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Duh! (Jersey Numbers)

Last Post 03/02/2014 03:56 PM by Nathan Finch. 24 Replies.

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Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

02/20/2014 10:55 AM
Look....let's get ot the practical matter here. If cycling adopts permamnent numbers, than what the hell will Phil and Paul do when there are 6 different "51's" in the field. Telling everyone that 51 is the magical number in the TdF is half their schtick.

Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!

79pmooney

Posts:3189

02/20/2014 11:57 AM
Master 50, good point. (The race scorers' challenge.) The placings in the hardest and fastest race I rode went 25 deep. The big split of the race happened 15 miles from the finish. 30 riders. I was the last to make it. (The smartest race move I ever made. I knew that hill was going to split the field. I moved up until l I felt everyone in front of me would make it. The guy behind me didn't.) I dropped my chain twice over the next 12 miles and was last up the final hill. Caught and passed a few riders, finishing overlapped with #1. I went to the scorers' table and told them I finished behind #1, last year's winner. (Standard practice after races in those days in New England. You told the scorers who you finished behind and in front of.) They told me they didn't need that info; that they had it all on film. At the awards, I watched them award 24th place to #1, then gave 25th to the guy who finished behind me. What the heck! They only make positives of the first 10 places and never looked at the rest. Upon seeing me in the negative, they gave me a pair of cheap sew-ups. Back to the present. Suppose you had numbers that were one letter and 2 digits for the World Tour riders and 2 letters, 2 digits for everyone else. Each team gets a letter or two depending on whether they are World Tour or not. Yes, this is 4 characters to report for the lesser teams but it also makes the top riders look one step more "elite". Ben

Yo Mike

Posts:338

02/20/2014 12:22 PM
make the jersey numbers BINARY; just 1s and 0s this will firmly place cycling in the modern world, and help make us all more tech literate

Keith Richards

Posts:781

02/20/2014 02:04 PM
I think numbers based on World Cup/World Tour whatever placings at the end of the year would be cool. I used to race BMX and to have a #1 plate meant something.

----- It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong.

79pmooney

Posts:3189

02/20/2014 03:09 PM
Thanks Keith. That would make the World Tour matter to fans. I like it. Ben

longslowdistance

Posts:2886

02/20/2014 03:27 PM
LOL Yo Mike! binary, like 2 wheels.

BikeCzar

Posts:53

02/20/2014 06:37 PM
Every team could have a number 1, a number 9, a number 25, etc. etc. I don't think timing and scoring would be an issue at the pro level. The transponders are scoring the riders anyway. They could easily review the camera for riders who have switched bikes, etc. The toughest part would be parting from the tradition of the previous champion of an event wearing the #1. Now if it were so easy for the local racing associations I could quit killing my kit with a thousand safety pin pricks.

jacques_anquetil

Posts:245

02/21/2014 01:18 PM
i'm with Master50 on this one. and he speaks from real-world experience too.

Keith Richards

Posts:781

02/21/2014 01:56 PM
And I disagree with Master50. I think it is totally doable at the professional level. With today's camera and GPS/transponder tech, placing riders accurately is a non issue. Elite and amateur? Not so much. I actually think it may help everyone if Peter Sagan was #72 the entire season. With riders in team kits looking identical on the bike due to helmets and glasses having a set number for the season would not be a bad thing.

----- It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong.

mtnbkr

Posts:16

03/02/2014 03:56 PM
Posted By 79 pmooney on 02/18/2014 11:38 AM Numbers you can see from the side and front so we viewers can actually tell who we are looking at without a start list in hand. This is an interesting idea, but the sponsors may have a thing or three to say about it. Looking at current kits the only place without sponsor information is the lower back. Trying to get the sponsors to give up the prime space on shorts or jersey sides/fronts might be a challenge. Sometimes money seems to rule all and the powers that be probably don't want to lose any sponsors that supply that money. I could see them doing some interesting things with technology for broadcasts -- the way they follow hockey pucks, etc. -- more than they currently do with the "arrow" identifiers. Analog might be more of a challenge.