First off, let me get some disclosures off my chest.
- I have not, and will not ever be competitive in the ROY competition, regardless of how it is structured.
- My opinion does not imply disrespect to those who work to compile the scores, determine the structure, or promote the races in the ROY series.
- My motive is strictly to humor myself. If I was really that interested, I would sponsor a “Mr. and Miss Minnesota Cyclist of the Year, presented by BikeThrow.com” …hmmm.
I’ve stated this many times before in other areas, but the lower categories within ROY are not meaningful. I understand that these riders are important to racing and bring large numbers, but the results either do not reflect the best rider in the category or more dangerously, promote sandbagging. If one or two riders are dominating their respective category, as a community, we should want them to upgrade rather than prohibiting even competition in their category.
Promoters are also hamstrung by the rigid categories. The ROY does not differentiate between a Road Race, Crit, and Time Trial (and rightly so), but to a promoter, these are much different animals and may require more flexibility in administering them. This leaves two options, disqualifying races who don’t comply or forcing them to change. By not including races that don’t follow the tight structure of ROY, the competition erodes further into a second tier afterthought competition.
Kevin Schaeffer (new MCF Prez) stated the following in a recent interview with Smithers [link not work or family friendly…]:
To have a bike race you need at the very least 2 things. You need the cyclists who want to race their bikes and you need an event. So at the core we need to develop, teach, maintain and retain riders. At the very same time we need to do the same with race promoters. Any decisions or changes should be based on how they impact the racers and the promoters.
These two entities need to live in a symbiotic relationship to survive and ROY can either help facilitate that, or hurt it. This competition should not becomes a point of conflict between those two organisms.
Comments 16
I really like the idea of Mr and Miss Minnesota Cyclist. We need ROY too or Louck would jump off a bridge.
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 8:10 am ¶One of the great things about the local cycling scene is that it caters to riders of all ages and abilities. There are riders out there that will never reach the Cat 1/2 level, either because they are not capable, or don’t have enough time to commit to cycling. Like it or not, this is a majority of our cycling community.
Not everyone takes ROY seriously, especially those who cannot commit to doing most of the designated races. However, the series does provide an incentive for many to treat those events with a higher priority. I think this is much more evident outside the elite ranks. I hear riders say all the time, “I will be there because it’s a ROY event”.
Sandbagging is an inevitable reality due to the nature of categorizing riders. Eliminating ROY for categories other than Cat 1/2 will not resolve sandbagging. Riders will still avoid upgrading to keep the reality of winning a race alive.
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 9:01 am ¶no, it doesn’t cater to out of shape, cheap/broke folk like myself. …somewhere a place for me
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 9:05 am ¶I wasn’t proposing eliminating ROY for all other categories other than cat 1/2.
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 9:57 am ¶i think roy and cry do promote sandbagging-look at the cry winners the past couple of years-the winners of the C men’s classes have won many races far more than needed to upgrade-once they have the cry locked up they go to the Bs and place in the top 10
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 10:34 am ¶I like the ROY structure.. it’s been around for a while now.. it seems like it’ll more than likely go the other direction in that it’ll have to cater toward the masses. so, a resolution might be to have a “minnesota’s best..” that includes road (rr, crit and tt)and some cross events. 1/2 men and women only.. $500 each and nice ass trophy. continue with lower roy categories..
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 11:06 am ¶Hmm, i like the sounds of that, maybe a cash prize for the top 3 or 5, a big ass trophy, and include cross and track.
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 11:09 am ¶Yah but what about MTB, yep Dan Swanson had a
great spread of Mn best cyclist and yep MTB is cycling,
70 races are easliy achieved this way. Every race
ya did counted. Sounds like a cluster “f” but he did it and it was cool.
That would be Mn best cyclist, thats why its good ta
have separte catagories, ROY, CRY, TTY, MNSCS
oops forgot about the Track too. TROY
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 11:37 am ¶If a key plank in the “Support ROY” movement is that people target ROY races, shouldn’t the MCF make sure that the *best* races (promotion/location/etc) get the ROY designation?
ROY designations seem to be quite arbitrary at the moment.
PS: I’m totally biased. I think ROY is stupid.
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 11:59 am ¶And soon to be BMX, they have gears too.
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 12:29 pm ¶if it includes track just give me my money now.. thanks
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 1:46 pm ¶Oh what about the kitty cat KCROY category. There are animals that can ride. Wait, there has to be a kittens KROY too to include atleast two age categories. There could be kitty treats and Pounce for prizes.
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 7:11 pm ¶i have a problem with the idea that ROY races get more attention then non-ROY events. I am sure that the promoters at these non-ROY events put in just as much effort as the ROY events. And with the looks of it, people are going to more ROY events than non. Why not make a level playing field, who knows there may be an increase overall in races over the season.
Trust me, people want to race. They will race if it is ROY or not.
Posted 07 Dec 2007 at 9:39 pm ¶Mr n Ms Minnesota Cyclist? Yeah! Talent contest? Swim suit contest? Yeah!
Posted 09 Dec 2007 at 1:55 pm ¶Ilike the mtb included idea. might motivate more people to race both road and mtn. there arent too many that do both besides swansons and hwood.
-tippy
Posted 15 Dec 2007 at 11:55 am ¶a seperate license is required (and category asigned) and mtn bike promoters are not required to pay mcf surcharges. which make even incorporating track events complicated. cross on the other hand.. is feasible..
Posted 17 Dec 2007 at 12:10 pm ¶Post a Comment