Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Sunapee Race Report

What happened to the days when guys wanted to race? 3 or 4 years ago, good racers would routinely throw in attacks. Opportunities were often available to counter attack something. Nowadays if you wait to counter attack you'll be attacking from the finish line to your car! Master's racing in New England has sadly become a contest to see who can do the least amount of work in a race and save all your matches for the end. Of course certain guys are always gonna be marked, but why don't the 2nd tier of guys realize thats a golden opportunity to go up the road and make a go of it? Wouldn't there be more honor and well.....flat out excitement in that, rather than waiting around all day and trying really hard to follow when one of the marked riders actually tries to do something? Wouldn't it feel more rewarding to have tried and failed or maybe even succeeded, than to just be another wheel sucker all day? You guys that are counting your results by the order of finish are missing the point, you ought to man up and do something.....ANYTHING besides following along all day. In stage races in Europe they often give a red # to the most agressive, or most combative rider from the previous day. A true honor!!! Bike racing is bike racing....not bike race finishing. I miss the good old boys like Donny Mills and John McCone. Tyler Munroe mostly does the 45's, but there's a guy who gets it. These guys did it right, and got heroic wins along the way. There's nothing heroic about following wheels all day. You probably put your nose in the wind more on a hard group ride.

Oh ya Sunapee...... Sunapee is one the best run events and most scenic courses in New England. We should race bikes there some time!

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