>>I wonder though if the Tours and Nationals shouldn't be looked at as a whole
>for conformance to what is typically seen around the country in
terms of average course size and speed.<<
I think a lot of people attend these events with the anticipation that the
experience will be a departure from the 'typical'. For myself, that experience
includes not only great people, but big Nationals style courses. I can't
imagine that I'm alone in this opinion (maybe I am...). That aspect of a NT or
Nationals really adds spice to the whole experience for me. Everything is
bigger. Larger classes, larger crowds, larger Hoosiers ;-), and larger
courses. As long as safety is still *top* priority, I like the fact that I may
see larger sweepers, or longer slaloms than I am used to. Since I have no
realistic aspirations toward a trophy in these events, the experience becomes
my motivation for attending.
Besides, those who are going to be in the trophy hunt probably attend several
NT's as well as Nationals on a yearly basis anyway. Therefore giving them the
experience necessary to contend on this type of course design. If people like
me want to get that type of experience then they need to cough up the cash and
start travelling just like most of the better competitors have done. This is
why I certainly don't feel cheated if someone who has more experience on a
large course beats me. However, I would be fairly disappointed if I traveled
hours or days to a big event only to find slower, shorter, tight little courses
like the ones back home. All IMO of course...
-brad
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