The sling shot theory

So I've had a few people ask me about this over the last week. If you have ever looked under the gymnastics tag on my front page you will see it seems to be unfinished. You are right. I never really got back to finishing that thought. This is an idea that I started trying to coach by, about four or five years ago.

For a lot of good coaches this is nothing new to you. I guess I have never really finished this thought because I figured this was a simple idea. But what I have found are a lot of people never really think about coaching this way. Also, I do not coach lower level athletes anymore, so I don't really get a chance to practice this theory. I have talked a little bit about it with some of my coaches, and for the most part we are all very much on the same page. So here it is.

My sling shot theory is basically that there are only a few skills in gymnastics that are really important to learn. These are pretty basic level skills for a level 8, 9, or 10 gymnast, but can take a while to get to. The theory works for learning these skills as well but for the most part I am talking about the skills listed next. They are a roundoff, back handspring, back handspring step out, a front handspring, and flyspring, a layout back flip, a giant, a tap swing fly away, and a cast handstand. These are the skills I feel you need; to be able to learn just about any other worth while skill in the sport. I am sure there are other ones that other people might feel you also need, and that is fine, this is just what I think.

If you think about a sling shot, you put a projectile in the rubber band and pull it back as far as you can. The farther back you pull it the faster that projectile is going to go when released. It will fly farther and straiter hitting the target instead of dying before. So what does that have to do with gymnastics? Imagine that the projectile is your athlete, and the amount you pull back on the rubber band is time, repetitions, and the work you do on any particular skill. So if I am working on a giant swing, all those drills, time, and strength I put into working that skill goes into pulling that imaginary rubber band farther and farther back. Once I determine that we have done all the work that needs to be done, I let it rip. The idea is; now I and the athlete have basically perfected this skill, and this makes it so that I don't have to spend time later on re-training this skill. So she would be able to go farther in her gymnastics without showing a weakness in her ability. I could add half, or full turns to that giant easily. Inbar skills are learned faster, all at a fraction of the time. If I had a gymnast that was rushed into a giant swing and had problems, it would show up when I wanted to train any new skills. Once I have to go back and re-train a skill, that is when the "projectile" stops. The athlete isn't getting better, they are stuck in one place relearning what should have been done right the first time. The ultimate goal would be that once the gymnast/projectile is let go, it would go on forever without ever having to reteach it.

All of the skill that I have mentioned are the ones that if an athlete can do very well you would see a fast learning curve later on in her career. It takes a combination of strength, flexibility, talent, and drive for a gymnast to do all of that. And to master these skills can take years to do, they are not particularly easy to do at the beginning. I believe that this is what all of the great coaches do and use to get their athlete's to the top of the sport. They might not call it what I do, but they know that there is a lot of extra crap out there that you don't need to do. And they know there isn't a lot of time you want to waste when training. So they spend a lot of time on the important basics, and that allows them to learn much more much faster.

The final hard part about the sling shot theory is what is a perfect, whatever? That is up to you. Again the good coaches know, and that is why they are good. Just because you know what skill you need to focus on, getting them perfected is the hard part. With a lot of studying, and determination it can be learned and done though. My last thought on this is kids will still have to do basics every day. But doing a good set of 5 giants or something like that isn't retraining, it is just making sure the muscles are all still remembering what they are supposed to be doing. Basics are the most important thing in our sport, in any sport I suspect. And skipping them will show up in a big way when you want to improve. It is like building a house with no foundation.

Can you see the similarity?

This Chinese gymnast most likely has some great basics, just used the pic for the crumbling.

More thoughts on winning.

I once read a football t-shirt that said "Football is 80% physical, 30% mental". The point of the shirt was to show that Football has a mental aspect as well as making you think, because the math was more that 100%.....

This is one of the great things about sport, that there is more to it than just pure brute strength. Even a sport like power lifting has a huge mental aspect to it. You will often hear elite athletes talking about their mental preparation for an upcoming competition. Most of the time you will hear them say they feel no pressure. But on the other side most of these guys, when it is time to step up, are the ones that want the "ball". They have no problem dealing with pressure. So what is it that allows great athletes to feel no pressure and win when it is all on the line? I think it is because they were first allowed to fail.

Sure there are going to be guys that from the word go win all the time. You can read about how Lance Armstrong was winning races against grown men while he was a 13 year old. But even Michael Jordan failed when he tried to make the varsity team as a sophomore. For me it was key that I had a chance to try things out in real competition. If I was given a few shots to show my stuff, and didn't have to worry about earning my spot each time out, I excelled. I had some really good coaches in my life that somehow saw that in me. There were a couple that didn't though, and I never made it far with them. That is another tale however.

From my experience an athlete that can figure out the difference between good failure, and bad, is the one that is going to get the the next level. It is the job of the coach to help that athlete figure that out. I have been working with one of my athletes all year with this. She is a very talented kid who has had a lot of problems with injuries. This year we got her started late, but have kept her healthy. This has been tough on her though as she has not been able to train skills or routines as much as she should have or even could have. So she has struggled during competition. Not because she has not trained hard, but just because of time. It takes time to peak, it takes time to gain that feeling of self assured-ness it takes to be a great competitor and athlete. One day when she was having a particularly tough day and she was getting really down on herself, I told her "just don't care so much". WHAT!!!??? Did that just come out of my mouth? Yeah, and I meant it.

So here is the thinking on what I said. This kid, and 99% of the kids that I work with care, a lot. Just like I did, or any other elite athlete does. So telling her not to care wasn't going to be a complete 180. No one is going to make a great athlete that really wants it, let go of their dream. But what I was telling her was that it was ok to not be perfect all the time. In turn I am hoping that this takes the pressure off her a bit. Then while the pressure is off, I am hoping that things start to turn around. The only problem is that there really isn't a lot of time left in this gymnastics season. She has one more year with me, so maybe I can make some headway with the time left there.

So I guess what I am saying is at first, some people just don't care if they win or lose. Then when it becomes second nature it doesn't bother you that people expect you to win. I think this is a very simplified generalization though, and I know all people are different. I have known athletes who only did well under horrible situations, like not hitting a skill in weeks, or being injured, or sick. These people used it to fuel their competitive "fire".

Winning is a state of mind and a belief in yourself, and team. If you doubt for a second that what you are doing wont lead you to the promised land, then you wont get there. Vince Lombardi said "Winning is not a sometime thing, it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing." This sounds quite different from what I am saying, but he isn't talking about never making mistakes. Only an idiot could think that people don't make mistakes. And Mr. Lombardi was no idiot. What I think he is saying is that you have to know you are going to win, and you have to live your life expecting that what you are doing is going to lead to victory. Just because you missed turning the double play at practice doesn't mean you weren't thinking of winning, you made a mistake, learned from that mistake, and next weekend will turn a double play to win the game. If you get so down on yourself for every mistake, you will never do anything right. And then you can never win. And in every real athlete's world, winning is everything.

A Break Away Cycling League?

I read on Bloomberg today about the break away league that is being created to compete with the UCI. It is being reported that a group of investors and leading managers in cycling have come together to put on a series that would split profits with the teams. They are working for this so that cycling teams are not so dependent on major sponsorship. Just this year the best team in the world HTC Highroad was disbanded because HTC, the maker of mobile phones, decided they wanted to go in another direction with their advertising budget.

The new league hopes to emulate the formula of american sports like the NBA, or NFL, maybe even the Euro soccer leagues. The president of the UCI, Pat McQuaid said last year that the group would fail in trying to fit cycling into this "box". There are no stadiums for screaming fans, and filming cycling races can be hard. The action is very hard to predict, and you can go through hours of coverage without anything really happening.

I think that if this group of people hadn't thought of that already and had an idea of how to overcome that obstacle then yes it is doomed to fail. I don't necessarily think that this is a home run sure thing. But I can't see why it would be bad to try.

Why is this happening? There are a lot of reasons really, and I think that I am still too new to the sport to know all of them. But the final straw might have been the ban of race radios that the UCI has enacted, in an effort to make racing more exciting for the fans. There are many people out there that are on both sides of this issue, the riders and teams say it is a safety issue. The riders claim that they need the radios to know when there are dangerous roads, a rider down, or anything else that could make their dangerous jobs safer. The UCI claims that the riders have just become robots and pawns moved around the "board" by a mastermind team director. They no longer think for themselves, and there might be something to that when you watch last year's Liege Bastogne Liege and watch Frank and Andy Schleck do absolutely nothing to beat Philip Gilbert. They claimed he was too strong, but they didn't really even seem to try. Did they not try because they were too tired, or because they didn't know what to do? I think the later. The UCI create arbitrary rules without the census of the riders, teams, companies, or anyone else under their rule. They quash anything that might seem too different, Graham Obree being the first that comes to mind.The race radio debate, and Graham Obree are a side track to what I am talking about though.

I think that the UCI is very afraid of this league. Why wouldn't they be.....? They are a huge juggernaut of an organization. At the top are men with a great deal of power, but have in my opinion, lost site of those they govern. Their stubbornness for the status quo, and inability to change could create havoc for the UCI. And for men who have worked long and hard to amass such power it can be a scary thing to think about losing it. It will take a Grand Tour like the Tour de France to plunge the dagger deep into the UCI's heart, but so far that has not happend. That might be the UCI's saving grace, and another complaint of the team's. The large races share none of their profits with the teams, and in the new league they would have to. This will show who really needs who however.

So how would a new league make anything better? Competition. Competition requires you to improve or die. If it is found that this new league is somehow better than the UCI they will, in the end, win. But if the UCI sees where their weakness' are and fix them before too many teams jump ship they may be able to hold on. In both cases things could get better for the riders. Competition doesn't always make things better, sometimes it can squeeze out the little guy.

It seems that this is how governing bodies are created though. The UCI is not the first group that has been in charge of cycling, it is just the latest. Just like in the USA, we have gone though a few different governing bodies before we landed on the USAC. Each time it is the riders that have had to make the hard choice of choosing who to support. Generally you have had to choose just one, any contact with the other organization would cause you to be banned from any competition hosted by the other. For a country like the USA that outlaws monopolies this seems like a strange thing. At first this new league will probably be a great change for the riders, teams, and owners. Then if the money starts coming in they will turn into the new UCI. Making sure all the money flows to certain groups. The riders might create their own unions to argue on their behalf, and we in the USA have all seen how that goes this last year with the NFL and the lockout.

I believe that this is a step that has to be taken. Not only because of the radios, I really don't care too much about that. Really I can't even tell what races they wear them in and the ones they don't anyways. But change is good. When people get too stuck in their ways things tend to start going bad. It always takes someone to come along and stir shit up to get things back on track. I don't know if this league will be the silver bullet that will save profesional cycling and bring it into the same league as US football, soccer, baseball, Formula 1, and other major international sports. But it is worth a try....why not?

The UCI gets it's power from the IOC who controls the Olympics. You control the Olympics you control athletics.

Couldn't Do It Without Sponsors

So I just wanted to take some time to thank the people that make racing and training possible for Quantum Mesa Cycles.

First is Quantum Solutions owned by co-owner of the team Mike Rickey. Quantum Solutions is a systems engineering firm in Columbia, IL. Mike and his partner started this business out of their homes with a laptop and a backpack. Now they are one of the largest firms in Columbia. Mike is a huge proponent of racing in the St Louis area and his pasion is racing and designing systems for large companies like Craft Foods.

Then we have Mesa Cycles, owned by Russ and Adrianne Murphy. These two have been racing and supporting racing in St Louis for years. They helped build Jr racing teams, supported women's teams, and now they have partnered with us at Quantum Racing. Russ and Adrianne own one of the premiere bike shops in the St Louis area. The guys and gals that work there are some of the most knowledgeable I have ever encountered at a shop. That was one of the biggest reasons that I first choose to shop there. Chris Connolly is there top sales man, you want to know anything about anything about a bike, he is your man. John Farinella, and Rick George are in the back of the shop wrenching on the bikes. These guys are like DaVinchi with bikes, wheels, and anything that rolls on two wheels.

Computer Trade, owned by Scott McClendon. Computer Trade is a computer and electronic recycling facility. They offer secure data protection, thorough inventory process, complete packing removal, and certificate of recycling. They take in computers, printers, ipods, anything you can plug in, they can recycle.

St Louis Gym Centre is where I work, and they even help me play. SLGC is one of the oldest and most successful gymnastics training gyms in the St Louis area. Our gym offers recreational boys and girls gymnastics, pre-school, field trips, parties, and competitive boys and girls gymnastics.

We are happy to have Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Jason Jenson back as sponsors once again this year. MSSB offers all the financial products you could want or need. They are also a great group of people, and from personal experience I can say are very eager to help young people like myself start to set up for the future. I have always been told that I had to put something away for the future but never know how. Now with the help from MSSB I am on my way.

Hawthorn Bank located in Clinton, MO is a new sponsor for this year. We are very excited they decided to work with us. Their commitment to the Kansas City, Jefferson City, Columbia, Springfield and Clinton, MO area and their desire to get into cycling has made it a great fit. They have been serving families and business' in Missouri for the last 100 years with a commitment to making sure your experience is pleasant and rewarding.

The Sloan Clinic is owned by Dr Bradley S Sloan and specializes in sports medicine. Located in Jefferson City, MO their practice is geared towards keeping the active student athlete and weekend warrior in the game and on the field.

We are very excited to have Specialized bicycles and Sram components as contributors as well. I am a huge fan of Specialized bikes, they are one of the few companies that spend a lot of time and even more money on research and development of their products. They have been a supporter of cycling, and grass roots cycling in the US for years. Sram, a Chi town (my home town) company with a desire to do "it" better. For years I was a pure Shimano man. Last year I crashed my bike and had to quickly get a new one for the next week's race. I had to make the decision to go to Sram so that I could have a bike in time. I have been very happy with my choice ever since. One of my favorite aspects of Sram's groupo, is the "sprinters" shifting. I can grap the shift lever and hold it while I sprint, allowing me to blast through gears and I sprint for the line.

All of these companies have many options for what to do with their money, time, and resources. And their decision to go with us is always on our minds. We are grateful for their support, and we hope that we can show that with our racing and our support of them as well. If you are looking for any of these services please take a minute to check these guys out.

First Ride Zipp 404 Fire Crest Clincher

Over the last season Mesa was supper awesome with helping me out with some great race wheels, and letting me borrow Zipp 404s all last year. These were the last generation of the 404 as well as tubulars. They were great wheel, and I had never ridden anything like them. The only wheel that I had been on that were better were the Zipp 808s.

About a year or so ago Zipp made a huge discovery about the shape of their wheels. It was so revolutionary that they decided to scrap there lastest and greatest design that had only been out for a year maybe and re-tool for the new wheel. The Fire Crest is a compete shift from what people always thought was aerodynamic, creating more of a bulbous shape. They claim that they had created a leading and trailing edge that funneled the wind in such a way around the wheel that wind would no longer push you wheel around in a strong cross wind. From what I have experienced so far, that is not true. In the last two road races I have done there have been major amounts of cross winds and I am spending a lot of mental energy trying to not get blown around by a surprise gust of wind. I would say this is the ONLY drawback of the wheel, and of any deep section wheel. The Zipp might do it better than most but it is still there, and you will for sure still get pushed around.

My first impression when I got on the bike though was that it just rolled, and rolled, and rolled. And I was going into a headwind. The pedals seemed to be easier to push, and I felt like I was not having to use as many watts to make the same speed. This compared to my heavy training wheels though, and not compared to anything comparable. So how is this a good opinion about the wheels? Because I never thought that about the previous version of the 404s. They felt good but compared to my China carbon wheels the only thing I noticed was that they were stiffer when I stepped on the gas. Other than that I couldn't really tell a difference. I would think that would be a pretty bad thing for a wheel that is supposed to cost 6 times the amount as the Chinese carbon. 

The Fire Crest is worth the cost!

I decided to go with the clincher wheel as well. My last couple years with tubulars I never really got why they were any better than a clincher. The tires were really expensive, and I never used then till they were spent. They either got a tiny leak, or once I hit a pinch flat. Every time it cost me over $100 to replace a perfectly good tire. It also cost me a few hours to get the new tire ready, with glue, stretching, and mounting. I feel it was not worth it at all. So why go with the clinchers? All I have to do is replace a cheep inner tube! I can by tires that are better for racing and I know that I can use them till they are spent. Now I know there is a possibility that I slice a tire open, but that has only happened to me a couple times in the 40,000 or so miles I have done in the last 5 years. So I'm not worried. There has been a lot of data shown as well that clinchers role faster than tubulars, I am not sure why, but I'll just throw that out there.

Over that last year or so wheel builders have improved their techniques in laying up their carbon wheels for clincher wheels. It was often feared that the carbon would not be able to hold the pressure on the side walls of the wheel while also taking the heat caused by braking hard into corners. With time, a lot of money, and trials, they have come up with a strong light weight wheel, with great braking.

When I was looking into buying the new 404s everyone said that they were better than the last generation of 808s. I would have to agree! I have talked with some friends about buying some 808s at some point, at which point someone always has an old set of 808s to sell me. But why now would you ever buy a set of old 808s? If they are not as good as new 404s you are just buying something heavier and as expensive. Sorry Zipp but you just out did your self. What I will do in the near future though is buy some 808s. Why? Because they would be AWESOME! If the Fire Crest 404s are this good, I can't imagine the 808s, hell the 1080s would have to just be about illegal, like having an engine on your bike or something. The great thing about riding on 808s is the noise, it is like a freight train rolling up on you. Might not be a good thing if you are a sneaky racer, but if you are a power house (I wish) you might like the idea. I liked it when I was racing the rev3 tri bike leg last year, powering past hundreds of racers with the roar of these wheels announcing I was coming.

In conclusion, BUY THESE WHEELS!!! After a power meter, I would say this is the best investment you will ever make in your racing. Yes money does buy speed, and at least in my case, when I know I am riding on the best I have nothing to blame on my loss except myself. And in my mind that makes all the difference.

Beyond Blacked Out, Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory Style!

Hell's Kitchen Recap

Hell's Kitchen went really well for me, way better than I ever imagined in fact. I left of the race with my good friend and teammate Mike Rickey. Mike is also my coach so we did a lot of talking about mine, and his training, my racing, and what I needed to do this year to do well. We talked a lot about how I needed to be mentally tougher in races, and how mentally I go into races not thinking about winning but about working. A lot of it is just how I had to wire my mind in college I think. I was not a top super star in college. Compared to high school I really had to rethink about how it was ok to just be the helper and I was never going to win, but I did a job and that helped the team win, and that was what was important. I still believe that, but if I want to win some races I have to start thinking a bit differently on the days that I am supposed to win.

So we got to Fayetteville, AR and it was beautiful out. I mean perfect weather. We had great roads great temps, no rain, we got ready quickly and took a quick hour ride. After Mike and I met up with teammate Eric Finks to get some dinner. We went to this little hole in the wall called Pesto Cafe, that you would never think was a good Italian restaurant, but it was great. Turns out a lot of cyclist know about this place, as we saw Steve Tilford and a whole lot of other racers there. While we were there Eric, Mike, and I talked about where we were fitness wise for this part of the season. At this point I asked the guys if they minded if they raced for me this weekend. They said they were really happy I asked and we made our plans.

Now I am no climber, and I have to be pretty much on my game to climb with any type of form. Hell's Kitchen Road Race gets it's name from the big climb on the course and we were going to be going over it 3 times during our race. We determined that if we could get me over the climbs the first two times they guys would keep me out of the wind and get me close to the hill where I would take a dig with about a mile to go, try to get a gap, and hope I could hold it all the way. It didn't quite work that way, but pretty close.

At the start of the second lap Mike came up to me and said a team had talked to him about getting one of our guys into a break. We would have 3 of the stronger team members in the break and the guys in the pack could do a lot to shut down the rest of the race. As soon as I told Mike I thought I could go, the break went flying by. I asked Mike "those guys?" and took off. We began working together right away pretty well, and as soon as I saw there was a gap I fet we had almost a 99% chance of staying away. I felt my teammates could do such a good job that we were going to make it stick. It felt like in no time we had two and a half minute lead and I felt like we weren't really even trying. The little problem with that though was as soon as we heard that lead, we slowed down and settled into the rhythm of the break, but when the pack heard, I hear things started happening.

Our break made it over the Hell's Kitchen climb with 3 of the 4 originators still together and we put some hard work into a fast downhill section. And then all of a sudden our two and a half minute lead was down to a minute! And we started putting in some hard work for the next 15 miles. We were down to 40 seconds when we hit the hard headwind section of the course and we thought we had made it. The gap stayed at 40 seconds until we hit the final hill.

Now on our second time up the Hell's Kitchen hill, which is where the finish line was located at the top, I determined that the two riders with me were better climbers than I was. I was not going to be able to beat them to the top if I started the climb at the same time. So like Mike, Eric and I had decided the day before I was going to have to take a flyer and hope it sticked. I just didn't really know how far out I could go and still have any type of power to make it up the hill. So I did it as close to the hill as I could, but with enough time to get a decent gap. It wasn't nearly enough though, and I was only able to hold my gap for maybe a quarter of the climb. When my two break mates passed me I was pretty bummed, but when I saw the pack was closing quickly and there was a speedy dude from Big Shark gaining even faster, I really started to freak out! Big Shark passed me and one of the other break away guys from team OKC for second place. As I closed in on 200 meters to go the pack was breathing down my neck. But at the same time the road started to level out to a grade that suited me just a little more. I was able to find just enough power to put down some power again. I have no idea how close I was to being caught, but I'm pretty sure I threw my bike at the line. I couldn't have handled going from a "sure thing" podium spot to 5th place. 4th was still good and I was very happy with it! I waited for Eric and Mike to finish to give them the news. They were both really happy.

The result was beyond my expectations for the weekend. Like I said, I am not climber. I have great teammates that worked their ass off for me, and most likely did more work than I had to. It really has opened my eyes to what could be a great year for me, and that most likely all the hard work that I have been putting in for the last 6 months will not be for nothing.

We're the three best friends that anyone could have! :-)

The Yellow Line Rule

In cycling we have this rule called the Yellow Line Rule.

3B1. Center Line. If a course is not closed to traffic, all competitors must keep to the right of the center line or enforcement line, but may pass on either side of another rider [warning for accidental crossing of the center line with no advance in position; relegation or disqualification for advancing position; 10 day suspension for a flagrantly dangerous attack].

This is a good rule and a tough rule. First it is a good rule because of the safety of the riders. Many road races are run on roads that have not been closed to traffic. It is just too costly, and many locations just wont allow it to happen. With races taking a large portion of the day it would just be imposible to close of a large loop of road to cars. So what happens is promoters set up a type of rolling closure for the right side of the road and all riders must stay to the right of the center line. Cars on the road are allowed to pass the peloton on the left.

It is a tough rule when the race has strong winds, a race that might not have a painted line down the center of the road, and small roads. In races where there are strong cross winds, (Froze Toes, Hillsboro Roubaix, O'Fallon Grand Prix RR) the peloton will for echelons across the road where riders attempt to hide from the wind.

This is a problem when the wind starts blowing form a riders right side. (in the US) A smart rider or team will move to the left part of the lane to make it difficult for riders behind them to get a draft. In theory riders are not supposed to go over the line to stay in the draft. If they do not get into the draft they will for sure be dropped if they are not supper strong. With the prospect of being dropped from the race, a rider will for sure look to their left and see plenty of open road to use and will break the Yellow Line rule. If the wind was blowing form the other direction, riders would have to ride in the grass, or gravel to remain in the draft, which isn't really possible on a road bike. I know that when a riders is riding their brains out to stay in the race they don't think about cars coming at them. These racers come out to races to win, not enjoy the ride. So crossing the line is not a problem for them. It is only a problem for the promoter and the moto ref. I am sure that there is some racer that would cross the line, get hit by a car and then sue the promoter, also I'm sure it would fault could fall on the promoter for a car owner who's car was damaged by a cyclist not following the rules.

This is an interesting rule, and like many rules or laws it takes someone to enforce it for it to matter. I have been in races where the rule was strictly enforced, races were it is kind of enforce, races where it has almost ended races because of the racer's complete disregard for the rule, and races where the rule doesn't seem to exist. I have heard that Cat 1/2 races are generally allowed to race all over the road. I don't know this at all for sure, just what I have heard. I have been in a Cat 1/2/3 race where a lot of the pack was over the line, and the ref was doing everything he could to get them back across. I think it was a pretty hard job, and I don't know that he was able to accomplish it. I was dropped from the race because it felt wrong to be breaking the rules and going over the line. This put me in a bad spot and I was not able to hold on for long.

I have seen a lot of racers plead, beg, even demand that promoters run rolling closures in road races where the road was seen as too small to race on half of the road. I would have to assume that this would cost a fortune. You would need at least two or 3 police officers, follow cars, lead cars, marshals, wheel trucks, and motorcycles. for each category of race. Generally there are Cat Pro/1/2, Cat 3/4, Cat 4/5, Cat 5, a couple levels of Masters, maybe a couple Women categories, and Juniors. That is a lot of cars, trucks, police, and volunteers. It might need as many as a UCI Pro race. The cost would be very prohibitive for a promoter.

So what to do? I don't think there is anything that you can do. This has been a rule in use for some time now and really it works pretty well. We still get to race, and yeah there is a rule that sucks a little, but what rule doesn't suck? People will still take their lives into their own hands when they decide that going into oncoming traffic to stay in or win a race is the right thing to do. People are not very good at making good decisions all the time. And I think the cost of racing if we used rolling closures would make it imposible to race in the first place. So I say, let's keep racing, stay in your lane, and remember, we all have other jobs, families at home, and we are only racing for pride, a small amount of money maybe, an a medal.

Not what you want to see when racing!