From Ommegangster RC: The Tour de Syracuse was my first race as an official. Oh, let's be honest, this is the first time I've even been on a race course in years. As an overweight, out of shape, wannabe cyclist, I figured getting an official's license was one way to get involved in racing without being too horribly embarrassed by my utter and complete lack of form. I remember as a racer often being annoyed by the cranky officials and their slowness in getting results posted. I learned the hard way after my first few time trials that you simply don't ask an official for timesplits when they are still timing. In fact, you are risking a torrent of profanity if you ask the wrong official at the wrong time for ANY results before they are posted. I used to get very annoyed with things like the yellow line rule, not being able to wear iPod earphones, and other rules I felt were hindering my options as a racer. I mean, it's a bike race,right? We should have the whole road closed and have police and helicopters just like the TdF and podium girls and all that.....right?After two days burning my hairless pate to a crisp in the sun I have a clear view from the other side of the official's stand and it was a bit of an eye-opener- bike racers are annoying as hell. I totally get why we are annoying, but it doesn't change the fact that we are.Of course this is compounded by the fact that some people are jerks. Most of the racers this weekend were polite, respectful, and just wanted to have a good time racing. And by most I mean roughly 99.9%. But a few were not. This is surely in the same proportion to the rest as the general population and is the main reason why I steadfastly avoided any career path wherein I would have to deal with the public. It's always the few that ruin it for the rest.As a racer it's all about yourself or your team. The desire to know precisely how well you did against the competition as soon as possible isa perfectly natural reaction to competition. However, the reality is that there are hundreds of other people racing that feel just the same way you do and figuring out the results of a race can be a technological and administrative feat. Hundreds of numbers and times have to be matched and ranked in various races and categories. The timer for this race was Alan Atwood and he carries around (just a very rough estimate on my part) maybe$5k worth of equipment to record and calculate finishing times. I'm truly at a loss as to how this was all done before technology had these tools available. He's good at what he does, but don't stand in his way when he's trying to watch a finish line. A couple riders I don't think have been yelled at like that since Catholic school.I have to admit that a couple times as I was trying to watch oncoming riders, write down numbers, grab split times off my watch, and be ready for the next rider 3 seconds behind, I snapped at a few people who came up to ask results while I was still timing. It's just not fair to the riders on the course and risk them getting an inaccurate time or missing a finish time completely.Please, please, please do not ask the officials who are actively timing anything at all. They need to concentrate just as much for the other riders as they did for you!When I relegated a rider in the road race to the rear of the pack for a blatant yellow line violation which he used to quickly advance to the front of the pack, I realized that I had had the same thing done to me about 6 years ago on almost exactly the same stretch of road. It might have been the first year the race started from Song Mtn. It felt a littleodd but the view from the back of the pack, seeing the space available,and knowing what would happen if a rider got hit by an oncoming car made me realize first-hand why officials are so paranoid about the yellow line. I know that as a racer there is a certain sense of invulnerability and maybe even a sense of entitlement to the road but the facts are that accidents are unforgiving and I had no desire to watch someone's cerebral cortex ooze out of a hole in their skull. So I called the rider out, had him go the back of the peloton, and that was the end of it. He did as asked without protest, although a couple other riders made a few choice comments. He was back up in front in perhaps another 90seconds and it cost him a little extra energy. I didn't see another line crossing for the rest of the day, not counting the inadvertent wobbles or someone getting pushed out for a second or two by the dynamics of the pack, which always happens, and I ignored. My point was made and the race went on without further hitch. Well, at least tome. The riders still had to climb those bloody hills......The worst part was that over the three races I had to DQ three juniors for roll-out violations. Personally, I think the roll-out is a ridiculous rule but, as an official, I don't get to choose which rules I enforce and which I don't. Had I not DQed those juniors, it would not have been fair to the ones who were riding within the regs. I made sure to re-test every suspected failure multiple times, rolling against a tape measure in every instance, but if it failed the rider had to be disqualified. One parent at the crit was absolutely seething, to the point where another official came over to stand next to me quite literally as backup.I think there is a common misconception among the peloton that the officials are the enemy. We're not. I think I can honestly say that onbehalf of all officials that NO ONE wants to DQ or penalize a rider. We are simply there to keep it fair for everyone under the existing rules. Yelling at us doesn't really change anything except make our day even harder. I can honestly say after clocking close to 20hrs of officiating time this weekend, it's hard enough without the guys we are trying to work for getting angry at us when we're looking out for everyone's best interests.If I ever do get back on the race course on a bike, I'll have a new perspective on just how much work and BS the officials have to go through just to make the race happen. Suddenly, I want to start training again....
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