I raced on Tuesday and the course was fun and mildly challenging, once it gets rained on it will be difficult! The racers make the race and us old timers threw down with everything we had The organization was fabulous and the volunteers and staff wonderful. No bullshit. And yes its really expensive to put on an event like this, so entry fee needs to be in kind.
Zach I think you need to add complaints about USAC to the annual Nationals beefs list. Yes the entry fee’s are expensive but USAC has very limited money for event promotion and zero for CX since it is not a Olympic sport. Sponsorship is minimal and they take in maybe $200k from entry fees if that. I am pretty sure putting on a week’s worth of racing is way more than that and they are lucky to break even. USAC has a lit of flaws but on this I think they are doing the best they can.
Raced green course on Wednesday. Not a National caliper course. Most of my peers had the same opinion. No climbing, no sand ,no running. Were they trying to protect us older riders??
1. Puck / Kerry/ Cam Mason should do every course preview with Laura Mollengraff.
2. Can’t watch this live - unless Discovery leverage their shares in Flow to put it on in Europe. Not prepared to subscribe to Flow as it’s overpriced - especially for one race - and commentary is variable.
3. I would love to see a spread sheet of the budget that justifies charging a 12 year old 120 dollars for a 25 minute race. I guess you could argue that parents who can afford the bikes and travel can afford the entry but it looks a lot like profiteering to me.
4. Been a cyclist for 53 years - never been so expensive and I live in the U.K. where things are pretty close together. Hard to imagine poor kids like I was then looking at cycling and thinking that’s the sport for me.
I raced on Tuesday and the course was fun and mildly challenging, once it gets rained on it will be difficult! The racers make the race and us old timers threw down with everything we had The organization was fabulous and the volunteers and staff wonderful. No bullshit. And yes its really expensive to put on an event like this, so entry fee needs to be in kind.
Zach I think you need to add complaints about USAC to the annual Nationals beefs list. Yes the entry fee’s are expensive but USAC has very limited money for event promotion and zero for CX since it is not a Olympic sport. Sponsorship is minimal and they take in maybe $200k from entry fees if that. I am pretty sure putting on a week’s worth of racing is way more than that and they are lucky to break even. USAC has a lit of flaws but on this I think they are doing the best they can.
Raced green course on Wednesday. Not a National caliper course. Most of my peers had the same opinion. No climbing, no sand ,no running. Were they trying to protect us older riders??
Three thoughts:
1. Puck / Kerry/ Cam Mason should do every course preview with Laura Mollengraff.
2. Can’t watch this live - unless Discovery leverage their shares in Flow to put it on in Europe. Not prepared to subscribe to Flow as it’s overpriced - especially for one race - and commentary is variable.
3. I would love to see a spread sheet of the budget that justifies charging a 12 year old 120 dollars for a 25 minute race. I guess you could argue that parents who can afford the bikes and travel can afford the entry but it looks a lot like profiteering to me.
4. Been a cyclist for 53 years - never been so expensive and I live in the U.K. where things are pretty close together. Hard to imagine poor kids like I was then looking at cycling and thinking that’s the sport for me.