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Comment by DarkTree | Hacker News Reader

I mean multiple chip misplacements? What are the chances? Especially after losing one, you would probably be more careful. However, it's this occurrence that really looks shady in conjunction with the others:

>"Cyclists do not wear timing chips in the Test of Metal; they affix numbers to the front of their bikes. Miller’s somehow became detached from her bike in the 2015 race, the only such incident among more than 800 competitors"

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Yeah, Test of Metal is a mountain bike race, where the numbers are typically zip-tied to the handlebars. I can't think of a situation where the number would fall off with no trace. A bad enough crash could tear the number, but would be unlikely to tear it off completely. And a crash that bad would cost time, and possibly cause injury or damage to the bike.

I've done at least one race where they gave you those twisty pipe cleaners, but I would be extremely surprised if this was used at a big event. Those things can be a bit easier to yank off.

With most wrecks it's really hard to have the center of the handlebars impact something in a scraping motion, but I've had a hard wreck in a race sending my bike tumbling through a stream into the side of a hill and the worst damage to the number was getting covered in mud. The number tag was essentially shoveling mud yet stayed perfectly intact.

If you look at her finishing picture there isn't even zip-ties left. No number = DNF.

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