we wore matching jerseys. I had no idea who he was.
On a different note, there has been recent editorial content by two local columnists in the Pioneer Press that condemns cyclists as lycra-clad, Lance-wannabe, law-breaking scofflaws (pardon the redundancy). In thinking about this, it occurred to me that almost every motorist I encounter while driving on the freeway is "breaking the law." It seems speeding is epidemic (and I am no angel) and turn signals have become optional. Does that make every motorist a Jeff Gordan wannabe scofflaw? I know that isn't the most insightful rebuttal, but it pretty much goes to the heart of the arguments of our beloved social commentators/trolls backed by the power of the local press. I'd really expect no more from those misanthropes.
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4 comments:
Eric,
Introduce your self to your new teammates that are racing with you, then you'll know them, and as one of our(GPs) more experinced Master4s, you can give them pointers to race better. its a good thing to have new faces in the races, otherwise that field would be full up with
Cat4s for life!
Are you racing sunday?
I certainly could be more active in introducing myself or meeting teammates. I sort of gave up on that after Opus, when some of the guys would just show up for one race and we'd never see them again.
I think the bottom line is that I miss how consistant everything was last year. I knew who was who and what their abilities were, and there was more of a social scene - probably largely attributed to you (if you are Dave B).
The way my season has been, I don't know what pointers I really have to offer anymore.
Another issue is that especially when wearing the team kit, I think it is important to be good examples- to other racers or motorists. I read Dan Cleary's blog about the U of M crit and he reported some verbal altercation with a GP guy after flatting in the turn. I am a little concerned that GP is developing a nasty reputation.
I still don't know about Sunday... I think I'm getting a bit burned out- but I haven't missed a crit yet, this year.
Yep, we did spend more time hanging out post race,and pre-race its still happens, but its now afternoons instead of mornings. Now we get to watch you "old guys" race. The team stuff last year was a group effort by everyone on the Masters 4/5 squad. We did make it a tough act to follow. We just need you to focus, and come on up.
I saw Cleary's post too. I am aware of who the offending GP rider is, but only have one side of the story to see acually what went down. I do believe we need to hold our team to a higher standard
of behavior during races. It reflects badly on all the relationships we made last year racing vs the "old guys"
See you about.
The team I raced for last year had the exact same problem, the one timers, and those that never showed and it made for some disharmony at a few races. I think that having a "B" team of sorts could be done. It gets a little more pricey, but we have the same basic sponsorship for two teams. One is the "race" team that has a minimum number of races to do and are very competitive, then there is the "B" team which still has some decent riders, but they may only ride 2 or three races a year. They do have different jerseys, but I just think it nice to know the "racers" from your team, rather than the once in a whiles. You know. Apparently it has worked really well according to the pres of the team. Lots of good harmony in the racing group, and the "B" team, more focused on developing riders and juniors has grown to 60 riders, and that is really amazing.
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