2021 Races & Rides -- Go or No?

No, we really can’t. And this is why serious debate cannot occur on serious issues. There are large segments of society that believe in this idea of “alternative facts”, or that when confronted with facts which undermine their positions say “well, we can agree to disagree”.

You have also completely ignored the heart of what I posted, which is that we take steps to mitigate the negative impact of automobiles…so why not apply this to the virus?

The “f*ck it, I’m doing what I want” mentality is only prolonging this and causing addditional pain and suffering.

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Did someone say otherwise?

I am not going to get into a battle here. I never said I don’t wear a mask, I never said its a hoax. My statement was very clear and I stand by it. Life is to short to hide in a cave and hope that it all goes away. Get out and enjoy life, train hard, and ride hard!

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Let me know where I said you did.

Let me know where I suggested anyone do that.

Move the goal posts much?

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Yep, but I’d argue that the contagious aspect is more about magnitude and the emotional side, but doesn’t really negate the overall point of shared risk in society.

Getting in a car or going to a bike race are both selfish and preventable at some level. Both of them create risk to others. Going to a bike race is more selfish in my opinion, but everyone has an opinion on what their balance of selfishness vs. risk is. Even before covid, was it really responsible to go to a bike race? People get seriously injured and die in bike races every year. I could also accidentally kill someone in my car driving to a bike race who isn’t even participating. Why do we allow all this selfish and dangerous behavior?

I’m not trying to convince anyone that going to a bike race doesn’t increase the risk of spread of the virus and shouldn’t be considered. Going to the grocery store is increasing the risk as well. I’m just highlighting that society accepts us doing things every day where we put others at risk, it’s just a matter of what’s deemed acceptable and everyone has a different opinion on that.

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Someone else already addressed that, so I didn’t want to pile on. If you don’t think we’re trying to mitigate the risk of the virus, I don’t know what to tell you. Is everyone doing it? No, just like people are ignoring the speed limits and drag racing on the streets. I hate it when I see someone flying through the neighborhood at 60 mph just like I hate it when I see someone in a crowded place with their nose hanging out of their mask. You can be unhappy with the level of mitigation, but that doesn’t mean it too high or too low, just your opinion. It’s a fact that things are being done to mitigate the risk of the virus.

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The first practical bicycle predated the first practical motor car by about 16 years.

Why didn’t we stop? :thinking:

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Depends on where you are. Like I said…come round my neck of the woods. Races are on. Rides are happening. It’s not the same as it has been in years past but it is happening.

It just depends on where you are. Also, it depends on the type of race. Races that target a more national ‘audience’ have to cater to that audience…but races that cater primarily to local racers are more free to innovate.

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I wasn’t saying their is a reasonable path to make them go away tomorrow, just highlighting that it was a societal choice to allow them and accept the risk that comes along with them. If everyone in the world wanted to eliminate cars, it’s something the world could do pretty quick and still have a functioning society. Cars are a luxury, like most of the things in our lives, not a necessity.

You forgot to mention that the judgement above applies to all circumstances except social justice mass protests.

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:rofl:

There’s a thread for that.

The logic there is that non-white people being murdered by the police showed itself to be a larger risk to society than contracting/transmitting a deadly virus.

tr💩mp demonstrated that fact very nicely by usurping militarised forces to attack peaceful (and masked) demonstrators so he could make a maskless political statement to his religious-based fans.

As for the OP…I’ve made up my mind — I don’t want to race with any of you!! :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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I don’t want to race either. But I’m going to try snowboarding. Let’s see what kind of protocols they can implement. Last year they weren’t prepared so I stopped 2 weeks before they shut down the mountain.

My real dilema is international travel to go see my parents. :pleading_face:

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Yes, indeed. So In that case there was a moratorium on science, expert’s recommendations, and risk management. On a different run of the simulation, we might have not gotten lucky.

To stick to the thread, races could happen if:

  • Smaller and more frequent, local events
  • No food and water stations
  • Enforce 3m distance at the start.

Basically, if we can’t/want do the Chinese model, we need to adapt the activities to the new environment.

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Don’t tread on me.

Wll, seeing as how I have significant reservations about some of these protests, and have said so, I guess we are in agreement.

But I don’t think there is a moral equivalence between protests and basically saying “screw it, if I get it, I get”.

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I’m going to pretend most of this thread didn’t happen and just talk about races and my expectations for 2021

Most of my races are local or regional USAC road events. Field sizes ranging from 15-100. I think these types of events will be drastically reduced in 2021, but to a slightly lesser extent than they were in 2020.

Typically I would participate in maybe 15 race weekends, which I would pick out of a potential of 25-30 total races that are close enough that my team would participate.

I expect in 2021 to have those choices of 25-30 reduced to 5-10, of which maybe 2-3 will interest me enough that I would race them under normal circumstances.

If things feel safe (basically, I am vaccinated) I will likely race all races available to me, even those I would normally skip because they don’t interest me or the risk:reward ratio is skewed

If there isn’t a vaccine then I don’t see myself racing at all in 2021 - it isn’t worth the risk for me.

I am process driven so I had no motivation or training issues in 2020, I expect that to continue in 2021. I will be training on a prolonged base, polarized, base progression until I feel like racing is viable at which point I’ll just switch to a specialization modality and be ready to race in 4-6 weeks

All that said - there are a handful of local races that I really love, both to race and to support. These tend to be the smaller events (15-20 person fields) and I may race those if they happen even if there isn’t a vaccine.

I also typically participate in a handful of charity and grand fondos each year - I will not be doing these larger events, likely even with a vaccine

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What is USA Cycling saying about events now? Are they insuring them?

Could you expand on that a bit? If you got the vaccine, what would be your reservation / hesitation?

A number of reasons

I expect the early vaccines to not be 100% effective and to not be 100% available. This means herd immunity will almost certainly not exist in 2021. Therefore, large events with thousands of participants will not be worth the extra risk for me

Secondly I typically did these as social events, as a break from racing. It is nice to have something that isn’t so serious. Rest stops, chatting, etc. I don’t need that break nearly as much when I’m not racing most weekends of the spring and summer, so my incentive to participate is largely reduced. Further, I could use these to ride with friends I don’t race with - since I won’t be racing nearly as often I am able to ride with them in small group settings much more regularly

Finally, I’ve shifted my personal charity goals due to COVID-19 and some of the social unrest here in the states, so I’m not fundraising to fight the big diseases and common causes any longer

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Gotcha…thanks for the explanation.