It Got Cold Again and more on USACYCLING

Well the balmy weather coudln't last. Oh well, I am prepared for arctic riding. Went skate skiing on Saturday at the Solitude Nordic Center. I went better, lucky for me, my coach was up there working out and gave Lyna and I some pointers.

I sent an e-mail to several higher-ups at USA Cycling voicing my concerns about Mountain Bike racing, I got a phone call from the COO and a e-mail from the western coordinator. There seems to be a movement within the organization that is pushing for change, hmmm, we will see how it goes.

In the e-mail I got the 'We recorded 200 more participants at the 2005 Mammoth Nationals than the at previous years nationals' and the 'Under the new staff, membership has climbed back to 15,000+ in a very short time.' crap that I knew i would get. This does no tmean anything, those 200 were from California, those 15,000 don't come to national series races.

So I did some research, cause I'm a geek like that. The National Mountain Bike Championships in 2005 had a reported 1582 racers for - Downhhill, Super-D, Mtn Cross, Short Track, XC and trials. 10% made it out, wow. How many of those 15,000 didn't even know about it?

Lets look at the National Cyclocross race numbers. My calculations puts it at around 1300 racers. 1 discipline, a 'FRINGE' sport and huge numbers turn out. This sport is not even fully supported by USA Cycling as it is not an Olympic sport. How in the world are they able to get that many riders out? Something smells funny. Hmmm, smells like, uhhh, wait for it, yep smells like the promoters.

Well I am not saying the USA is self-centric, well maybe I am, but 1 world cup MTB XC race on US soil in like 4 years, No World Cup Cross races, No Pro Tour races on the road, but we got a great base of licensed riders. What is that all about?

I think the cronies at USA Cycling need a wake up call. I will continue with my suggestions, criticisms and general rantings on this subject for a little while. Probably till they do something I like.