For those that don't know me I'm John Groves - one of the riders in the 'Apollo Bikes p/b ozriders.com.au' team that won overall on the weekend. I've been racing for 15 years. I love bringing new riders to the sport, encouraging them to get out there and race and pride myself on helping them have an enjoyable experience. I would normally keep this kind of communication behind closed doors (via PM as leftieant requested) with those directly involved. This saves irrelevant opinions, defamation to people and brands; and usually leads to a more hasty and effective solution. It only needs to be made public if that is the only way to resolve the issue. As an Apollo supported athlete, having Apollo mentioned in a negative light requires me to respond in public.
I found 99% of passing was very polite, both passer and passee. There was one though (looking at you Apollo jersey), who either just got the timing completely wrong or was just being way too pushy. He passed a lady in front of me as the trail narrowed through some trees and they both tried to be in the same space through the gap. She was a bit shaken, as she seemed fairly new to racing.
I was wearing ozriders.com.au clothing on the weekend so this would most likely have been my team mate, Peter Kutschera - the only rider I saw wearing an Apollo jersey at the event. As already attested by those that know him he is one of the nicest riders in the sport. I've spoken to him and he can recall it as being one of two possible incidents.
The first involved a rider walking along a singletrack that had no other rideable line that would allow passing with clear space between riders. Despite being asked multiple times, politely at first and finally more bluntly, they would not step off the track. Peter proceeded to pass, slowly, tangling handlebars a little and copping abuse for it. As the rider was on foot very little danger was imposed on them.
The second involved a rider calling him to pass, him proceeding to pass, them both realising they'd mistimed the gap, the other rider saying watch it and a bump of elbows occuring which would understandably intimidate a newer rider.
There was definitely no malice involved in either incident. Considering we pass 20-30 riders a lap, 7 laps, 150-200 passes, that makes for a less than 2% rate of incidence. I'd like it to be 0% but we know that is impossible...no one's perfect.
'monc' - please leave names out of negative posts unless they are 100% required. If you have an issue with a singular person/brand/organisation take it up with them or the appropriate mediator. A public forum is not an appropriate first option for mediator.
