My apologies to Bruin. My post was not intended to turn this thread ugly, just steer it away from petty crying, but I stand by what I posted.
I am a racer. I volunteered this year to help out, as I ran WOS, instead of BMST, as I have in the past. Although I have some insight into how things run, this is not an official statement from the organization, so don't put too much credibility into it. I have limited view of the whole.
1. Maps just don't work. Personally I need to see things first hand. The salt was too fragile to have all of our tow trucks on the course this year. It would have ruined the racing surface. Lets hope for better cooperation from the weather gods for next year, so maybe we can do it. I do agree pre-running the course is good, and we have done it in the past.
2. I have no idea how you would convey every detail of what is going on over the radio. Sometimes patience is a virtue.
3. We did offer to have people run less congested lines when things got backed up out at the starting areas. It is not always an easy transition though once out on course. I lined up in pre-stage to run the Mountain course and was offered to run the international course, so I moved over, and ran there.
4. Having a bike running 61 MPH with two miles of run up on a 150 MPH record is not justified. We all hope our bikes go fast, some are a little too optimistic.
5. You wouldn't believe the flexibility of the guys running the show. It is in a constant flow of change. I was amazed at the professional courtesy, and swift, safe, decisions made by all of them. There HAS to be solid and secure baseline rules or I would think the line of chaos would roll over all of us in a hurry. As far as I know we didn't have one single mishap from calls made by the people working the event.
Flexibility should be shown by the racers. Myself included.
These people (volunteers) who spent their vacation time and own money that make it possible for all of us to race. My hat is off to all of them. Frankly, I had no idea what long, thankless, miserable days these people endure, for me. I will be forever grateful.
Bottom line is, from a volunteers perspective, the BMST is run in a super safe, and efficient way. Safe being the most important part. I know the frustration of waiting in line. Last year I waited at mountain zero for four hours, after a couple in pre-stage, then a guy on a speedway bike went down right before my run and I waited another two hours to get that cleaned up. I am not complaining, just illustrating that delays are on-going, and part of this kind of racing. Most every delay is made by the racers.
I hope to see you all out there next year! Not sure if I will be working or racing or both, but come by and say hi. (I hope this post doesn't piss Delvene off too much)