For those of you who know me, I am all for the random gate.
I am interested in hearing your responses.

I gotta say, I hadn't been to the track in a while, but had read a lot of hype (good and bad) about the random gate. Finally, I got to witness some for myself. Conclusion? NOT RANDOM AT ALL! The only thing that's random is how long you have to wait for the cadence to begin. Having a cadence at all is what allows a rider to time the gate. Granted, the cadence is shorter/faster.

So, if the whole point of the random gate was to eliminate slingshotters and gate jumpers, to ensure a fair start, then it's a failure IMO. If it's truly intended to be random, then it should just drop without warning.

That said, I love a good timed gate. It's part and parcel of BMX. I won't worry too much about when it comes to the ABA because I don't think it really makes a significant difference.

I agree, it should just be something like "Get ready..." Then a random gate drop.

I agree that it should be a random start, somewhere between 0 to 5 seconds after a "Pedals set" command. That is how it is done in other sports (track, swimming.) And I disagree that a timed gate is part and parcel to BMX. It only has been since about 1982. When the gate was dropped manually back in the day, it wasn't anything that you could time. You had to react.

wow, a random vs. cadence thread in this forum too? i came to the mid school forum to escape this

Dude, we can run, but we can't hide.