After much debate we have decided to tweak the sandbag tracker just a bit. The survey Bob put out showed that the team overwhelmingly favored keeping the sandbag tracker intact. There was however a solid block of teammates who felt that the sandbag tracker was too aggressive in pushing people to move up before they might be ready. Therefore we have modified the tracker to allow for more “success” in the sport category before the tracker recommends a racer should move up. The most important thing to remember is that the sandbag tracker is only a guide and can not definitively tell you whether you should move up or not. There are many more factors involved in the decision to move up than how well you did in a few sport races. These including the quality of competition at the races you did well (or poorly) in and an honest comparison between yourself and the riders currently in the expert category. Another excellent way to judge your ability to compete in a different category is to take part in a couple of local weeknight races. At these races you can race in a faster category than you usually do and see how you stack up against the stronger competition. As always feel free to talk to and ask questions of your teammates at the races or via email or however. One of the strengths of our team is our riders of various abilities in all different forms of bike racing. We have everybody from lifelong slow sport's (me) to local legends (Bart) to international stage racers (Jen, Shannon, Drew) and all of us are more than willing to offer any advice you might need.

New Sandbag Tracker 2010:

To be considered a sandbagger you will need to accrue at least 35 points.

10 or more racers in your category:
1st place - 8 points
2nd&3rd - 5 points
4th&5th - 3 points
 
Less than 10 racers in your category:
 
1^st place - 6 points
2nd&3rd - 3 points
4th-5th - no points 

I have to give credit where credit is due.  Bob Saffell used his many, many, many years of race experience to devise a system of tracking sandbagging in the ICUP.  This system which has been in place for well over a year has worked flawlessly.  

Last year Jon Rose followed the sandbag tracker's recommendation. When the tracker told him he was a sandbagger in the sport category he moved up to expert and instantly became a factor in his new category. This year Drew “The Dominator” Free had a great spring run in the same sport category. When his performances tripped the sandbag alert he made the jump to expert for the biggest race of the season.  His results in that race speak for themselves. The exception that proved the rule was Brad “Bagger” Sneed's 2009 race season. Midway through last years campaign Brad became a sandbagger on our tracker. Brad used his God given right to ignore the tracker in pursuit of a season championship. Not only did he fail in his quest for the championship but he missed out on the true glory of going toe to toe with local legends Bobby Fresh, The Throttle, BK and the rest of the Expert 40+ field.

The sandbag tracker works. Maybe with a little luck Ed will see the results of our tracker and hire on the humble Sandbag Potentate to police the entire ICUP with a non-binding sandbag resolution. I'd do pretty much anything for a season pass:)

• Drew Free         MOVED UP!
• Corey Larrabee   18 points
• Kyle Mernitz        18 points
• Matt Brown        12 points
• **Multiple racers have less than 12 points, they're still tracked but not worth mentioning at this point in the season**