StayHydrated
Swedish Chef
The two times I've entered so far, 'cross has turned out to be my own personal version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.....everything's made up and the points don't matter.
I read the jersey pinning thread. I used the steering wheel. I looked good, damnit - downright handsome. Then I put my pain face on and after a few laps I didn't look so good, jersey bunches up, number goes with it. I check results afterward and sure enough, don't get scored. I stand in the official's tent for 20 minutes or so, we find me on the finish line camera, officials say that they won't update the scoring immediately but that it will be correct when online and I go on with my day. Results get uploaded, and I'm scored in the 20s of a 50+ person field. I was actually second or third from last, and one lap down. Now instead of feeling awful that I wasn't on the results after 30 minutes of pain, I'm feeling awful that I've accidentally devalued the results of half of the field by 1 position.
How do I fix this? In hindsight, I think I need to a) wear better jerseys and b) pin my number higher up, closer to my armpit than my hip. But going forward, who do I email? Do I get a hold of USAC and explain my situation? Do I just let it go? What about the people who got bumped by a position, what about them?
I also went back and looked at results from Sussex last year - again raced on a 1-day license there as I did at Hippo last weekend. Looks like USAC credited my results to someone with the same name (no relation, different address, and a racing age more than twice my own). Similar story with crossresults.com. I know I shouldn't even care about points or official results right now since I'm just wading into this mess called bike racing, but I'm really looking forward to putting in the effort and improving as the season goes on, and am excited to see if I can finish somewhere in the middle of the pack over the next few years. It would be nice to look back and say to myself "wow, self, you came a long way, you still suck a lot, but back then you sucked so hard that you blew!" - more of a personal milestone/comparative tool than anything else. Is this a function of doing the 1-day license dance? Planning on buying a yearly for next year, since I'm completely hooked and want to try other types of racing, too. Do I just throw everything away until I have a yearly license and just not worry about it?
I read the jersey pinning thread. I used the steering wheel. I looked good, damnit - downright handsome. Then I put my pain face on and after a few laps I didn't look so good, jersey bunches up, number goes with it. I check results afterward and sure enough, don't get scored. I stand in the official's tent for 20 minutes or so, we find me on the finish line camera, officials say that they won't update the scoring immediately but that it will be correct when online and I go on with my day. Results get uploaded, and I'm scored in the 20s of a 50+ person field. I was actually second or third from last, and one lap down. Now instead of feeling awful that I wasn't on the results after 30 minutes of pain, I'm feeling awful that I've accidentally devalued the results of half of the field by 1 position.
How do I fix this? In hindsight, I think I need to a) wear better jerseys and b) pin my number higher up, closer to my armpit than my hip. But going forward, who do I email? Do I get a hold of USAC and explain my situation? Do I just let it go? What about the people who got bumped by a position, what about them?
I also went back and looked at results from Sussex last year - again raced on a 1-day license there as I did at Hippo last weekend. Looks like USAC credited my results to someone with the same name (no relation, different address, and a racing age more than twice my own). Similar story with crossresults.com. I know I shouldn't even care about points or official results right now since I'm just wading into this mess called bike racing, but I'm really looking forward to putting in the effort and improving as the season goes on, and am excited to see if I can finish somewhere in the middle of the pack over the next few years. It would be nice to look back and say to myself "wow, self, you came a long way, you still suck a lot, but back then you sucked so hard that you blew!" - more of a personal milestone/comparative tool than anything else. Is this a function of doing the 1-day license dance? Planning on buying a yearly for next year, since I'm completely hooked and want to try other types of racing, too. Do I just throw everything away until I have a yearly license and just not worry about it?
