My Impressions of the Sanya City Circuit Race [long]

On Oct 30, 2:02 am, Ewoud Dronkert
wrote:

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 probably hinting at misgivings about your fellow statisticians
but in Marian's case of recreational bike racing, I don't buy it. I
didn't need convincing by Chang: it don't mean a thing. Actually,
that's how I approached my own sporting career. I admit this much,
that could be the reason it never went anywhere... However, it is
still the way I teach my pupils: I am serious about my investments,
they should be serious about their commitment but only because we all
intrinsically love doing what we do. Don't expect, and make sure you
don't need, rewards other than your own enjoyment.

I know, I'm an amateur.

No, I wasn't talking about the prize money. I don't give a rat's ass
about it. What I think is ****ty is saying they'll do something and
then not coming through, because it shows that the organizers weren't
serious about their commitment. Part of taking that commitment
seriously is keeping track of the number of laps and timing the damn
racers as they cross the line.

On Oct 29, 4:40 pm, SLAVE of THE STATE wrote:

You're neither a preacher, lawyer/judge, or a politician, so what are
you talking about and how would you know?

Have I mentioned how much I appreciate your taxes paying my salary?
Ooops, look at the time! I have to go back to bed and sleep in late so
I'll look properly rumpled when I autopilot my lecture today.

On Oct 30, 2:02 am, Ewoud Dronkert
wrote:

You're probably hinting at misgivings about your fellow statisticians

I try never to claim that I'm a statistician. However, are you saying
you saw this?
http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2007...comment-514251

On Oct 30, 9:07 pm, wrote:
On Oct 30, 2:02 am, Ewoud Dronkert
wrote:



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 probably hinting at misgivings about your fellow statisticians
but in Marian's case of recreational bike racing, I don't buy it. I
didn't need convincing by Chang: it don't mean a thing. Actually,
that's how I approached my own sporting career. I admit this much,
that could be the reason it never went anywhere... However, it is
still the way I teach my pupils: I am serious about my investments,
they should be serious about their commitment but only because we all
intrinsically love doing what we do. Don't expect, and make sure you
don't need, rewards other than your own enjoyment.

I know, I'm an amateur.

No, I wasn't talking about the prize money. I don't give a rat's ass
about it. What I think is ****ty is saying they'll do something and
then not coming through, because it shows that the organizers weren't
serious about their commitment. Part of taking that commitment
seriously is keeping track of the number of laps and timing the damn
racers as they cross the line.

Yep.

Finding out why the ambulance has changed parking places is also a
part of that commitment. And I don't think I'm going too far out on a
limb to suggest that sending someone over to ask whomever is in the
ambulance if they are feeling alright is also a part of a commitment.

I am not, however, entirely sure that they did fail to keep results.
I was first told that I wasn't due prize money because only first
place got prize money. It was only after I argued that their own
specific regulations said that the first three finishers got prize
money that they decided to inform me that I wasn't in second place.

We're not talking about an insubstantial sum of prize money here
either. Even as a highly paid foreigner who can't find enough things
to spend all her money on it still represents about half my monthly
salary. But the point is that I can't find enough things to spend my
salary on already. The only part of my caring about the money they
didn't give me is that they published a set of rules that said they
would give it to me and then didn't.

The local races I enter don't have any prize money and usually end up
with winners picking up the beer tab. This can be pretty expensive
and if you're a contender in your age category it's a good idea to
bring a big wodge of cash to the race just in case you end up winning.

-M

On Oct 30, 6:07 am, wrote:

What I think is ****ty is saying they'll do something and
then not coming through, because it shows that the organizers weren't
serious about their commitment. Part of taking that commitment
seriously is keeping track of the number of laps and timing the damn
racers as they cross the line.

I can easily live with that sort of commentary from a rumpled
autopilot prof.

In article om,
Marian wrote:

On Oct 30, 9:07 pm, wrote:
On Oct 30, 2:02 am, Ewoud Dronkert
wrote:



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 probably hinting at misgivings about your fellow statisticians
but in Marian's case of recreational bike racing, I don't buy it. I
didn't need convincing by Chang: it don't mean a thing. Actually,
that's how I approached my own sporting career. I admit this much,
that could be the reason it never went anywhere... However, it is
still the way I teach my pupils: I am serious about my investments,
they should be serious about their commitment but only because we all
intrinsically love doing what we do. Don't expect, and make sure you
don't need, rewards other than your own enjoyment.

I know, I'm an amateur.

No, I wasn't talking about the prize money. I don't give a rat's ass
about it. What I think is ****ty is saying they'll do something and
then not coming through, because it shows that the organizers weren't
serious about their commitment. Part of taking that commitment
seriously is keeping track of the number of laps and timing the damn
racers as they cross the line.

Yep.

Finding out why the ambulance has changed parking places is also a
part of that commitment. And I don't think I'm going too far out on a
limb to suggest that sending someone over to ask whomever is in the
ambulance if they are feeling alright is also a part of a commitment.

I am not, however, entirely sure that they did fail to keep results.
I was first told that I wasn't due prize money because only first
place got prize money. It was only after I argued that their own
specific regulations said that the first three finishers got prize
money that they decided to inform me that I wasn't in second place.

We're not talking about an insubstantial sum of prize money here
either. Even as a highly paid foreigner who can't find enough things
to spend all her money on it still represents about half my monthly
salary. But the point is that I can't find enough things to spend my
salary on already. The only part of my caring about the money they
didn't give me is that they published a set of rules that said they
would give it to me and then didn't.

Have to agree with Marian on this: if you say you're going to pay out a
prize, you had darned well better do so. And if you have a substantial
prize for your race, you ought to do a good job of keeping track of
placings.

The local races I enter don't have any prize money and usually end up
with winners picking up the beer tab. This can be pretty expensive
and if you're a contender in your age category it's a good idea to
bring a big wodge of cash to the race just in case you end up winning.

Holy perverse incentives, Batman!

I think that sounds pretty good, actually, since in most races there's
no need to do much to encourage people to try to win (in my amateur
categories, bragging rights from outsprinting the other guy for
second-last are way more important than prize money, or even draw
prizes), but you do want to encourage participation. That means
reasonable entry fees and generally treating the non-podium racers right.

As much as I like to mock them, those joggers may be onto something with
their finisher's medals.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"My scenarios may give the impression I could be an excellent crook.
Not true - I am a talented lawyer." - Sandy in rec.bicycles.racing

rechungREMOVETHIS wrote:
Have I mentioned how much I appreciate your taxes paying my salary? Ooops,
look at the time! I have to go back to bed and sleep in late so I'll look
properly rumpled when I autopilot my lecture today.

Being in Paris that must be an Airbus autopilot.

wrote:
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?


Phonetic spelling doesn't help.
You need to search for "dick" and "bukkake".
I think Ewoud can share the results of his Google image search too.

* Stu Fleming a écrit profondement:
|
| Richard (Dick) Bukacki,

maybe I get different results searching based on my location
in france currently but:

http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/pelotons/eq1968.php

http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/p...ki_richard.php

memoire-du-cyclisme.net is a good site to bookmark


--
There is a rising sentiment in America today, it is nationalism.

Americans are growing weary of seeing their sons die in wars to bring
democracy to people who do not seem all that appreciative. They are
tired of reading of factories going to China and jobs going to India,
while illegal aliens march in their cities under foreign flags to
demand their "civil rights." They are tired of reading about new
billionaires as their wages fail to rise to compensate for soaring gas
prices and the falling value of their homes.

Stu Fleming wrote:
Phonetic spelling doesn't help.
You need to search for "dick" and "bukkake". I think Ewoud can share the
results of his Google image search too.

Just an application of your old rbr speling theory.