For you Sport racers out there.

[RacerChick]

I still get nervous over racing, but once it starts it just turns into a fun group ride as others pointed out.

Everyone gets nervous at the start of any form of competition, if ya don't take up knitting

RC ...

PS: :cry: Thanks Shaggerz, your a doll

 

[Ian F]

The reason I stopped racing was the reason some others say they prefer sport - the start time. Most of the races start late (for me) around 10:30, and with slippage sometimes 11 am. Close to two hours on course and you don't finish until 1pm and by the time you cool down and pack up, driving home over an hour in many cases the whole day is gone. My family commitments just don't allow for that on a frequent basis. I had to give it up. If you have the same time crunch you may find the same issue. Maybe when the kids move out I'll start racing again. Look for me in the 50+ group in about ten years!

Oddly enough, start times are why a lot of DH racers (at least the ones I knew) used to move up to Expert. I remember racing Sport at Plattekill... Pros went first, then Experts, and Sports and Beginners towards the end of the day. When I first started racing DH, I was Sport and all of my friends were Expert. They would be done their race runs on Sun by around lunchtime and have the rest of the afternoon to do fun-runs on the rest of the mtn... while I was still waiting to race... and by the time I was done my race-run at 4pm and wanted to ride, they were done for the day... I hated it... If I had to stay in Sport back then, I probably would have quit racing or just stuck with racing XC.

 

[CrossAddict]

Upgrade ?

Here it is.

If you are not throwing a beating on your repective sport class, then don't move up. Learn to win and enjoy it. With the abolishment of the semi-pro class, some riders will be moving down and you will never see the front of an expert race. Win some sport races move up and start training like it's your second job. Then you'll hang in there. It would be safe to say that three -3rd place finishes (in sport) would not be enough for that rider to be succesful in the expert field. Would that person be lapped? NO, but they will be so far back that the winner will be changed and showered by the time they are done racing.

IMO --> Win FIRST then UPGRADE.

-R to the F