protoceratops
Posts: 64
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« Reply #21 on: June 28, 2009, 09:13:30 PM » |
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Just my opinion...
Gotta chime in here...to agree with posts making reference to the likely occurence of a
"slippery slope" effect that can - that WILL - push events in such a series in a direction
that is all too well known.
Do you remember when the MTB scene was even more laid back than you guys are?
That was a while ago. Just a bunch of folks that liked to ride around in the dirt and see
what they could - and could not - do.
Some of you remember. Every one of you grew up excited to ride your bike, and you
still are, and that's why this kind of riding appeals to you. You still have what all the
mainstream MTBers have lost. Where did it go? NORBA, USCF, Volvo-Cannondale,
and so on. Pro MTB racers are just roadies with bigger tyres now. All business, very
high strung, lots of elbows, etc.
SM: your enthusiasm, and your deeds, are beyond question. But making a formal series
with awards, no matter how ethereal, and rankings, no matter how unofficial, cannot help
but change things. Why do that? It is possible for the sport to grow, but it must only be
allowed to grow, Not force fed until plump and juicy. Not mainstreamed. Not reduced to
something more marketable. Managed growth is a beautiful thing, but immediate change
invokes the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Entropy takes over, and disorder increases.
Other posters see that too, right?
I expect that this is why Mikesee is such a retro grouch about change, and the upscaling
of Divide racing. Personally, I really dig seeing the TD updates. Not much chance of ME
having a month off and the cash to do anything like that in the near future, so it is the
closest I can get right now. Exciting stuff. But at a cost.
Endurance riding off road is much better the way it is now than if it is allowed to go the way
of, say, the RAAM. Check out the awful reporting and cheap, jingoistic, cliched, commercial
patina of the whole RAAM website. And it used to be an amazing thing. The crown jewel of
the ultra-endurance world. It used to be driven by people who wanted to see if they could
do it. Now it is driven by something else entirely. Now it is just so different. So much less.
Divide racing and offroad ultras are better as they are..decidedly, deliberately, an acquired taste.
Just my opinion...
Oh, the brevet comment was right on the $$$. Brevet riders - except that you should say
"randonneurs", are very laid back, would rather ride together than race each other as a rule,
and achieve such limited awards as there are by finishng, not by placing. A very mellow
bunch. Majcolo mixes UMCA with RUSA, though. UMCA is racing oriented, but there is
no such thing as a RUSA race. Also, RUSA rides are put on internally by RUSA members,
on a not-for-profit basis, whereas UMCA events are primarily run by commercial promoters
The most famous brevet is Paris-Brest-Paris, 1200km every four years. The world's oldest
bicycle race. Lots of aid stations - every 40-80km - but no on-course support allowed. No
team cars, no SO driving out to meet you. Inexpensive, low key, FUN according to those who
have been. I have not. The most famous UMCA race is the Race Across AMerica. Which
is technically still running right now, although the winners are done already.
Also, about the idea that an unofficial series will skirt the rules on issues like "races in a
National Park", That sounds like "how to kill a race in one easy lesson" to me. All it would
take is some angry USFS Ranger - or Mountie - snooping around the message boards, and
the race organizer, and all the racers, could be looking at some prolonged unpleasantness.
These message boards are very public, you know. It is too late RIGHT NOW to keep the idea
of an unofficial ultra series a secret.
And all it takes is one pissed off government official in the wrong place at the wrong time,
and that's it, right? Assuming secrets can be kept is a high-stress, high-risk ploy. And to
what end?
Just my opinion...
steve
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