I started doing autocross seriously in about 1984, did roadracing from 1987
to 1994, and since then I've dabbled in mountain bike racing, including
three 24 hour team races, and most recently, 10 km running races. Over the
last twenty years, I've put in thousands of laps in practice on the various
race courses, and countless hours in preparation of chassis, engine, and
running gear - you can apply the appropriate metaphors to the human-powered
racing. My observations are that:
- Racing is racing, especially on a psychological level. Passing someone
requires power, skill, and picking the right spot to do it, if you want to
keep the place you gained.
- Preparation is half the battle, at least. You can't win if you don't have
at least close to the right equipment and have it set up the right way.
- Circumstances can come up that eliminate you from contention through
little fault of your own, regardless of how well you've prepared or how
superior your equipment is. Jim Adams got speared by a backmarker Corvette
in the ARRC, if I recall correctly. You can have a flat just after taking
the lead, or get charged by a moose on the biking trail (really!).
Overall, Racing Is Hard Work, and when the field is competitive, the real
difference between the top few places will often be more a reflection of
circumstance than an actual ranking of driver skill or vehicle
preparation.Since there were maybe half a dozen Tigers competing nationwide
in 1965, and three of them finished in the top 3 of their regional
divisions, you could say that they did a lot better than the hundreds of
pony cars also being raced at the time.
Best regards,
Theo
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