Mid-Week

So I took the poll down. It was making the page load really slow. King's Valley was the overwhelming winner. It's a great course, close and Goldstein does a great job year after year. TST is a beautiful race that everyone should make the trip for sometime or another. Omer Kem(Priority Health/Bissell) dropped a comment echoing my sentiments about Sea Otter. Just a couple of years ago (the last time probably being when Doug won it) it was THE stage race on the west coast. Right time of year, huge fields, beautiful location. Now, well it's PIR. A 2 hour circuit race around a car track. Not quite worth the trip. Rubicon will probably be there, Tuckerman had a good ride in Monterey last year.

Kent Johnston (Fred Meyer/Lakeside Bikes) made his return to racing at Icebreaker. He just had to remind everyone on proper leg-lubing technique. His Cat. 3 protegé Carson Miller is obviously following the big guy's example.

There was a bit of hubbub on the OBRA list about a topic I brought up a couple of weeks ago, the whole OBRA USCF thing. After talking to some folks, I realized that OBRA is about the best organization ever. They keep racing cheap and accessible, that is no small feat. Stuff like insurance and permits get more and more expensive each year. OBRA somehow manages these expenses and is able to keep membership and race fees ridiculously low ($20-25). That is very cool.

USCF (or is it USAC?) is a bit more convoluted as an organization. It's more expensive($60/year), and gives less support to race organizers (that's the impression I get), which makes races more expensive. If you race out of state often, you'll need USCF. If you stick to OBRA racing, be thankful that there is such a strong organization keeping your races cheap and easy.

If you're just dying to see how you stack up in the national amateur rankings, well, you have way too much time on your hands. Nobody cares if you pass up some kid from Hoboken, NJ for 283rd on the amateur rankings list.

BOOYAH!!!