• Mailbag

Monday’s mailbag: A ‘cross hero; What is reasonable?

by VeloNews.com

• December 18, 2006
• Comments Off

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside Communications, Inc.

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The big story
Editor,
Kudos to RyanTrebon for riding a good race. The real story, though, is the second-placefinish by Jonathan Page. After not having raced since October, still recoveringfrom shoulder surgery and having a fourth row start, JP’s strong finishproves he’s the strongest U.S. cyclo-cross rider.
Joan Walsh
Portsmouth, New HampshireWe have to agree that Page’s performance marks an impressive comeback.Congratulations to him, for sure. – EditorRoom to move
Dear Velo,
I just finished racing at cross nationals in the men’s 40-44 age grouptoday…I believe our field was one of the largest of any field this yearwith numbers of 170 or more.I was in the fifth row. The rows had 12 riders each. There was plentyof spacing between rows and between riders. It was much safer than lastyear’s 8 per row, tightly packed.It’s interesting to me that I placed about the same as I always do…somewherearound 40th. I had a better starting position this year (10th row lastyear) but I finished about the same. I looked at my friends that I tryto beat and we all finished in roughly the same place as in previous years.The point is, your starting place matters for the first 1/4 lap or so,but it will settle out if your strong (and smart) enough.I live in Iowa. I am fortunate that I have the monetary resources togo to the USGP, the Cross Crusade, the New England Verge series, and theJingle Cross in Iowa. I usually placed around 30-40 in the USGP 35+ eventso I am confident that I would make any point system that Mr. Hamel isrequesting. But, even though it may favor me, I feel it is totally unfair.With the exception of the Jingle Cross, a lot of my friends in the Midwestdo not have the resources to go to these events on the coasts.Limiting a National Championship with point systems or qualifying criteriadefeats the purpose of getting people involved and excited about racing.I agree with USA cycling’s purpose and goal of allowing as many ridersas we can into National Championship events. Many people in the Midwestdo not have the resources and can not travel to the events on the Coasts.Likewise, there are no major cross events in the Southern and SouthwesternDesert areas of the US. Good riders from these areas have an unfair disadvantagein garnering points by some arbitrary race series. For example, just lookat the difficulty for Elite Midwestern riders to get UCI points comparedto their Coastal colleagues.If the fields get too big from a safety perspective, then maybe weneed to whittle down the age brackets a little…like 30-33, 34-37, 38-41,etc. or whatever. There is no rule that makes them stay in 5 year bracketsindefinitely. Perhaps be sure the course is wide enough (like this yearis much better in width than last year). Allow for the 12per row, perhaps 15 and make the “hole shot” a wide one. There are so manythings we can do, but limiting participation should never be oneof them.So the only question is, are you ridin’ or hidin’…and let’s get somemore people involved so we have a ton of people racing with us.
John Meehan
Iowa City, Iowa
Race Director
The Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross RockWithin reasonable limits
Editor,
In response to AndyLee’s letter stating that the masters b field was not a national championshiprace, I think he missed the boat. The master’s races which are nationalchampionships are still really big; 175 for the 35-39 field; more than150 for the 40-44 and 124 for the 45-49.It wouldn’t hurt USA cycling to look at a solution to this for nextyear.
Sean Kelsey
Portland, Oregon

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The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.The letters published here contain the opinions of the submitting authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, policies or positions of VeloNews.com, VeloNews magazine or our parent company, Inside Communications, Inc.