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Chris Daggs On The Way To A TTT Record

They kept using the word  “on”.  ” Shortly after going on XYZ supplement… I won XYZ race”    ” When going on one  XYZ company’s supplements,  you are guaranteed….”

I’ve received other emails from this company, and they always use the same “on”  language.     Regardless of whether the stuff  improves performance (and I’m skeptial of that), the language is similar  to what is used when talking about drugs.  My grandmother is ” on”  anti-inflammatories and pain meds for her arthritis.  My uncle is “on” beta blockers for his high blood pressure.    Riccardo Rico was ” on” CERA.

I think this habituates  athletes to being “on” something, and it can be a slippery slope.

My guess is that it is a marketing thing that they use, because if it sounds  kind of like you are using a  drug, than it must work like a drug, only this “drug” isn’t  banned.  ( never mind the fact that if their products had the drastic effects they claim, they  would be banned from sport anyway)

The whole email kind of reminds me of  one of my favorite SNL clips.  The All Drug Olympics.

For a copy of that supplement email I received today, go HERE.

What do you think?

Here it goes:

USAC Insurance fees: $2000

USAC Permit fee: $100

USAC Officials Fees: $1900

Prize Money $1750

SDPD Traffic Control at the Corners: $1300

Ambulance: $1300

Race announcer $750

City Permit Fee: $ 100

Race Numbers and Photocopies of waivers: $350

Safety Equpment( barricades, cones, signs) $450

Toilets and handsinks: $300

Garbage and Recycling bins: $300

Pizza, Coffee, and drinks for Volunteers and Officials: $125

The biggest expenses are: Prize money, Ambulance,  SDPD Taffic control, USAC Fees, Officials Fees, and Announcer fees.

Our Mens Pro 1,2 race has decent prize money, but the prize money for our other categories is admittedly small.  The ambulance is required by the city of San Diego.  In some municipalities you might save ~$700 by having an EMT but no ambulance.   But you have to have the Ambulance in San Diego, and its probably a good  idea anyway.  The SDPD traffic control is required by the city.  It  would be nice to be able to use volunteers, but the city wants to send out their own people.   To be honest, its probably better that way anyway.  I think you get less BS from drivers when the traffic controlers are wearing a uniform that says “SDPD” on it.   the USAC insurance fees  are charged per rider.  They’ve gone up by 50% over last year.  Officials fees are  the single biggest expense.  It seems like alot, but you have 8 people working almost a 12 hour day.  Some of them are coming from LA,  so  that may include hotel and/or mileage.    All of them are pocketing less than $200 for the day before hotel expenses, so it’s not like they are getting rich.  Ralph Elliot does and AMAZING job as race announcer and he is well worth it.  He actually gives us a deal on the annoucing because he has a soft spot in his heart for the SDSU team.    All of the  volunteers  working at registration  are SDSU kids, or riders that have volunteered   for a few hours in exchange for a few entries.  I also typically trade a few entries for people that bring good primes.  We have a few other little things that people do  for free that really help, Like Andrew Lee from Adama Ave Bikes working in the wheel pit.

People always say stuff like ” Hey, Why don’t you get a corprate sponsor or something?”  Well that’s far easier said than done.  Espcecially when we are in recession.  

The fact is that we made a little money this year ( split between the SDSU team and myself), but there is always the possibility of losing money.     As of wednesday, the prergistration  was only at $6,000 dollars.  If the weather report had not improved, we may have lost money.     A few years ago when it did rain, we only had $500 in  day of registration. The SDSU team made a few hundred dollars that year, and I personally  walked away empty handed. ( after countless hours of prep work and a 13 hour day in the rain!) It would be a bit easier to make a few bucks, or at least ensure you aren’t going to lose money if we  only had USCF races.  But we do collegiate races all morning, and the collegiate racers only pay $15 each.  Most of your costs are fixed costs, so we are essentially losing money all morning long, and trying to make it up in the afternoon.   In fact it is always a stressful coming into the race and being concerned that we are going to lose money  on the thing, but thanks to the rain staying away for the day, it all worked out.

  Many people walked up to me yesterday and told me they thought it was a great race.  That is rewarding  for sure.   Thanks to everyone for coming out, I hope to see you out there again next year.

Sean

computrainer screen shot

Our  January 23rd computrainer course preview of the Oceanside 70.3 course is  already sold out, so we will be adding another course preview soon.  Stay tuned for details!

It’s a good, short read, and we embrace most of the principles that Carmichael talks about.

or make the purchase HERE choose in store pickup  when you checkout.

Added on 12/22/09   Here is a link where you can purchase the Urban Passport. 

Karl Came in under  just under11 hours and Matt Came in around 11:20.  A good bike leg contributed to the success of  both of  them.   They each took 25 minutes off of their PRs for their bike legs, and are convinced that their indoor training  at the studio helped them achieve that goal.   Good Job guys, we know we’ll see you back in class after you’ve indulged in a little post event R&R!