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My Impressions of the Sanya City Circuit Race [long]
The Tour is about to start and everyone is down in Sanya now. I had
the misfortune to run into a member of the Sanya City Circuit Race Organizing Committee this morning. He walked into the race office with some task and was somehow under the misconception that although our department freely offers services above and beyond our actually duties to everyone else that we'd actually help him out with something. Rather than realize that he was coming to us and asking us for a favor he decided to argue from the position that, under normal circumstances, he's higher rank than everyone else who was in the room at the time. By default we must be wrong and we must do what he says. These aren't normal circumstances. And my coworkers tend to support the theory that if you publish prize money you ought to award it. This rather long message is the English working draft of something that is currently in the process of being translated into Chinese to be posted on a very popular Chinese blog. The Chinese version is a collaborative effort deliberately intended to embarrass them as much as possible. I didn't originally intend to post this anywhere in English outside of my private mailing list but I found out today at lunch that the Sanya City Cycling Association is going to try to have an International Race next year. Apparently they've been inspired by the Tour of Hainan's fabulous success. I don't really think they're going to be able to manage it. But It is my hope that if they do manage to do so perhaps some team that they invite will do a google search on "Sanya" and "Bike Race," find this post and decide not to attend. .... This year I attended my second Sanya City Circuit Race as a competitor. I have lived in Hainan for nearly four years at this point and although I now live in Sanya I had not originally planned to go. The previous year's organization had been so poor with a number of athletes from the men's category becoming lost on the road, the women's advanced category recieving prize money and trophies for the common category, and all of the athletes recieving less than the published amount of money and awards that I was somewhat leery of entering a second time. I was even less inclined to enter when I discovered that the one person who had entered from Changjiang was represented on the Sanya City Cycling Association's webpage as being part of a group of seven representing Wenchang or that I had apparently claimed that I was not only coming back but planned to take first place at the 2007 edition. Notwithstanding the fact that my Chinese simply wasn't good enough to have said that at that time in that way I have never had first place as my goal and I would never claim to have first place as my goal. Even though I now routinely place highly at races my goal remains the same as it was the very first time I was convinced to enter a race. To have fun and to beat my personal best. To this day I still consider my very best race results to be the 2006 Jianfengling Mountain Challenge where I was the last rider to cross the finish before the close of the race. I've had my fair share of first places but nothing can begin to compare to that. Despite my reservations however, many people from Sanya insisted to me that the mistakes of last year's event were only the mistakes of a first year event and that this year would be better. I hoped that it was so and despite my work with the Tour keeping me sufficiently busy that I had not trained in more than six weeks I eventually made the decision to enter. When I signed in and recieved the rules as well as my frame and body numbers Friday night I was pleased to see the list of names included not only Mr.Qiu and Coach Li but also Frederick Chan and Mr.Xiu from Hong Kong. As of Friday morning there had still been a chance that Mr. Qiu might be able to go and I had waited around long past my originally scheduled departure time in the hopes that he would be going and that I would be able to go to Sanya with him. But if it Coach Li and Frederick Chan and Mr.Xiu were also participating then it was guaranteed that this year's race would be very very well run. I haven't seen Coach Li since about two months before he went to France with the Women's National Track Team. So much the better to hear that he was not only back in Hainan but would be at a race that I was participating in. I really wanted to show him my new race bike and let him see how much better I'd gotten since the last time we'd met face to face. Saturday morning I did not get to show Coach Li my bike because Coach Li was not there. Coach Li was still in France with the Women's National Track Team. Coach Li will be in France with the Women's National Track Team until the Olympics. I did not get to talk to Mr.Chan (who will be Chief Commissaire at this year's Tour) because he too was not there. He was in Hong Kong. Because I haven't previously met him, I would not know until later that Mr. Xiu also was not there. Out of the five Chinese Cycling Association people mentioned in the printed rules, only one was there and I wouldn't find out until later that he was only a guest and not an official. Although I was originally in the Women's Common Category I changed categories the morning of the road race. Two of the other three riders in Common were Hainan's Xing Chunlei and Long Ling. I always race against them. If the course is flat I usually win. That would be much too boring. Women's Advanced lined up at the same time as Men's Advanced. Despite five names being on the sheet at sign-on there were only four of us. 62.4 kilometers. This was not going to be easy and I was going to get my butt kicked. But I was going to have fun. And that was the whole point. To have fun. Men's Advanced included a New Zealander named Nathan Dahlberg in his late 40s. It's been over twenty years since he participated in the Tour de France but I was thrilled to be in a line-up with someone like that. Later I would learn that Jan Kole from Holland, who was also at the start with us, had participated in the Giro and Vuelta as well as all varities of large and small races in Europe in the 1960s. They and their much younger friends from Shenzhen started us fast and kept us going fast. Nothing in the world compares with riding a bike in a fast pack. It cannot be properly described to anyone who has never done it before. I've ridden fast. I've ridden in a fast paceline. I've ridden in a pack. This was the first time riding fast in a group of more than five. And we weren't merely going fast, we were going very fast. Very very fast. All I needed to do was stick with the pack, hang on to the very tail end until the women broke off at the fourth lap and maybe I could sprint for a decent finish. That's what happened at last year's race. Even with weeks of not training and a punishing 62.4 kilometers of riding maybe I could do it. Maybe not. On the homestretch of the first lap, Sanya Bay road just past the old airport coming back in to the city the pack was going 45 kilometers per hour and I couldn't keep up. I was dropped. Later on I would find out that a competitor of mine from Yunnan dropped off the pack shortly after I did and waited up for me. With as few amateur women bike racers as there are in China there are even less really fast women and we all know each other. She already knew that she was going to be dropped soon enough so why not ride with me? However, I never caught her, and only learned this at the finish line. Into the second lap I was passing Yanglan when the combined Men's and Women's Common Race caught up to me. I rode with them for a while and got a good rest. Because of wind a large group allows you to put forth less effort for more speed. In my case their group was going the same speed as a group that I had been doing all on my own. But at least it meant I could have a rest. On the beach road again and heading into the third lap some of the riders attacked and broke the pack into a number of smaller groups. As Xing Chunlei and Long Ling headed for their finish line I continued into the third lap with a man I'd never met before. We alternated. He'd take the lead and let me rest for a while then we would switch and I would sprint as fast as I could to try to pull him up to the next man. But I was running out of energy fast and eventually he went ahead without me. From the end of the third lap all the way through the fourth lap I rode alone. By this time I was not feeling especially good. I was glad that the race was almost over. According to my odometer I crossed the finish line at 2 hours and 5 minutes for an average speed of 30.2 kilometers per hour. I've never before gone so far so fast. It felt really good. I handed my bike to a friend and watched the Men's Advanced cross the finish line. My mouth was dry and I was thirsty but the water didn't taste right. Another friend of mine helped me walk over to the wall and sit down in the shade. A third handed me a bottle of coca cola and I sent him to look for salt. I was sitting there in the shade drinking the coke when I started shivering. I wasn't cold but I couldn't stop shivering. A spectator sitting near me loudly announced that something was wrong. "She's cold! Get her back into the sunlight!" The wife of one of the men from the common race took my gloves off and started massaging my hands as the friend from Changjiang pushed back through the crowd with the doctor from the ambulance. He gave me a liter bottle of saline solution for injection. I drank a third of it in one mouthful. And it tasted good. Long Ling got into the ambulance with me and alternated between handing me coca cola, water, and more saline to drink. Over an hour passed between my crossing the finish line and the final plans being made for lunch which included how I was going to get there and what was going to be done with my bike. At no time did anyone officially involved with the race check to see how I was doing. Nor was I officially given my results. Although the officials apparently didn't care enough to find out why one of the racers was sitting in the ambulance, my competitors as well as many of the other cyclists and their friends all came by to see me. It was in this way that I found out that two of them did not finish so, by default, I was in second place. The next day, after the mountain bike competition, I went to the hotel to collect my prize money and trophy. Things were busy in the Race Office for the Tour and I needed to get back to Haikou early. I was accompanied by fourteen members of the Shenzhen bike team. They too could not stay for the Closing Ceremonies because they had a flight to catch. W hen Ms Yang Ze showed up (forty minutes late) she said that only four women had entered on Saturday so, according to the rules, only first place was due to get a prize. But that wasn't what the rules said. The rules said "if less than five register" and there had been five even if one of them did not show up. I showed her where it said that in the rules and she left to go upstairs to talk with Mr. Wang Hongsen. Ten minutes later she came back and said that indeed I was correct. Five women had signed up therefore the first three finishers would be awarded prizes as in accordance with the printed rules. However, she continued, I was not second place and had in fact been short a lap. Certainly I remembered riding four laps. And I had an odometer that confirmed that I had ridden four laps. And I had friends who had seen that I had ridden four laps. But those could not be trusted. I must trust the word of their judges. These were the same judges who, last year, needed the word of first, second, third, and fourth place to confirm that Long Ling was fifth and not eighth. The judges weren't available. And when I pressed for information I was eventually told that because they somehow knew I was short a lap no one had taken my time at the finish line. They had absolutely no proof that I had not ridden a full race and refused to accept my proof. As the day went on and I reached more and more cyclists who had seen me finish at about the right time for a 60 kilometer race Mr. Wang Hongsen now changed his mind and decided that even if I had been second place it didn't matter because only four of the five women who registered had participated and therefore only the first place would receive prize money or a trophy. Eventually I went back to Haikou with a nebulous promise that if they ever did reach a decision regarding my second place results, trophy or prize money they would call me but Wang Hongsen refused to give me his own telephone number. Such sloppy organization and unprofessional behavior gives both a race and the city that hosts it a bad name. The head of the Shenzhen bike team is a former professional racer and he was more disgusted with the way I had been treated than I was. Before leaving he promised that not only will his team never come back he'll make sure that his friends also don't come. As someone who lives in Sanya and who truly enjoys cycling as a sport I can only hope that the Sanya City Cycling Association gets their act together with regards to following their own published specific regulations, handing out prize money, and adhering to the standard practices of bike races or, in the event of a third edition, no one will come. And that would just be embarrassing. .... -M |
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My Impressions of the Sanya City Circuit Race [long]
Marian schreef:
As someone who lives in Sanya and who truly enjoys cycling as a sport If you really do races because they're fun and to improve yourself, and 30.2 kph for 60 km was the fastest you ever went for the distance, and you did not win, why did you get knickers in a twist over some prize money and a 2nd place (loser's) trophy?! BTW, I checked the ultra comprehensive "100 Years of road cyclists - Dutch professional riders and their results" and no mention of a Jan Kole, or Koole, Coole, Koelen or similar. Did he never leave the amateur ranks despite his Giro and Vuelta exploits? I did stumble upon the impressive palmares of Richard (Dick) Bukacki, born 1946, professional 1968-1982, 4 full pages of results, 1 win each for the 1st 2 years, several wins every year after that. A real sharp shooter. -- E. Dronkert |
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My Impressions of the Sanya City Circuit Race [long]
On Oct 29, 11:07 am, Ewoud Dronkert
wrote: If you really do races because they're fun and to improve yourself, and 30.2 kph for 60 km was the fastest you ever went for the distance, and you did not win, why did you get knickers in a twist over some prize money and a 2nd place (loser's) trophy?! Just cuz people do things for fun doesn't mean they don't take it seriously. This is particularly true if you work in a particular field and you see other people doing a ****ty job and not making good on promises. It's irksome. You worry that others will think the entire field behaves that way. I did stumble upon the impressive palmares of Richard (Dick) Bukacki, born 1946, professional 1968-1982, 4 full pages of results, 1 win each for the 1st 2 years, several wins every year after that. A real sharp shooter. I remember that guy. I think Ronde Champ used to talk about him. |
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My Impressions of the Sanya City Circuit Race [long]
On Oct 29, 2:07 pm, Ewoud Dronkert
wrote: I did stumble upon the impressive palmares of Richard (Dick) Bukacki, born 1946, professional 1968-1982, 4 full pages of results, 1 win each for the 1st 2 years, several wins every year after that. A real sharp shooter. A Google search doesn't show his palmares. Am I looking in the wrong place? |
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My Impressions of the Sanya City Circuit Race [long]
schreef:
I did stumble upon the impressive palmares of Richard (Dick) Bukacki, born 1946, professional 1968-1982, 4 full pages of results, 1 win each for the 1st 2 years, several wins every year after that. A real sharp shooter. A Google search doesn't show his palmares. Am I looking in the wrong place? Hmmm, possibly. (But he's real you know: http://www.cyclingwebsite.net/coureu...coureurid=2816) -- E. Dronkert |
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My Impressions of the Sanya City Circuit Race [long]
On Oct 29, 12:14 pm, wrote:
On Oct 29, 11:07 am, Ewoud Dronkert wrote: If you really do races because they're fun and to improve yourself, and 30.2 kph for 60 km was the fastest you ever went for the distance, and you did not win, why did you get knickers in a twist over some prize money and a 2nd place (loser's) trophy?! Just cuz people do things for fun doesn't mean they don't take it seriously. This is particularly true if you work in a particular field and you see other people doing a ****ty job and not making good on promises. It's irksome. You worry that others will think the entire field behaves that way. You're neither a preacher, lawyer/judge, or a politician, so what are you talking about and how would you know? I did stumble upon the impressive palmares of Richard (Dick) Bukacki, born 1946, professional 1968-1982, 4 full pages of results, 1 win each for the 1st 2 years, several wins every year after that. A real sharp shooter. I remember that guy. I think Ronde Champ used to talk about him. It was Ronde's dad, aka Rumpe Cramp. |
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My Impressions of the Sanya City Circuit Race [long]
* " a écrit profondement:
| | On Oct 29, 2:07 pm, Ewoud Dronkert | wrote: | | I did stumble upon the impressive palmares of Richard (Dick) Bukacki, | born 1946, professional 1968-1982, 4 full pages of results, 1 win each | for the 1st 2 years, several wins every year after that. A real sharp | shooter. | | A Google search doesn't show his palmares. Am I looking in the wrong | place? | | | | Rode for Belgian squads if I remember correctly Flandria or that short lived OverPull (or something like) -- RON PAUL * He has never voted to raise taxes. * He has never voted for an unbalanced budget. * He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership. * He has never voted to raise congressional pay. * He has never taken a government-paid junket. * He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch. * He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program. * He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year. * He voted against the Patriot Act. * He voted against the Iraq war. |
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My Impressions of the Sanya City Circuit Race [long]
On Oct 30, 2:07 am, Ewoud Dronkert
wrote: Marian schreef: As someone who lives in Sanya and who truly enjoys cycling as a sport If you really do races because they're fun and to improve yourself, and 30.2 kph for 60 km was the fastest you ever went for the distance, and you did not win, why did you get knickers in a twist over some prize money and a 2nd place (loser's) trophy?! BTW, I checked the ultra comprehensive "100 Years of road cyclists - Dutch professional riders and their results" and no mention of a Jan Kole, or Koole, Coole, Koelen or similar. Did he never leave the amateur ranks despite his Giro and Vuelta exploits? The other guy, who I'm very certain of having been in the Tour de France (having heard of him from more than one different person and having done a web search on him) is the one who told me that this guy was in those races. Maybe I got the years wrong. I dunno. I'm pretty darn sure that I heard the words Giro and Vuelta during those conversations. I did stumble upon the impressive palmares of Richard (Dick) Bukacki, born 1946, professional 1968-1982, 4 full pages of results, 1 win each for the 1st 2 years, several wins every year after that. A real sharp shooter. -- E. Dronkert |
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My Impressions of the Sanya City Circuit Race [long]
On Oct 30, 3:14 am, wrote:
On Oct 29, 11:07 am, Ewoud Dronkert wrote: If you really do races because they're fun and to improve yourself, and 30.2 kph for 60 km was the fastest you ever went for the distance, and you did not win, why did you get knickers in a twist over some prize money and a 2nd place (loser's) trophy?! Just cuz people do things for fun doesn't mean they don't take it seriously. This is particularly true if you work in a particular field and you see other people doing a ****ty job and not making good on promises. It's irksome. You worry that others will think the entire field behaves that way. Last year the Hainan Daily covered the Sanya race's not awarding prize money and ended up with a bunch of people thinking that it was a different first year event (ie the Tour) that had lots of angry racers complaining about a poorly run event. -M |
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My Impressions of the Sanya City Circuit Race [long]
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