It’s a lot of BS that also happens when non-competitive, loosely organized activities suddenly get pushed into the spotlight and become competitive. The organizers fucked up as soon as they let the event happen without consistent rules that apply to all competitors. The other competitors fucked up when they decided to get competitive in an event that is nearly impossible to maintain control over.
A woman who is getting attention and also performing well is a pretty attractive scapegoat.
That’s absolutely true. It really feels like they landed in the exact wrong middle. If they moved 5 degrees towards either direction, more competitive or more casual, the result would be much better.
This is why I feel strongly that no one should get good at anything. And if they do get good at something, they should stop doing it immediately.
…aren’t you a teacher?
But not a very good one…
The strange thing is that so many of us were introduced to the race (other than hearing about it in passing) by watching the fucking movie “Ride the Divide”, which was streaming on Netflix forever ago
The one where the dude is like “yah my wife was going into labor but I had decided that RtD was my personal growth challenge so I went for it”?
The very same!
Oh yeah. I loved the way he oiled his chain. I think he was the producer.
Oh man, I remember that. I think it may have come out just when my kid sprang into existence. I had a hard time understanding a decision like that, but then again almost everyone is awful.
It was the clearest precursor to a divorce I’ve ever seen
The tour divide is getting stupid on Facebook again. A guy is saying that this year’s winner has been DQed for talking to his family before the finish. I can’t confirm if it’s true.
They’ve taken those rules out of the Tour Aotearoa now. You can stay with family and friends enroute and I think you can accept food now, without pretending that your friend is a trail angel who dropped it on the trail. The whole idea being to grow it and inspire others to want to do the same thing by meeting you and giving support.
They want to make it into an extremely stupid version of randonneuring? (Not Tour Aotearoa, but that other one.)
Are Rando rules over the top, or common sense? I’ve still not done one yet.
What the hell is the point of trying to prevent emotional support anyway?
Rapha: S U F F E R I N G
Competitive suffering.
Best sufferer award.
Sufferiest.
They teeter on the edge of being over the top. You can get supplies anywhere, but you can only get help from a support crew at a control point; it sounds like there are people around TD that think this is an excellent idea, and that the only controls are the start & finish and furthermore seeing friends/family/camera crews count as support.
If what you read on the book of faces is accurate, TD has gone past its sell-by date and people need to start poaching the race like it’s on a boxing day sale.
And rando rules are totally subjective to the RBAs discretion
I was not never told that nobody gets dq’d
It’s a rejection of the preexisting “Ultra-Endurance Racing” rules from events like RAAM that mandate constant support with a crew of 4+ driving a follow car and RV
They want to keep people from driving the course as spectators or supporters, so that it’s just the cyclists and local traffic instead of a staged event.