As a native Iowan, I've found myself going to bat for the state during my six-plus years in Nebraska. There are certainly jokes to be made at the expense of both states, but by and large they're both nice places to live.
But Iowa, I cannot defend you on this one: roller races. As in, you drive to a central location with your bike, race the equivalent of two miles (or whatever distance the promoter chooses) on the rollers and go home. The fastest time wins. Sounds more like a rapidly growing Omaha bar game (yes, I know they do it in other places, too) than an actual race.
Even worse, there are whole web pages devoted to roller races. Gearing charts, speed approximations ... ugh. Come on.
Consider this: most "races" last between 5 and 6 minutes. If you're good at roller races, that's great. That's nice for you. Really. But if that's your skillset, your wheelhouse, the race in which you excel, the other 55 minutes of that crit sure are going to be horrible.
My stance: Much like driving your bike somewhere to ride the trainer for two hours, roller races are pretty dumb.
Your stance: In the comments.
10 comments:
The length of the race doesn't determine its merit. Roller races meet the criteria of competition and social interaction, so I'm all for them. Though as a non-sprinter, I am unlikely to participate and will save my gas money for the summer months.
how is that different than kc/greensprints those don't even last that long?
Bryan, I'll race you for an hour for a 12 pk of Third stone brown? That's a beer every 5 min. That's like $.75 a min.
If you have elimination rounds it adds up. Here's a blog: I want you to go home, warm up, sprint 2min x 10 reps over an hour and let us know how you feel.
hey, I never said it wouldn't make you sweat. I just said it was dumb.
These are the indoor equivalents of 200M match sprints at a Velodrome, aren't they? Which is dumber?
Drive from Davis to San Jose, which takes either 90 or a gazillion minutes, depending on traffic.
Sit on a trainer for 45 minutes to warm up, roll around the track 4-5 times to get a feel for the lines, and then ride 2 laps, the last half of the last lap as fast as you can.
Immediately get off the bike and sit down. Wait for 10 other guys to ride around the track twice, and then find out that you are the "3 seed."
Do trackstands next to someone else for what feels like hours on end, come around him at the line.
Repeat. Repeat.
In total, you've spent 3-5 hours in the car to ride the trainer for an hour and circle a banked track about 20 times as fast as humanly possible. THAT'S dumb.
In roller races and greensprints, at least they give you beer.
maybe it's about having some fun ... .that's just crazy talk
Hey, there will be no "fun" talk around here!! This is Algomaha!!
Training and racing, period!!!
Training and racing is fun. Just going for a long ride is fun, too. I spent half of the year doing that - it was a blast.
Whipping out your license for a five-minute roller race, however, is dumb.
all i'm going to say is some people like cucumbers better than pickles
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