Majestic Crit #3, Sunday 5 March 2023: Same As It Ever Was

March 07, 2023

Majestic Crit #3, Sunday 5 March 2023: Same As It Ever Was

Those couple of geese were heading south, yes? With winter nearly over, I hope, it seems like they might have been a little behind schedule. Maybe all that snow up on the mountains gave them a fright? Maybe they know something we don't? Whatever the case, they may have had the right idea; I've had about enough of the cold and wet to last however much time is left before Spring arrives. Anyway, yesterday's third race in this years' Majestic series was another cold and wet one. It reminded me of some of those season opening races I would do in late January, or early February, rather than one week into March. Standing on the start line, trying to stifle my involuntary shivering, listening to the chattering teeth of the guy lined up on my left, hoping that the referee would quickly finish his admonitions and let us start pedaling already!

Now, as then, all that stuff tends to get left at the line once the race begins. All that energy being directed to shivering gets redirected to keeping up with the Jones's, or the Williams's as the case may be. Nor did I notice much, if any, easing up around the turns when they became slick in the morning and afternoon drizzle. Just the same as it ever was,

"same as it ever was, look where my hand was

time isn't hold up, time isn't after us

same as it ever was, same as it ever was..."

(Eno, Byrne, Weymouth, Harrison & Frantz)

That late morning to early afternoon block of races, that I was able to make it out for, was filled with Masters. Sandwiched between a 30+ race for Cat 3/4's, and a combined Cat 3/Collegiate A&B race, were the Masters 40+ and Masters 50+ races. Still some familiar names in that latter bunch who I circled one course or another twenty-five to thirty years ago - case in point, Worthington and Toth did seem to announce the named John Slover with some frequency as the bunch motored through the start / finish lap after lap. It is okay that some things are little changed, I mean the Masters deserve their races too, but other things...

I don't think status quo is the way to go. Honestly, and you may know this from reading the Fast Digs posts here, or in the book, many of the same complaints about bicycle racing that were being made one-hundred and more years in the past, could still be made today. The Los Angeles region has some of the quickest sprinters in the nation calling it home; their speed along with the countering tactics of rivals can make for some exciting action, but who outside the racing community knows that? I don't want to get too far off-topic, but something needs to change. If not for the efforts of the Majestic crew (or the CBR crew out toward the coast) how many races would be left on the local calendar? Not many.