(This was suppose to be a report about the race but i guess some report is better then no report - webmaster)

My first bicycle race in Singapore.  To save the suspense: when it became clear it would end as a bunch sprint, the race was over for me. No point in sprinting for 20th, especially when there is no rule about holding your line in a sprint.  (I think everybody was well-behaved anyway, but I need some excuse.)

In Singapore, there are lots of things there aren't rules about.

Amateur races in the U.S. are governed by a lengthy rulebook, the same rulebook used for pro races, in fact.  What isn't adopted from the UCI rules was probably added as the result of lawsuits or threats of lawsuits.  The SACA road rules are 4 pages; the USCF rules are over 100 pages (smaller paper, but that's still a lot of rules).

Nobody in Singapore cares if you warm up without a helmet.  In Northern California, that's an instant disqualification.  The rules say there's a $20 fine, too, new for 2004!

If you're a total rookie in the U.S., the rules say you have to wear a plain jersey.  Show up in a Postal kit, and they can keep you from starting.  Though I have never seen this enforced against beginners, there are rules about team jerseys and advertising, and your team must be officially recognized for its jersey to be allowed.  Advertising can appear only on the jerseys of clubs that put on a race.  But Americans have a taboo against wearing pro team jerseys even on training rides, thinking it smacks too much of wannabe-ness.  As if I'm going to be mistaken for Lance Armstrong...

On the other hand, in the U.S., a protest of an official's decision requires a US$10 deposit, which is refunded to you if the decision is overturned.  In Singapore, it's S$100, and it's not refundable.

Some rules are just less strict: a friend of mine in California was DQ'ed and sent home from his first road race ever after he was off the back of his own group and drafted some riders off the back of another group.  If you can't keep up with your own group, you've wasted your entry fee.  In Singapore, the penalty is just three minutes, not disqualification.  Singapore newbies take note: if you're out of the running in your own race, you might as well get some pack riding experience and a good workout from drafting another group and get your entry fee's worth.  It would be unsporting to interfere too much with the group you end up with, but there aren't too many racing opportunities in Singapore every year.  What's three minutes if you're already not in contention?

SACA has rules about litter.  Maybe USA Cycling should copy that one.  

There are some good reasons Singapore doesn't need as many rules.

This being Asia, people train in groups.  In California anyway, there are group rides, but it seems that most amateur racers ride mostly alone.  Since the best times and best routes for training rides are well-established in Singapore, group rides have organized around them.  Even though there are fewer races each year in Singapore than in Northern California, the riders here ride like they are much more used to group riding.  That makes things safer.

Because the community of Singaporean bike racers is pretty small and people ride frequently with the folks they see in races, there is no protection from anonymity that riders in Northern California get.  You cannot live and ride more than 40 km from your competitors in Singapore.  Races in California draw riders from hundreds of miles away.  The jerk on the purple Cannondale who cussed me out at my first road race ever could be pretty sure that we wouldn't cross paths again, and we haven't.

The awards presentation that SACA puts on, and the racers who stay in the tropical heat to congratulate the winners, is more sportsmanship than you'd see in Northern California, where everybody rushes home to avoid traffic.