Tour Divide discussion about Admin, Rules, Concept

I've seen suggestions to "take it elsewhere" when people post off-topic about TD rules in the "live race happening now" thread. So here's such a thread! Feel free to discuss all things theoretical and admin oriented here!

Please don't post anything in the "race" thread that's not about this year's race as it is happening. (I suppose it could be said that the other thread's title isn't clear enough. But its intent sure is! People there don't want to hear ANYTHING about rules concept. It's all action all the time over there.)

***

Amateurism is at the heart of the TD. Once money is involved the *faces* change.

When I first started bike racing in the early 80's there was still the official split b/w amateur and pro events. Today you don't hear about that anymore. Except here at the TD. Great!

In addition to policy back then there was also reality. There really WAS real amateurism. And amateurism really IS different. ...And possibly better in some ways!

My favorite races in my first few years were the Mackinac Island Relays. It was an end-of-summer round-the-island race for island workers and their friends. There'd be a dozen each men's and women's 5-member teams, each person doing a lap. Hundreds of spectators. Insurance concerns killed the race in the end -- with many feeling that an entire era of community spirit died then for that Island. That race meant a lot. ...And was 100% volunteer. User-generated. Simple rules. Zero $. Spirit sustained it. When that wasn't enough, well, it meant that the whole Island died to a significant extent. Amateur events are SYMBOLS of the people. When amateurism isn't enough, the people aren't enough. They've lost. (I sure hope there's as much community on the Island these days but when I talk to people, to today's young workers there, it seems like there's more TV-watching and less fun, sorry to say, tho I'm sure some keep the torch burning as best they can.)

We recently started a Facebook Page for those olden Island days. People are posting race pics from When We Were Very Young.

Here's my point: One HUGE thing that I notice is that there is MORE HEART on the faces in the photos of that AMATEUR race than I've seen in bike racing pics since then. You can so easily see the thrills and strains in those pics. Total intensity. When I see bike racing pics today at any level I rarely see that passion coming out so obviously. It is startling to see the difference. We look more pro than today's pro's!

(I also note that we weren't dilettantes. Many earned their living all summer on a bike as Dock Porters. We did training rides after work most days. We did other races, rode across the US. We achieved a few 27-28mph ave lap times for the 8.3 miles around the Rock! ...On old steel bikes with zero aero devices. And we were sometimes in TT mode when a Relay member put the hammer down to regain the main pack. There was no support so a crash or flat would often put teams WAY in arrears. But that didn't mean they were outta contention! There were quite a few big comebacks over the years. I think the Lap Record comes from just such a TT comeback effort which was capped by a sprint win by my brother, Tim.)

(A couple times off-island "ringers" would be recruited by teams. Their times might simply be omitted. It was a judgement call. If you were a Cat 2 and had never worked on the island or didn't even know anyone, well...)

(And ONE dude did end up having the final say about it all. No one elected him. He did the work. He wasn't paid. He was our hero.)