Just noticed that it appears they have changed the points allotment towards the team competition in the MAC series this year to make it more egalitarian. As such, I think we should be proud of the fact that we WON the team competition at SuperCross and in 7th place overall for the series. We didn't score any team points until Beacon, but since then we've managed to collect 32 overall points. With just a few of us racing tomorrow, I don't think we'll be able to move up too much, but we've got a few strong cat 4s racing and the points go pretty deep in the 2/3/4 race that so far only has about 33 people signed up, so if I'm not totally terrible, I should be able to contribute too.

Posted By: Marc Bertucco

"What is the point of heckling?"

And allow me to rephrase/ask another question:

"What is the anatomy of a good heckle?"

I'll take this one.

For spectators what makes cross different than road racing is two things: A) It can all happen in full view, the racers are moving at much slower speeds for the opportunity to interact. Hence this allows the opportunity for the spectator to have some idea of what is happening in the race in real time, you can watch a race unfold as it goes by you over and over again, and as a spectator you have no direct involvement in the race, so heckling allows you to get involved in some way with the race, even if it is superficial.

How to make a good heckle? well the key pieces of a good heckle would include something that is personally relevant to the rider, this is why actually knowing the person makes heckling better, it should prey on some source of weakness of the rider. Fatness, slowness, height, drinking habits, or leg length discrepancy, whatever you have. It should try to motivate somebody to do something that seems to the rider to be personally impossible, like "ride harder", "get up to that guy", "don't let the pro lap you in the second lap". finally it requires some sort of incentive, so that rider will have some external motivation to perform that action. So to put the three things together you get heckles like "Get your tubby a$$ up to that guy, or no Cracker Barrel chicken-fried steak for you!", or "The off camber suits you, you should be going faster on this".

Finally you can't go wrong with a classic "ride harder" to the guy who is clearly deep in the pain cave with a vacant stare just to snap them out of the tunnel vision.

you're confusing heckling with encouragement.

this is heckling:
"Get your tubby a$$ up to that guy, or no Cracker Barrel chicken-fried steak for you!"

this is encouragement:
"The off camber suits you, you should be going faster on this"

if the above rider happened to look like this:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WuNfOGxYEUw/TaZzwHle9eI/AAAAAAAAAF8/dx3mGYHGcAc/s1600/sloth_goonies.jpg
you could say something about the off-camber section matching his off-camber face, and that he should feel in his element . . . then it would be a heckle.

my favorite heckle involves threatening to send adult riders to boarding school unless they clean up their act

or fat camp

whichever is cheaper

William makes some salient points.

However, my feeling is that the best way to understand the phenomenon to take a step back and consider the heckle itself. I think it came from the desire of many spectators to separate cyclocross from other forms of racing. So rather than the obligatory "Go Marc!" which has been done forever, they decided to bring irony by yelling something else. Maybe "Make it good for the upcoming race report!" "Tito's up there, he has the jawbone!" "A prospect cop is up there, he has a radar gun!" (wait, wrong thread)

Or, it just could be that after watching six races (average of five laps a race) and draining six beers, having seen the same people go round and round and round, spectators got a bit bored, punch-drunk, and loopy.

Posted By: WilliamDC

this is encouragement:
"The off camber suits you, you should be going faster on this"

If the rider has significant leg-length discrepancy, then maybe the off camber suits them very well. That could also be a suitable counter-heckle to a spectator who is standing on the off-camber section.

Came across this old post on nyvelocity from 2009. But thought it was a good read with some nice perspective from Charlie I.

http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/charlie-issendorf-interview

I am looking for a charity that takes donations of old cycling clothing.

I found one long ago but I cannot re-find it.

The destination was either central/south America or north Africa; seemed to have been a one-man operation.

Let me know what you find, Jules - I have a few things to donate!

Just read this piece on Ryder Hesjedal. It is some of the best cycling writing I've read in a LONG time. Enjoy

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/printerFriendly.php?ref=2011.07-sports-the-pain-principle

Posted By: PatrickGJust read this piece on Ryder Hesjedal. It is some of the best cycling writing I've read in a LONG time. Enjoy

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/printerFriendly.php?ref=2011.07-sports-the-pain-principle

"to race bicycles is to drink greedily from a bottomless chalice of agony"

does anyone else's agony taste like lemon accelerade?

for those of you with kids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4a9CKgLprQ

Chilling in my summer kit in SoCal...

Y'all be jelly.

Happy new year! (:

NY Velocity is cracking me up these days:

http://nyvelocity.com/content/features/2011/2011-memorable-moments#comment-98444

selected comments:

Congrats Will Schneider on winning the New Year's day Century!

Will S's Best Season

1st NY Grand Fondo (pre-ride)
3rd Battenkill (pre-ride)*
1st Gimbels Long (and really super hard) ride
1st Rocket Ride
1st Best combined results: Gimbels and Rocket Ride in same W/E
1st Multiple Sclerosis 100
2nd Critical Mass NY**
1st West Side Greenway opening
1st NY Marathon wheelchair escort***
1st Free Clif Bar giveaway at Fairway Market

*Would have won, but took a wrong turn on improperly marked course
**Would have won, but caught behind crash caused by police officer apprehending a nude rider
***DQ'd from future events for dropping his escorted racer, BUT still the first cyclist across the line

This is why I hate NY Velocity.

the commenters are a bunch of choads who sit at the back afraid to attack and then they go online and do the negative high school bullshit that they should have graduated out of 20 years ago.

Yes, Will goes overboard on self-aggrandizing comments, yes he sits at the back of most breaks and then sprints, but he's generally good natured and friendly, rides a straight line, and races more aggressively than 99.9% of the bozos tossing feces on NYV.

@JP - it is precisely the sophomoric humor I love. I don't even mind when kissena gets ripped on.

And I agree Will is generally a nice guy. But I think his vo2maxout.com self promotion is hilarious and invites others to poke fun.

Hey dog-lovers!

Sarah and I are going out of town for a few days later this month and we can\'t bring our dog Penny with us. So, two questions...

1) Boarding/Kennel recommendations?
2) Any of you want to add an adorable, loving 50lb, dog to your crew for 4 days?

She\'s easy going, and fully house-trained. We give her a morning walk or run (running is her favorite, but not required), we leave her in the apartment during the day no problem, evening walk usually around 7pm-is and once quickly before bedtime.

Sarah\'s got a \"professional\" lined up to take care of Penny, but we\'ve never left our dog with anyone besides friends or family before and I would prefer she stayed with someone we knew.

Forgot to mention the days specifically...

I would drop her off on Thursday the 19th in the evening, then pick her up Monday the 23rd in the evening.

if you think she'll play nice with my two cats (one of whom is old and deaf) i will take her

PAC Tour run by RAAM champion Lon Haldeman takes donations of clothing and parts for cyclist in Peru.

http://www.pactour.com/recycle.html

Sweet! Thanks

So great for everyone who responded! Thanks! Sorry for the late response, but my internet has been horrible of late and I couldn't even get online today. Anyway, Sarah assures me that the local pro sitter she looked into will take good care of Penny, so we'll be going that route. Thanks again. You guys are good peoples.

WTF Marc?!?

I was getting super excited to kick it with penny!

Wanna see something gross?

Haha too late.

Ouch!! That looks painful!

It is! I highly recommend it.

Is anyone watching xc nats this weekend? If so where? I'm thinking about going to NYC Velo but I always find it a little awkward there and would rather watch it with my homies.

Hey Guys,

Quick poll; does anyone have any experience/opinions on 4square or RaphaRendezvous or any other app that does geolocation?

Here is the use case I am thinking of; I want to create a group (Kissena riders) so that when I'm headed out for a ride I can check myself "in" to Prospect and anyone else in the group can see I'm there.

I don't see a simple way to create groups in 4Square although there is plenty of technobabble on the webernets about "google groups meets 4square"

It's 2012 already; seems strange this isn't easier.

thoughts?

J

Jules,
Four Square is not designed for that group purposes as the concept is for friends. Google Latitude would work, my wife carefully oversees my rides with great interest.

Facebook check-in might be an option. But the best choice is Google+ as you can post to a circle with location.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/consumed-in-fire-cloaked-in-ice-equitables-headquarters-fell-100-years-ago/?ref=nyregion

history is wild. mildly cycling related as they now sponsor a cycling team.