Why no World Cup in the U.S?
- Thread starter sanjuro
- Start date
i know. i am so dissapointed. we need a few world cups here in America. the Angelfire one was so cool.
I think we need a World Cup in the U.S. after watching the Angelfire WC vid, the course seemed kind of sad, from the looks of it it wasn't that challanging.....I know I know, its harder at that speed but if we are having the best racers in the world racing for a big title, atleast have a semi difficult course where the real good riders show thru and the guys that can just ride fast in the open fall back. . . . .
Dan
Dan
Actualy there is some prety rough stuff on that course and some fairly tecnical stuff. Im prety shure the reason that they are not having a worldcup there is not because of the course but something else. All the riders didnt seem to have any complaints form what i heard.
Check out this course, they don't make like this here-
http://bustedspoke.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=19648
http://bustedspoke.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=19648
The course is exactly the opposite, there's quite a bit of technical sections that you hit at speed, and the road gap is no easy feat to clear, you have to weave between trees at mach 1 right before it. The big hip is a ton of fun to hit too.rockymt21 said:
It has to do with the UCI's displeasure with USAC from what I gather. They figure that no system to gather UCI points in the country would lead to a poor turnout. (locals form the majority of most world cup fields).
From just reading most of the press releases and other such "official" crap that drivels from the mouths of people at the top of the cycling food chain (usac, etc...), I still can't understand why the U.S. is so f*cked up....I really can't....it's not rocket science people...but then again, the corporation that I work for (and puts parts on my bike via my paycheck) is infinitely more f*cked than cycling...so I guess it's par for the course...It still blows goats any way you look at it though...Transcend said:
Where did you guys see video of the Angel Fire WC at?
Because we suck.
Dude, the track was not easy by any means. It wasn't a TECH course but the WC needs diversity. It was classic Rocky Mtn west coast balls to the wall speed matched with lots of high speed rock sections. The course beat the living crap out of you by the time you were at the bottem due to the length and pedalling. It was really fun, and the 4x was said to be the best of the year minus the world champs from what i've read. It def wasn't a problem with the course. Id like to see a venue at Vail or Keystone, that would be sweet.rockymt21 said:
If I were the UCI I wouldn't want to come to the US. In Europe cycling is huge, the Tour draws thousands and thousands of spectators, but in the US not many people really care. Why would they put a World Cup here if only a few thousand people come and all the top WC racers have to travel all the way over here?
It wasn't the track. The track was freeking sweet. I think one of the main reasions was the lack of fans. When you compair the amount of people at an American world cup round opposed to a round in Europe there is a huge difference in the numbers. The Euros are crazy about racing. Just look at Fort Bill on Earthed 3. That place was packed. Angle Fire had spectators but it was nothing compaired to what the Euro rounds had. UCI sees this and I bet they see American rounds as a waste. Hate to say it but its true.
Yep but it's still pretty cool that they even gave it a chance here. And i'm pretty sure the 4x course set some type of standard for what "should" come...
All the 4x tracks were pretty good this year in the World Cup. Phil is doing a great job getting the tracks back up to par.
We still suck - at DH, I mean.
You couldn't get an American racer to beat some of the Aussies even if you shot him out of a cannon pointed down the mountain.
You couldn't get an American racer to beat some of the Aussies even if you shot him out of a cannon pointed down the mountain.
In Anglefire, the normal DH course is about 100 times harder. The WC couse was actually easy, but alot of fun, and fast. It just seems that other WC courses are alot harded, as seen through Earthed 2. Transend could tell us about that though. The town itself, of Anglefire, sucks. There is nothing to do except fish really. Trust me, I've been there a million times. The biking scene is pretty small as well, but the mountain for biking needs some improvement.
What you wrote is true, the UCI want as many spectators as possible. In Europe there are just more people interested in bike racing than in the US.AusRottenVirus said:
A guy from Mavic once told me that the US spectators want to see non-stop action, preferably motor sports (with a lot of crashes.)
US spectators just don't like to 'wait' to see a racer flash by in 5 sec's and wait another 30sec for the next one.
If anyone has been to angelfire you would see why there are no spectators. getting there is a feat in itself, it is in the middle of NOWHERE and there are no real main roads coming in. the town itself is tiny, 1 grocery store, 2 gas stations a few little stores and the ski resort. Unless you really have a reason to go there, your not gonna just cruise out there to watch the race
Hi everyone,
I was the WC Organizer in Angel Fire for 2005 and I'll fill you all in on some answers to these questions.
First, the UCI is fighting for sponsorship just like all the other sporting events out there and they didn't get what they were hoping to get for 2006. That meant they had to cut their series short. Unfortunately, the US draws fewer crowds than other countries and it is expensive for all the teams to travel here. Those two points, plus the political climate between all the different groups trying to get the World Cup series re-vamped pretty much closed the door on another US World Cup in 2006. Angel Fire (as well as other US venues) did bid on a 2006 WC and will probably bid on 2007 too so chances are good it will come back around eventually.
As far as courses go, the DH was much more tame than we wanted it to be. This was due to UCI regulations about course length. The UCI has a maximum time limit for their WC DH courses, and their recommended time limit is actually much shorter (3 min). If you have ridden in Angel Fire, you know that most of the technical stuff is higher up un the mountain. We wanted to keep that as part of the course, but UCI regulations also said we had to end the course near the base of the ski area. The only option was to connect the technical areas with fast, open sections to get the riders to the finish within the allotted timeframe. As it was, the top men finished at around four and a half minutes, which was still much longer than UCI wanted. If Angel Fire gets the WC again, the DH will definitely be something I want to work on to up the excitement factor.
I was the WC Organizer in Angel Fire for 2005 and I'll fill you all in on some answers to these questions.
First, the UCI is fighting for sponsorship just like all the other sporting events out there and they didn't get what they were hoping to get for 2006. That meant they had to cut their series short. Unfortunately, the US draws fewer crowds than other countries and it is expensive for all the teams to travel here. Those two points, plus the political climate between all the different groups trying to get the World Cup series re-vamped pretty much closed the door on another US World Cup in 2006. Angel Fire (as well as other US venues) did bid on a 2006 WC and will probably bid on 2007 too so chances are good it will come back around eventually.
As far as courses go, the DH was much more tame than we wanted it to be. This was due to UCI regulations about course length. The UCI has a maximum time limit for their WC DH courses, and their recommended time limit is actually much shorter (3 min). If you have ridden in Angel Fire, you know that most of the technical stuff is higher up un the mountain. We wanted to keep that as part of the course, but UCI regulations also said we had to end the course near the base of the ski area. The only option was to connect the technical areas with fast, open sections to get the riders to the finish within the allotted timeframe. As it was, the top men finished at around four and a half minutes, which was still much longer than UCI wanted. If Angel Fire gets the WC again, the DH will definitely be something I want to work on to up the excitement factor.
Hey BPeterson, THANK YOU for organizing a great race! I think all of us American riders owe you a big thanks, you've done the sport well.
It's too bad the UCI doesn't like 4-5 minute or longer DH runs, you can make some cool stuff with longer times. Of course, it is safer to have shorter courses. Deer Valley would work for a world cup again... Anyhow, hopefully in '07 we'll get a race. See you guys at the races this summer!
It's too bad the UCI doesn't like 4-5 minute or longer DH runs, you can make some cool stuff with longer times. Of course, it is safer to have shorter courses. Deer Valley would work for a world cup again... Anyhow, hopefully in '07 we'll get a race. See you guys at the races this summer!