Thursday, June 27, 2013


In this installment of,  stirring the pot to keep our kids on drugs.. I would like to talk about the amount of time it takes for race promoters/organizers/officials to generate results (and yes the payout) after a race.
Let's take, for example, the untidy events that occurred following the Cherry-Roubaix road race this year.  And last year.  And the year before that.  (Let's be clear that the Cherry-Roubaix people aren't the only ones, just the most recent).  Despite the fact that each rider had a satellite antenna affixed to his/her helmet, the results took over 2 hours to compile.  How is this possible with an uphill finish and most of the fields had less than 25 riders?  The riders could have sorted it out in 10min.  To make matters worse, by the time the announcers were allowed to do the podium showings, most of the crowd had left, along with some of the riders that should have been standing on the steps.

Let's be honest here...bike racing is an infinitely time consuming sport.  We spend HOURS upon HOURS training and racing, so the last thing we want to do is sit around after a race, in the middle of nowhere.  Sure, I understand that you need to wait for the last rider in the field to finish and there is the mandatory protest period for people to figure out if they were 35 or 36th.  But I, for one, would like to get home at a reasonable hour.  This is especially true when you are driving from 4+ hours away.  

Maybe there is something I'm missing?  Yes, I've put on a race, but it was 10 years ago and we hand scored the finishes.  Maybe something has changed that I don't know about, but it seems like it would be easier with the digital cameras and timing chips.  I would encourage the promoters and officials to give their side to this story. 

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love you.

Anonymous said...

yes, but what about in the morning?

Anonymous said...

plain and simple - it is the protests from the riders who finished 9th but think that they finished 8th that delay the results.

If you finished 5th and you know you finished 5th and you know for certain all the racers who finished 1-4th in front of you, you are sitting there steaming saying "it can't be this hard to post the results".

You go back to your car, then come back 10 minutes later and see the same 3 officials trying to sort it out.

What you missed when you went back to your car was that racer in 9th come up there and complain 4 times in those 10 minutes and protest the results.

Anonymous said...

amen

Anonymous said...

cuz roadies r a bunch of azz clowns

Anonymous said...

I only stick around for results if I'm in the money.

There are equally ridiculous delays in getting results posted online and submitted to USAC.

A lot of events are able to do it same day, not sure why it takes days/weeks for others.

Anonymous said...

ya know what T's sez
money, chicks or podium.



anything else go home and wait

Anonymous said...

It is all Brian Bagma and his shitty timing company.

Anonymous said...

git some

Anonymous said...

Brian Bagma is shitty even without his shitty timing company.

Anonymous said...

why?

Anonymous said...

why?

cuz everyone one in a secret competition w/ ppls they claim to not give a fuck abt

Anonymous said...

I got no beef with BB, think he's a decent dude actually, just needs to tighten up his timing game.