Interesting Blog Post On Sandbagging

Races here in MI have very little interest in controlling sandbagging.  MMBA CPS has no move up rule and could care less if you sandbag or not.  Tailwind requires USAC license to race expert, which means some people don't want to pay that fee to only do a couple of races.  Thus they race sport.  Also, the license doesn't prevent you from registering for sport regardless.

Sandbagging is a unique phenomenon.  A grown adult, acutally cheating to win a piece of metal (rarely is there money involved).  There is only one reason one sandbags:  They have very low self-confidence.  That's it.  I've heard all the reasons in the world about how they justify it.  But in reality, it's a mental issue.

Below is a blog post from a racer who completed Peak2Peak last weekend.  It has since been pulled I'm guess because the sandbaggers started crying foul.  But once on the internet always on the internet.

Peak2Peak Sand Bag Awards

In Lifestyle, Michigan, Mountain Biking on October 21, 2013 at 12:57 pm

Sand Bagging is a curious phenomenon that seems to be a bigger problem the bigger the race. We examine a few case studies to try to answer the big question: why?

This past Saturday, racers took on the Peak2Peak Mountain Bike Challenge. Races love to slap challenge into their titles, but it’s there for a reason. As much as it is a race, it should also be hard. Not just against other bicyclist, but for yourself. It should test you, whether it’s by the climbing, the turning, or the length. It’s not supposed to be a walk in the park punctuated with a medal and a beer.

Cycling is a sport where one man (or woman wins) and everyone else loses. That’s the reality. And it’s okay. If the only reason you’re showing up is victory, in an amateur bicycle race, you’re doing this wrong. The real reason to show up is to try hard, then try a bit harder. And have some gosh darn fun.

Saturday, some very fast, nice, wonderful people raced Sport instead of their familiar Expert categories. These riders have won big races on the road, on the trails, everywhere they go. Steve Andriese has won road state titles. He’s one of the fastest cyclists in Northern Michigan. He’s also one of the nicest men you’ve ever talked to. He won the Sport race Saturday ahead of fellow too-fast-for-Sport rider Scott Diment, who is one of the three fastest singletrack riders in the state. They finished five seconds apart, but five and half minutes ahead of third place.

Brian Klym won the Sport 43-44 class by seven minutes. Beth Craven won the Women’s Expert class by seven minutes as well. The largest margin of victory aside from those classes was three minutes, with most well within a minute. That is fair, close and competitive. Having a five minute lead at the halfway mark of the race isn’t fair, close or competitive.

Some riders are serial sand-baggers. The wonderful Cliff Onthank is a good example. He’s won Mud, Sweat and Beers by an aggregate twelve days in the past few years. You’ve won the Sport class, Cliffy. You’ve won it hard. Move up. Roger Raehl has won every Sport class race under the sun 4,238 times. Move up, sir. You’ve crushed enough skulls.

But why do they do it? Especially with Peak2Peak, we can speculate. For Andriese in particular, it might just be a matter of timing. No one knows how to prepare for a race better, and he’s obviously trying to dial in his fitness before Iceman. And that makes him, and Scott Diment, and Brian Klym, just like everyone else in the Midwest right now. But the difference is that other people didn’t race down a category and ruin it for other people.

Another reason that comes up is course length. Peak2Peak’s Sport and Expert races were one, eleven-or-so lap difference. That’s roughly 50 minutes. It’a big difference. But if you’re an Expert racer, that’s what you’re racing. Racing down only ruins it for other people. If you don’t want to ride that distance, don’t do the race or drop out.

These aren’t bad people. They aren’t ‘bad’ riders. They’re some of the best. And that’s why riding down is a problem. It discourages Sport riders, who in turn sand bag in Beginner. And Beginners will get crushed, give up, and go back to bowling and drinking PBR. We want people on bikes, and races and events are the type of things that let us celebrate our community of racers.

The twist here is there is no Sand Bag Award winner. They got their names on the Internet, they got their medals. They got what they were looking for, in a way.

If you or someone you loved has sand bagged, tell us why. Write on the Facebook page wall.  We’ll share the top comments later in the week.