On Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 10:49 PM, Doug Franklin <jehosep...@mindspring.com> wrote: > On 2010-11-08 22:43, Miserere wrote: >> >> I've participated in organised mountain bike races. Sure, I could have >> ridden those course without the other participants at any other time, >> but I never pushed myself as hard as when I was racing. "The pursuit >> of the breaking point" is what I used to call it. I never did reach >> it, which might be for the best. > > A bit more seriously, than my "lemmingitis" comment, I can't comment from > first-hand experience. I have an amateur auto racing license, and I drive > in races, but I'm there more for the driving than for the racing. I also > run what are called High Performance Drivers Ed (HPDE) events, which are > also on race tracks, but without the racing. I have as much fun on HPDE > days as on race days. Though I've seen the other > types Miserere mentions in the cockpit many times. I'm there because that's > where the track is and when it's available. :-)
A closed course could come into play. Especially with marathon runners. I can understand that many people have a desire for that. The difference is that you can't, at least not legally, outside of Italy<g>, drive like that on public roads. Automobile events that emphasize speed are always on closed courses. Organized races on open, public roads simply don't exist. Automobile events that do occur on roads typically involve something that you can't do without a group, such as road rally scavenger hunts, poker runs and gatherings of people with the same model, or era, car. Similarly, there are loosely organized "classic bicycle" rides, for example. However, what you don't see are thousands of people showing up in whatever family sedan they happen to own and paying money to be part of a gigantic traffic jam over the course of a couple hundred miles. -- Scott Loveless http://www.twosixteen.com/fivetoedsloth/ __o _'\<,_ (*)/ (*) -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
