Archive for December 19th, 2006
What’s up?
Tuesday, December 19th, 2006Hey, I have not heard anything from you in a while.
You know, I check your site everyday. Multiple times a day actually. I have a button on my browser and when I hit it all the sites that I check open up so I can scan through them. They all pop open at once in tabs under the address bar and I check each of them to see what’s new out there.
Most of the time there is nothing new, but most people update their site at least once per day. Most people do, but not you.
I check your site everyday and everyday it’s that same post from days or weeks or months ago. No news, no updates, nothing going on. Just the same site, everyday, multiple times per day. It’s like you just hit the pause button on your life as far as I am concerned.
Your site was interesting once. I enjoyed reading it and that’s why I saved the link. It’s not interesting anymore. Now it just kind of “gets in the way” of what is interesting.
I’m sure that you really did not hit the pause button on your life. Things are probably going great for you and updating your site is just not a priority for you right now. That’s fine.
But you started a site in the first place and got some people hooked on it. Then you just walked away without a passing comment that you were not intending to update your site ever again.
I understand, web sites can be like that. It starts off novel and fun and you have lots to say. But then it turns into a daily drag, a beast that lives in your computer that you have to feed all the time. You’ve run out of things to say but you are not really ready to pull the plug on the beast.
You think, maybe I’ll have something really interesting to write about soon! I could write about that cool thing I did once! I could show pictures! It will be great!
You know what? If it was so great and so cool and you wanted to tell everyone that reads your website about it then you would have done it already. But instead, weeks go by and your site is no different. Just the same thing in my browser screen everyday, multiple times per day.
Do us a favor. Get it over with, just pull the plug. Maybe I’m the last one, but I’m not going to check your site anymore. It’s ok. You moved on, now so have I.
NVGP news
Tuesday, December 19th, 2006Andy Dahl, NVGP Technical Director:
In 2007, NVGP has been awarded the USA Cycling’s USCF National Racing Calendar classification of 2.1. This is the highest ranking a stage race in the United States can have besides becoming a UCI event.
This means that Category 3 women and the overwhelming majority of Category 2 men will not be allowed to race with the professionals in 2007. I think that’s fine, most of those guys just got in the way last year anyway. It sounds like a very small number of Category 2 men who place high in the final standings of the 2007 Tour of 10K Lakes will be invited to race with the professionals.
It also sounds like there will be amateur events taking place at the Saint Paul stage one time trial, a criterium in Mankato and a criterium and/or hill climb challenge in Stillwater.
What follows may rub some the wrong way, but I am going to say it anyway. In regards to the amateur events at NVGP, my advice to the promoters and organizers is as follows: Don’t Bother.
The focus of the Nature Valley Grand Prix should be on promoting the best professional cycling event possible. Anything that distracts the promoter from this focus should, in my opinion, not be considered.
The NVGP sucks up a lot of resources during the period of time that it takes place. I believe that it is simply too much to ask already taxed race promoters and volunteers to include additional categories of racers to the series.
With the focus being the professional event, when push comes to shove and something needs to be cut or shortened or modified, it is going to be the amateur events that get the shaft. In the end all this will do is engender more ill will by those amateur participants then would have been there if no race for them was available in the first place.
I believe that, while we can discuss and debate the relationship of the Nature Valley Grand Prix in regards to the MCF and local bicycle racing, the NVGP is on the whole a big plus for cycling in general for Minnesota.
I’m sure that it would be hard for some to accept the loss of a prime race weekend during the height of the racing season. But I suggest to those who need to burn off some energy during the NVGP either volunteer their time to help make this event even better, or just go on a training ride instead. There are plenty of other weekends on the calendar to race your bike.
I will resist the urge to debate whether the spectators who come to watch professionals at work are even interested in watching a bunch of amateur cyclists shlep themselves around the course.
2006 World Cup Team Sprint
Tuesday, December 19th, 2006UPDATE 12/19/06 11:43am – This was a World Cup event, not the World Championships.
