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Re: [RC] weight division changes - Joe LongDiane Trefethen wrote: That's because there ARE no rules covering changing weight divisions. Either the BOD or the AERC office decided that because there is a rule for changing *regions*, it would be nice to just apply it to weight divisions... so they do. In "the old days", your weight division was what you actually weighed at a ride (novel concept, no?). But now regional and national awards stats are more important than people riding against people the same weight at each ride so you have to declare a division by the end of May and stay with it, no matter what you actually weigh. If you are fortunate enough to lose weight during the ride season and drop below the required minimum for your division, after May 31st, you can't ride *AT ALL* unless you carry dead weight to make up the difference. If you don't carry weights, you risk losing ALL your miles and points for the whole season. Which is why a lot of riders deliberately declare a lower weight division than they actually belong in... just to guard against that possibility. Given that the penalties for giving "fraudulent information regarding weight" are so stiff, if I were you, that's what I'd do... pick the lower division for safety. Either that or start a movement demanding that people be allowed to ride in their correct division no matter what time of year they ride. That's why for years I rode as a Lightweight even though my actual weight puts me in the Middleweight division. This past year I decided that since I'd never missed the minimum weight I'd go ahead and ride Middleweight, then doggone if I didn't weigh in right on the boundary at a ride. Also, I never notified the office that I'd changed weight divisions. So I'll just go back to riding Lightweight and not worry about it. I don't care about competing against lighter riders, because it's never been a problem and I don't give a damn about the weight divisions anyway. I only care about my overall placing, that's all that really matters as far as I'm concerned. I would opt for signing up "No Weight Division" if that was an option, except that some rides give merchandise awards for weight division placing and then I would miss out on those. The way our weight division boundaries are set up, at many rides a Heavyweight rider wins "First Place" just by finishing, as he's the only one in the division. More than half of AERC rides have three or fewer Heavyweights. A joke IMNSHO. But I guess some folks are proud to "win" even if there was no competition. -- Joe Long aka ChipRider jlong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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