Just one of those days. Apologies to Brooke for stating a disagreement without flushing out more concretely why I disagree. (Side note, I am trying very hard to break my "i" habit and reform it into the proper "I"... one word: difficult). There is a wee bit of discussion over at RBR.
Notes to get out of my head: RS is blowing his previous almost weekly updates away with DAILY updates. Crazy.
Steve is reporting that Interbike will have "East Coast Demo days" in my back yard. How cool is that! Might just have to "get on staff" with a local shop before that happens. That or pull the oldest/newest trick in the book and request a press pass.
Word on World Cup in the USA? Dare we bring it up yet? It was listed on the tentative calendar that Myerspace posted on the NECX list. Has the Media Director managed to secure funding from "Madison Ave" yet?
Back to the Nationals shifting to Jan.
What is the goal for US cyclocross?
Do we want to send the best cyclist to Worlds to hope to win?
As it is, a cyclist who peaks in early to mid December may not be as on form for Worlds as someone who might peak for Nationals in January.
The season has grown longer but in the wrong direction. As mentioned in the RBR thread, yes having a warm part of the season brings more riders out and into the sport, but it sort of strips the spirit of Cyclocross a little bit. Most places are not like the PacNW where it rains from September to January. We are stuck with crappy dry warm conditions most of the early fall. Moving the Nats to January should help I would hope. At least a step in the right direction.
From a spectator point of view, wet and sloppy conditions are far more exciting viewing than dry and hot. At least from a racing point of view. The courses are far more forgiving of bad line choices and what not in the dry stuff.
The Cross Camp issue is a bit tricky. Certainly it benefits from the compressed racing schedule between Christmas and New Years. But then. Why can't we have a series like that here in the US? Most everyone is on Holiday then. Create something with a focused intensity. No it won't compare to Belgium. But. Does it need to? What are the goals to begin with? If you take the Cross Camp resources and focus it on the top ten riders at our Nationals in the Junior and U23 groups and support them racing in Europe after nats, it might help grow the program just as much as Cross camp would. It certainly would go a long way towards potentially increasing the support for those who demonstrate the talent here domestically to go abroad. Maybe it compulsory for the top 5-10 finishers at the US Nats to head to Europe and compete.
I don't have any answers, I don't pretend to have any good idea or the solution. I just have a few thoughts that i wanted to try and flush out a bit. Even as poorly as I have flushed out just now.
Not to mention that about 50% of the time CX nationals conflict with a gig I have had for 29 years and counting. Moving Nats to Jan eliminates that conflict.
Also, moving Nats to January means considering locations that are slightly more temperate (closer to Belgian weather) than KCK, with a higher probability to be wet and muddy and sloppy, vs frozen solid.
I have to start mustering up the energy to ride home here in a bit. And responding to an email about a group ride possibility this weekend I was struck with something odd. I have not been on a group ride in a very long time. A few lunch time meetings with folks to do cyclocross drills and what not. The odd rides with folks on the bike path. Maybe August since I have actually suited up specifically to go for a ride with someone else or a group of someones. Wow.
That will definitely be changing soon, as the focus shifts to the TOUR OF THE BATTENKILL/Battenkill-Roubaix, aka BKR. A goal. A focal point in the future. Not a goal as in to win this year. But a goal to improve and build on what I did last year.
So, completely drained and pooped it is time for a nice 48°F ride home.
heddwch,
G
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7 comments:
East Coast Demo is rumoured to be in La Prov and to have a public day.
Shhhh.... don't tell anyone.
CX solution:
Hold Nats here in January.
I'm not going to read RBR, as I don't know of an antidote for that poison. I'd suggest letting the elite riders decide what's best for the elite riders... Nationals should be for the elite riders though...
That stated, *if* nationals is going to be used as a selection race for the worlds team, then January is bad. Peaks only last so long. The US had dismal results at Olympics for many years because athletes needed to peak for a selection race and be left with inadequate time to re-peak for the big race.
In my mind, moving nationals well back in the calendar to early November makes the most sense. The weather across the country is more consistent. The season would not end at nationals, but the world's team selectees could then focus on best preparing however they see fit.
Solo may be on to something. Holding Nats closer to Dec 1 allows the big dogs to be ready then and then reset and hit it again for Feb 1-ish. Problem with this plan is all the RD's who hold their races after Dec 1 are left to feel like pack fodder and probably see attendance fall off. The RI Verge weekend is always good prep for Nats, but if it now happens 2-3 weeks after the fact, is it as good?
Conflict with other UCI events.
That's the biggest problem. IIRC they can't have an more than a C2 on the same day as anything higher than a C2.
Peaking for Nats and then staying on form for 3-4 weeks should be easier than peaking for Nats, then peaking again 8 weeks later. no?
What do i know though. Certainly not much. Hell i can't even type properly.
Well really, selection races are not a good idea. Just pick the team a year months ahead of time and let them plan and prepare.
I know what Trackrich means, that's why I suggest moving it back to early November. Then the season would not end at nats, and who knows, without Nats as a backstop, it might just run on forever (Ge gets his wish). All the other countries seem to do theirs in January though...
Elite nats should be separated out. Hold the chump nats in Novemember. Let the elite's decide what is best for them. Or just focus on the road. That's where it's at!
Lots of cooolll type-Os in that post.
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