"This rider had decent aerobic abilities, but poor technical skills. As Tom's caught up to him to pass on an open wide hill, this other rider stood up, moved over and blocked the pass. Mind you this is a 19-29 year old blocking the pass of a faster 35+ guy."
...and I'm supposed to know what class he's in? Maybe "Tom" should call his pass and then attempt to pass when he has the speed to do so. As I recall, he didn't exactly blow me off the trail with his blinding speed. I remember pulling away from him following that. I'll be happy to move, but if you need me to slow down for you, then you suck at racing and need to be better about calling passes when you have the speed.
You're entitled to your own opinions, but I'd like to see you ride gears at Stony with a rigid fork. Pretty easy on a Softail.
So I am stuck behind this guy in the waning moments of the final lap, concerned that #2 was closing on my quick. I made my final move on the last set of rolling hills before the finish. I stood and passed on the first incline, and didn't give up until the final grassy climb before the singletrack leading to the finish.
Like I said, call your passes. If you'd asked I would let you go. I clearly recall you saying you were ok with following me in the final lap, when i asked if you wanted to pass. Something like "we're not racing each other anyway." Now its something totally different. Liar. You sat on my wheel letting me do the work for like 10 min then went blasting around me. Now you're so proud of your astonishing move. Lame
I felt pretty good dropping this character at the end, however, I know I still need to improve my endurance. I crossed the line with a decent 30 gap on the guy, who I was not even racing, and 40 seconds on the second place in my group. "On the final lap, my pace began to slow, and "Poor Passee" caught back up to me. I made a move around him at the same spot as the previous lap. I was doing pretty good, but then my rear tire slid out yet again. I should really do something about that.
How about you work your technical skills, there Tomac?
How about next time someone completely destroys your entire race by not listening to the commands you dont give out you man up and say all this to his face. Instead of slamming him with your lies and posting my picture for the world to see.
Wow Bill (can I call you Bill, I hope so, William seems so formal), thanks for reading my blog. I didn’t even know you were a fan. I am always excited to have another follower! I am glad I was told about your post. I have to admit, I wasn’t familiar with your work.
ReplyDeleteAs for the events contained in that specific post, I concede that was from quite some time ago (almost 7 months from the date of the entry, and 8 months from the race). I will respond to your remarks in chronological order. I hope you don’t mind, I am not looking for some sort of flame war. In all actuality, I had forgotten about that race completely.
A wide open hill, road, or 2-track doesn’t really necessitate the calling of a pass. If there is enough room to get by, then go. However, in the event that such a situation arises in the future, I will stock one of my jersey pockets with invitations sealed with gold stickers, just so ‘you’ can get the hint.
I am however, intrigued by this whole “rigid” for thing though. Does that work with a singlespeed too? I have always wanted to give that a try! Probably much more difficult than riding a softail, although I think technically the Superfly 100 is classified as a “full suspension”.
Sorry about the wheel sucking (for 10 minutes even), perhaps if ‘you’ had allowed a pass, I would have blasted by sooner. Again, I don’t recall the events from such a long time ago, but my impression is that either: a) I called “Can I get by when you get a chance” which is my go to message, or b) I did not request, because I realized ‘you’ weren’t letting people by.
You would be relieved to know that I fixed that back tire problem; I sold the bike. As for the Tomac comment, is he one of the twins from GI Joe? Although I did prefer the other twin, as he had that cool scar!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomax_and_Xamot
As for posting your picture, I saw no less than 5 other riders on that particular post. I don’t even recall if it was you I was referencing in that entry. You may recall the specific details of that particular race, checked your diary, or just saw your picture and inferred I was referencing you. In fact the ‘you’s present in this reply were directed at “you” from your blog post, and not necessarily indicative that you were the rider mentioned therein.
This response rambled on a bit longer than my own blog posts, I hope you don’t mind. At least I left out the pictures, right?
Good luck on Sunday, maybe I will see you out there!
I was reading your blog to keep me awake at my incredibly boring night job. Its decently written, but with poor grammar. No one likes being called out with a photo.
ReplyDeleteThat was me. I remember this race in particular for two reasons, one for it being my sole trip to race on the Far Side of the Great Lakes State last year (normally I race there half a dozen times); and two, for the guy on the Superfly 100 sitting behind me saying he wasn’t racing me until he decided to race me. Now I’m not specifically referring to you, sir. It had to be some other random person on a Superfly 100 who beat me fair and square by 28 seconds wearing a Metal Jersey. Maybe it was Elvis.
Get me the invitations sealed with gold sticker, and I’ll get out my glow sticks to wave you through like you’re a 747. Post-race, I can sell the gold to buy myself some morals.
If someone asks, I let them go. You didn't ask. So don't bitch about it. I’m not slowing down for you or anyone else, ever. Unless we’re on singletrack, then you get about 2 sec, if you can’t get around me in 2 sec, you suck. But you still have to ask.
Have fun Sunday. I’ll be there, God Willing…