Ringwood H2H
- Thread starter xc62701
- Start date
serviceguy
Well-Known Member
Boomshot007
Member
Great day. Great course. Great people. Man, did that 3rd lap hurt.
Eickelbt
Member
All, I have a general question for the group, as this might be the case for other races. I was in the cat 1 mens race (15+) on sat. We caught the pro women within 3 minutes of the start- they were sent out one minute ahead of us. I crashed somewhat badly- a few stitches and some delicious road (trail?) rash after avoiding one of the women on the first descent. It wasn’t her fault- she was riding her race, and took the line she needed to. I couldn’t react in time and didn’t want to hit her, so I hit the ground. However, I sincerely believe I would not have fallen had the races been staged differently.
My question- is there any other starting arrangement that we can use? At nascar races, they don’t start shifter carts 1minute before the race. In motocross, they don’t start a 125cc class 1 minute before starting the 450s. “It’s mountain biking, deal with it” has been my answer for a long time, but crashing sucks, and it can’t be fun being in. The back of a pro womens firld and having a bunch of dudes passing you 2minutes into your race.
I’d love to see a 15 minute gap- pro men start at 10:15, pro women at 10:16, and cat 1at 10:30. Gives things a chance to space out a bit in both races. Any thoughts?
My question- is there any other starting arrangement that we can use? At nascar races, they don’t start shifter carts 1minute before the race. In motocross, they don’t start a 125cc class 1 minute before starting the 450s. “It’s mountain biking, deal with it” has been my answer for a long time, but crashing sucks, and it can’t be fun being in. The back of a pro womens firld and having a bunch of dudes passing you 2minutes into your race.
I’d love to see a 15 minute gap- pro men start at 10:15, pro women at 10:16, and cat 1at 10:30. Gives things a chance to space out a bit in both races. Any thoughts?
Not unreasonable.
As a race promoter, in the past I have generally said that if you want to start ahead of the women, race the pro class. But you have subverted my answer by suggesting the above.
I am sure that the above scenario might allow the fast pros to catch more people, but I guess it begs the question, are they more advanced and can then handle it? At that point in the race are things spread out more? Fair enough questions.
It does come down to timing as well. How much time do you want to be out there. In general we want the races to be wrapped up as tightly as possible. Does adding 15 minutes between classes allow that? If you send the pros off early, then you're going to need to consider the same for subsequent class gaps.
Unfortunately this is always going to be a bit of an issue. Sorry to hear you crashed & hurt yourself. Never a good outcome.