weekend and misc ramblings..

this past weekend events

it happens

a week out..the State road race

June 16, 2009 - The controversial decision to neutralize the Marquette Mtn hill Yes, the first hill will be neutralized. Now let me explain some of the decision making behind this change. We've always had mixed feelings about throwing in that hill at the beginning of the race. If you can't hang on, your race is over in 10 minutes. Granted, that's bike racing. However, when you're hosting the State Championships and asking folks to drive 7-8 hours one way, include two nights lodging, meals, etc. it's a very expensive weekend. Now to have one's race over in the first 10 minutes, that takes a bit of the fun out of it and makes the decision on staying home easier. If the rest of the course were pancake flat, I'd agree that something different would need to be done. However, there are sections of the course that will provide the climbers an advantage, heading out of Palmer and the Goose Lake Hill being two of them. It sounds like you're familiar with the course so I think you'd agree that a strong climber/rider will have ample opportunity to drop the weaker riders throughout the race.

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