Cyclocross Community, Forums, Classifieds, Photos and Videos
Thoughts on the Louisville Derby Cup USGP...
I had a great time, thought the course(s) were really interesting and tough and the new park seems like it's got a lot of great features. I'm curious to hear everyone else's thoughts, but I'll share mine first.
1. Saturday's short lap led to a lot of lapped riders and a bunch of people being pulled after only a few laps. Results only went up for the riders who finished on the lead lap and now I can't find 2/3 results past 20th place. If a guy travels, rents a hotel and pays $35, he deserves to know where he finished, even if it wasn't on the lead lap. Furthermore, he deserves to race more than 18 minutes. Saturday the 2/3's only went 35 minutes total and some of the guys at the back only got in 3 laps. It's not the racer's fault they put together a short course and let 150 people get on there at once. If I'd been pulled after 3 and not given a result, I would have asked for a partial refund, which I clearly would not have received. If you can't guarantee at least a chance at a full race for the "pack fill," they'll stop traveling to the races. The pack fill disappears, the USGP disappears.
2. There's more to life than bike racing (seriously). If we expect to see growth in the audience sector, we've got to offer something to do other than just watching people ride bikes for 7 hours. Some kids activities, some cornhole games, a climbing wall, maybe live bands... My band threw our first annual music festival, The Festy, a few weeks ago in central Virginia, and everyone I spoke to loved the non-music entertainment options (5k and 10k trail run, mountain bike race, climbing wall, restaraunt, brewery on-site, cornhole, frisbee, climbing wall, workshops, morning yoga, etc...). Next year we plan to hold a two day cyclocross race on-site (so mark your calendars, 10.10.11).
3. The steep stuff was awesome, I see a lot of potential at this venue, hopefully the grass will take hold and the dust will be less of a factor. The sand pit was a little brutal, the green monster felt like a respite on Saturday.
1. Saturday's short lap led to a lot of lapped riders and a bunch of people being pulled after only a few laps. Results only went up for the riders who finished on the lead lap and now I can't find 2/3 results past 20th place. If a guy travels, rents a hotel and pays $35, he deserves to know where he finished, even if it wasn't on the lead lap. Furthermore, he deserves to race more than 18 minutes. Saturday the 2/3's only went 35 minutes total and some of the guys at the back only got in 3 laps. It's not the racer's fault they put together a short course and let 150 people get on there at once. If I'd been pulled after 3 and not given a result, I would have asked for a partial refund, which I clearly would not have received. If you can't guarantee at least a chance at a full race for the "pack fill," they'll stop traveling to the races. The pack fill disappears, the USGP disappears.
2. There's more to life than bike racing (seriously). If we expect to see growth in the audience sector, we've got to offer something to do other than just watching people ride bikes for 7 hours. Some kids activities, some cornhole games, a climbing wall, maybe live bands... My band threw our first annual music festival, The Festy, a few weeks ago in central Virginia, and everyone I spoke to loved the non-music entertainment options (5k and 10k trail run, mountain bike race, climbing wall, restaraunt, brewery on-site, cornhole, frisbee, climbing wall, workshops, morning yoga, etc...). Next year we plan to hold a two day cyclocross race on-site (so mark your calendars, 10.10.11).
3. The steep stuff was awesome, I see a lot of potential at this venue, hopefully the grass will take hold and the dust will be less of a factor. The sand pit was a little brutal, the green monster felt like a respite on Saturday.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Erik Martin on
-
I completely agree on point 1... I think the best course of action would be to have dedicated Cat 2 and Cat 3 races. They could make up for this by combining some of the races that didn't have 150 starters (plus the SS starters). As one of the Cat 3 riders that got pulled, I completely understand why it was required (although chip timing would have made it irrelevant) but still, I worked hard this year to cat up to 3, and maybe next year will be as fast as some of the strong 2s who knows... but at the moment there is a reason I'm a cat 3 and not a 2 and it seems silly to set up a race I'm only going to get to ride in for 20 minutes.
It wasn't just us 2/3s though. I couldn't help but notice that by the last lap the pros only had like 12 people on the course.
-
Permalink Reply by Booksy on
-
half the 4's got pulled too. I think it's counter-productive to growth in the sport.
-
Permalink Reply by Scott David Bond on
-
They had 'timing' ---- they were using recognition cameras to track riders ---- and they were pretty accurate -- riders were being pulled because the UCI refs were enforcing UCI rules on the non-UCI races --- lap times are posted for most races on the USGP website --- 2/3's and 4's will probably never be posted because of all the officiating errors that occurred -- riders who were running top 20 were pulled and others that had been lapped were missed and left in ---- they did not have enough refs for the field sizes ----- If only the UCI refs would have used the lap times as a tool -- they could have just let everyone race and then used the timing to sort everything out -- timing technology is getting so good that it will eventually replace the refs need to run a race.
-
Permalink Reply by gdogg on
-
I agree that the lap was way too short on Saturday. I thought there is a rule that states if you have that many riders racing, that the course must be a minimum length. I would have been really annoyed if I got pulled that early in a race. Overall I thought the course was great. In my opinion the changes they made to the course on Sunday were all improvements.
I thought the tent area and food, vendors, etc. areas could have been laid out in a better way to make more of a festival atmosphere, and live music or other activities would also be great.
-
-
USGP will probably lose their C1 status for the Saturday race for next year because the course was too short.
-
Permalink Reply by Andrew Coe on
-
I agree with both #1 and #3. I have GPS data showing the laps were roughly 1.38-1.4 miles long. Perhaps they thought the difficulty of the course would warrant such short laps? There is a ton of potential with the venue, so hopefully this will be a learning experience for the promoters.
Results are up online and have been since yesterday morning. http://www.usgpcyclocross.com/RacesResults.aspx Results for the 2/3 race were actually posted fairly quickly at the S/F tent both days, but they didn't make it to the registration tent until the end of the day for some reason. Lapped riders were common in all fields on both Sat and Sun, probably due to just how hard the course was.
Actually, in the 2/3 race there were riders being lapped and pulled at the end of the second lap. That is no fun for anyone. We were told at the start that the race would be shortened by 1 lap at the beginning of the race, though I don't know if anyone past the first 5 rows or so could hear that announcement.
-
-
those results only go through 18th place in the 2/3 race.
tough day if you were a recently upgraded 3 trying to keep from getting lapped by a soon-to-be elite. There's a huge range in the 2/3 race, I'd like to see these categories separated.
-
-
The results span several pages. Try looking at: "REVISED DCC Day One/Two Results". They have 115 finishers show for Sat and 107 for sunday
-
-
Ahhh, I need to learn how to use the computer better. This is great, apparently "revised" means I moved up to 39th on Sunday. Thanks Andrew.
-
-
I have to agree on just about all points...I was pulled on Sat as well (first time ever), and I only had about 300 meters until I was on the last lap...first place was so far off the front of the master 35+ that it hardly made a difference to pull me and those immediately around me...we were not impeding the race at the front whatsoever!...i spoke with an official about it, in a sort of casual way (the start lady), and her tap dance around the point made me realize they knew they messed up a bit...I feel sorry for those super big fields...but a longer lap is surely needed with fields that large...
-
Permalink Reply by AndyB on
-
The venue was great. Parking could have been handled better, though, and it would have been nice to have registration closer to the parking area. As far as the officiating, I raced the 2/3 Saturday and was pulled shortly after starting my third lap. As a slow 3, I was expecting to be lapped, but not that early and not to be pulled. It was really disappointing. If you're going to have that many racers of course, you need to have a longer lap and/or separate the fields. If it had been wet, it would have been very different. As it was, though, only about half the field finished on the lead lap, which seems ridiculous.
Anyway, what bugs me is Sunday I raced the singlespeed race (run concurrently with the 2/3's), because rumor was they weren't as zealous about pulling lapped singlespeeders. And sure enough, even though I was lapped by the same guys that lapped me in Saturday's 2/3 race, I was allowed to continue. Either way I was lapped traffic, so I feel it was an arbitrary decision.
On a side note, Booksy was the last rider to lap me on Sunday, literally as we were coming out onto the pavement. I did all I could, but if I'm gonna get lapped, it may as well be someone I like. Good racing, Travis. Hope to see you in McEwen.
Sold something in our classifieds? Find this site valuable?
Consider a donation to the cause. We're cheaper than eBay fees, and it helps us here at CXM keep the lights on!
Enter any amount below, and click on the cow for some good karma. Thanks!
Badge
Top Content
Blog Posts
6 Scenic Cycling Trails Around Singapore For People Who Hate Jogging
Posted by Emma stone on March 16, 2018 at 9:00pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
35 mm CX rule
Posted by Mike Macdonald on December 21, 2017 at 11:24am 0 Comments 0 Likes
Cranksgiving 2016 Is Coming Up!
Posted by R.J. Clark on November 7, 2016 at 10:43am 0 Comments 0 Likes
I want to be old, so I can kill people.
Posted by R.J. Clark on November 4, 2016 at 9:43am 0 Comments 0 Likes
© 2024 Created by Cyclocross Magazine.
Powered by
