John Sunde holds back

Well not much. I haven't been to Heffron Park for 9 years or so - and haven't raced the Tuesday night group handicap for even longer - but John Sunde in today's Cyclingnews paints a melodramatic picture of cycling at its timid worst in his latest Tuesday race report. If you raced, don't read it. You may have been busting a gut, doing your best.. but not in John's eyes. You were hiding at the back. You may have been the organising club... geeeze, why bother, eh? Now John's right, of course - some riders do hide in bunches. And handicaps are not usually won by hiding. But these group handicaps lend themselves to this sort of thing, don't they? When have they been different? Some riders bide their time, hoping that the bunch gets up and that they can launch their blistering sprint to win overall. Maybe more riders are doing that now, as John attests, but I wasn't there to see. Maybe John raced on Tuesday and didn't get a place. Maybe because he has swapped clubs (a while ago now, sure) and joined St George - also the winner's club, btw - he now has an axe to grind about his old club. Maybe he just wants more people to come and have ago. What do you reckon? For myself group handicaps are either a complete joke - you may as well have scratch races - or are flat-out dangerous when faster bunches swallow up slower bunches to form massive packs (on a tight circuit!). Yes, you do improve your skills - if you survive. Anyway, it's certainly entertaining to read!