We don' need no stinkin' sandbaggers!


By Peter Donohue

Let me start out with a confession--I was a sandbagger. Last year, I had a decent year and scored in the top 5 in two races. By rule, I don't have to move up until I score in the top 5 five times, so officially I didn't have to move up to sport. But practically, the races would finish with a few people spread out on the front, and then the masses would start coming in. The people spread out on the front were obviously faster than the others. And the general masses all had no chance of placing with these hammerheads always out front.

But I didn't want to move up. I figured that the sport class had to be so much tougher and I'd have no chance of placing. So I raced in beginner at this year's Sea Otter. I trained over the winter and got into decent shape. Then comes race day and the race went very well. Once again, there were a few people strung out in front when we hit the finish line and then the masses come in. I took 5th out of 200. Decent, except I got out-sandbagged by 4 people.

The next race I entered was the Napa Valley Dirt Classic. Quite a fun race. One interesting point to it is that everyone, from beginner to pro to Clydesdale, races on the same course for the same distance. This makes it easy to compare where people stand across different classes. I found that there was quite a few sandbaggers out there. For example, the winner of the beginner men 18-26 class would have taken second in his sport class. The 27-34 beginner men's winner wasn't as bad; he would have came in 11th. And I did notice that this wasn't restricted to men--the winner of the beginner's women 18-34 class would have won her sport class.

I did some quick calculations to try to get a generalization about how a beginner class racer would do if they move up. The winner of the beginner's class race would generally score in the top 10-20% of their class as sport. If this same person raced as expert, they would still beat over a third of the field. If they raced as a pro? Well, Ok, they aren't sansdbagging enough for that much of a jump. They would be last or second to last.

I checked the sport classes to see if this was the same situation there. It does appear that there may be some sandbagging, but not as bad. The winner of the sport classes would generally rank in the top half as expert and also be towards the back of the pack as pro.

So, what is the affect of this at the beginner level? I am sure many beginner class racers are discouraged when they go to a race only to be beaten by obviously better racers. If you are at the top of your field with no place to go, that's one thing. But if you are staying back just to win an uncompetitive race, then you should be taken out and your bike shot. Okay, maybe not that bad, but you really are ruining it for everyone else. I definitely don't think you should be proud of any medals you win. It wasn't a competitive event--you didn't beat the people you should be racing against. You might as well have skipped the race and just purchased your medal.

What's the solution? I wish this wouldn't be necessary and people would do the right thing and move up. But unfortunately, I believe that the NORBA rules related to the number of races a beginner can place in before moving up needs to be lowered. By NORBA's own description, the bulk of the racers should be in the sport class. To force people to move up, the hurdle should be lowered to 2 or 3 top-10% finishes before someone must move up. Along with lowering the number, I am using top 10% in place of top 5 finishes to offset the different field sizes. Fifth place out of 20 is not the same as fifth out of 200, and shouldn't hold the same weight in making someone move up.

Tom Ghan of Team Wrong Way had an interesting idea. In the March/April issue of the Wrong Way World News, he proposed that ÒNORBA should declare that beginner class is for racers who do not train in any shape or form for racing. This should be the weekend casual rider class, not the ego stok'n wanna be class. Let the beginners see what racing is about without being intimidated by the shaved leg 150 mile a week riders. This clicked with me from an experience at my first race--watching beginner racers warming up on wind trainers while waiting on the front line just seemed too weird to me. We are talking beginners here, not pros.

What can you do about this? First and foremost, if you are a sandbagger--move up! The sport races are more competitive (and more fun) and they are generally longer, so you get more for your entry fee. And for everyone offended by sandbaggers, write to NORBA and let them know they need to change the rules. Feel free to use the recommendations listed here, make your own, or just tell them that they have a problem and need to change the system.

And how about me? I did move up to sport at the Napa Valley Dirt Classic. So how did I place? 6th! I lost one place by moving up a class. Granted, there were only 50-55 competitors at Napa Valley, but it is very telling to see that I am still competitive as a sport class racer.

©1997 Cycle California!™ Magazine

All rights reserved.

Archived

Old Favorites
Home

Home page