FLCC> A1/B2/Post ride reaction

[Diarmuid Cahalane]

Hey TNR people,

The listserve has seen many words of wisdom prompted by last Tuesday night’s B race, but I wonder whether we’re missing an opportunity to can this wisdom. Perhaps there is a better medium than email to record a consensus on safety and etiquette guidelines. Does anyone have experience in using wiki pages in a context like this? I’ve never set up or edited one.  (See here for a definition of wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki) And would the FLCC website be able to host such a wiki, provided any legal issues regarding non-endorsement of the TNR could be squared?

There may be better solutions, but a wiki would:
a) allow the information to be more accessible than currently (i.e. now hidden in reams of fleeting emails)
b) following from point  a), it could then be “required reading” for TNR racers
b) be edited and debated by the contributors
c) be available year round for beginners, 
d) perhaps make people less likely to transgress the guidelines if they are clearly written down, rather than just hearsay
e) the guidelines could be perused by people at their leisure, rather than learned after near misses during a race.


All of that being said, it’s clear that many of the issues which arose on Tuesday night are cultural problems rather than problems related directly to etiquette or safety. I’m referring, as Joe, Brian and others already have, to a culture of conservative and individualistic riding: racing for the win regardless, not attacking, not working in smaller groups and not communicating.  From what I’ve read of the A ride reports - it sounds like this much more a B issue. So maybe some pre-race words from our spiritual leaders would prompt a little soul-searching and help engender a healthier B racing culture.

Of course, I’m just a little more than a rookie, so you can take this, leave it or correct it; but I think the discussion is important.


Regards,
Diarmuid




 || Diarmuid Cahalane
 ||
 || PhD Program in Applied Mathematics
 || Center for Applied Mathematics
 || 657 Rhodes Hall
 || Cornell University
 || Ithaca NY, 14853
 ||
 || e: diarmuid at cahalane.net

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