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Know When to Neutralize
Mon, 06/11/2007 - 5:49pm
It has come to my attention that during the Pescadero RR prior to Haskin's Grade there was some confusion about neutralizing the women cat 3 chase group. It appears the women cat 4 break away peloton caught up with the women cat 3 first chase group. While the women cat 4 group passed the women cat 3 group, some cat 3 women hooked up with the women cat 4 peloton and finished their race.
I do understand that this scenerio is occuring prior the final climb, but I would assume the women cat 3 chase group would neutralize and let the lead cat 4 group finish their race.
Racers only race with their field. Interfering with another field is unsafe and unfair if you are doing it to enhance your result. The motorcycle official would have neutralized one of the groups, I would assume the chase group since the lead group was going strong enough to pass the chase group at the time. Of course I do not know that part (and if you are an official, please speak up) but what I am aware of; is that the veteran cat 3 women who interfered with the women cat 4 race did not make an ethical choice.
Bottom line, breaking the rules, causes hardship in the field, and playing it unethically in this situation sends a negative message to our cat 4 women and to all women in the sport.
Laurie Fenech
Mako/DeMarco's
I just e-mailed with Claire and then one of her teammates in our race about this off-line. Seems that there was just general confusion when we were overtaken by the Cat 4 break group. As their numbers appeared to be in the same sequence, it wasn't immediately obvious that they were, in fact, a different race. I noticed that their sequence seemed to be 950+, but you have to know to look for that, which I did, as I intuitively look for any reason NOT to chase.
In races past, we'd be informed about the number sequence of different races, but lately I've been noticing an emphasis on the double yellow line rule, and that's good, too. Perhaps this one could be are-added to the pre-race instructions?
The only truly frustrating part for me, well, I mean, the two frustrating parts were a) waching everyone ride away, completely oblivious to my high-pitched screams which I admit can often go above normal humanly audible frequencies, and b) hearing later from a rider that although she knew she was drafting a fast Cat 4, that she deemed it a "tough call" because "everyone was doing it. " Er, ahem, it wasn't everyone!
But whatever, there are far worse things in the world. We could have been caught by that dude in the recumbant.
Peace out,
Katie
Guilt slows your metabolism.
Laurie, do you remember the team affiliation of these women? I would feel obligated to discuss this matter with my teammates and use it as a "teaching moment" if I knew they were involved. We had women in both the cat3 and cat4 fields. You can email me at norcalvelo@gmail.com
-Claire
NorCal Velo Women's Cycling Team