FLCC> tues ayes

[Mark Rishniw]

Ano,
I totally agree.  Even though 2 riders were away (Frattini and Plumb) 
and we were chasing, there was plenty of warning through the pack 
about the approaching car - we singled out pretty quickly and 
nicely.  However, we didn't slow down virtually at all.  It is up to 
the guys at the front to STOP riding until the pack regroups.  Soft 
pedalling would be an option if we knew how to do that.

One perpetual problem - how do you know when the last guy through the 
corner has joined the group and is ready to race?  It's easy to say - 
have the last guy ride to the front of the pack and re-start the 
racing.  But it's much harder to accomplish.  Or do we soft-pedal 
until word goes up the pack to from front to back that it's OK to put 
the hammer down again?  I know that even at the start on Whitechurch, 
it's sometimes hard to know if everybody has made the corner for the 
start of the race before hitting out.

Thoughts?
M


At 12:03 PM 6/25/2008, mgarcia at borgwarner.com wrote:

>At the risk of re-starting the annual inconclusive safety discussion,
>I would like to ask for opinions on the following topic/question.
>
>-> Was the A group response (or non-response) to the car approaching
>the Coddington/Whitechurch intersection last night adequate?
>Did you know that there was a car approaching near the intersection?
>If you were in the back, did it seem like the group slowed at all?
>Did the driver have to brake or do something sudden to prevent a
>collision?
>
>We have these long email discussions about safety and "neutralizing the
>race" but its clear to me that what gets discussed on email and the
>choices we make in our oxygen-deprived testosterone-driven states are
>two different things. I am sometimes guilty just like everyone else, but
>my concept of "neutralizing a race" is that we stop racing and regroup,
>not that we let up for a few seconds, check back to see that no one has
>been killed, and then crank up the pace again before the people who
>were responsible enough to slow down or stop can get back on. The
>message
>is that if you are careful and play it safe, you get dropped.
>
>You might say "all's well that ends well" but the people who study
>accidents for a living can tell you that for every bad accident there
>is almost always an easily-recognizable pattern of many close calls
>with inadequate remediation before someone is hurt or killed. My
>opinion is that as a group we just don't get it.  If we don't practice
>a true "neutral corner" from time to time we will never ever do it.
>
>I'm not much of one to preach but is there any hope for improvement?
>Am I over-reacting?  Help me decide.
>
>-Ano
>
>
>
>
>
>Mariano Garcia
>BorgWarner Morse TEC Inc.
>Ithaca Technical Center
>770 Warren Rd.    Ithaca NY 14850
>Ph: 607-266-2136 (desk) 607-266-2243 (recep)
>FAX: 607-257-5033
>email: mgarcia at borgwarner.com
>
>
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