The more extreme the course, the more important it is to level the playing field. However, just as a matter of interest, an "exception that proves the rule" kind of thing, about 7 years ago our Mark entered a super rugged 50-mile mtn bike race around (the area of) Lake Tahoe. So--6-7,000 feet, lots of climbs and descents, loose shale-y rocks, rugged by any standard. They almost didn't let him ride his cyclo-cross bike (with 35mm rear tire, 38 to 40mm front, no suspension). He raced in the super competitive 50- ? category, and if you can't predict the conclusion to this...welll....consider the context? But yes, the exception. Mark is exceptional...and we steer away from racing bikes, blah blah...while not steering away from racERS.
On Sunday, February 4, 2018 at 7:37:06 PM UTC-8, Bill Lindsay wrote: > > > <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z-UTxsW67bA/WnfQwzducmI/AAAAAAAADv0/x3pz686yV68LgEDUJ-xji-0HBpykjIkGgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_0147.jpg> > I'm a pretty devout unracer. One of my un-unracing activities is I'm the > volunteer team mechanic for the El Cerrito High School Mountain bike racing > team. Today's team ride was a non-league race. It was open to the public > and the kids urged me to sign up. So, I did my first ever mountain bike > race. I entered the Sport category, which might have been above my skill > level, but whatever. The weather was perfect down in Fort Ord, Monterrey. > It was pretty exciting to be in a real racing environment. Other fellas in > the 45-54 age group tended to gain time on me in the technical turns and > such and the descents, but I was pleased at the ground I'd make up on the > climbs. I was not last in the Sport 45-54, but was close. I think the kids > all enjoyed that I got after it. Anyway, it was a memorable day on the > bike, and it happened to be a day on the bike that demanded hydraulic disc > brakes and through-axles and front suspension. There's no way I could have > used a Rivendell, even a hypothetical fantasy Rivendell. The fact is, > there are bikes out there for most tasks. Sometimes it's fine to just use > the right bike for the task and enjoy the ride. > > Bill Lindsay > El Cerrito, CA > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
