American school kids or women pros?

[Morbius]

So Cyclingnews is going to give more publicity to the cycling achievements of American school kids

I'd rather see some decent coverage of women's pro cycling. Am I alone in this?

 

[Granville57]

Do you mean this story?
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cyclingnews-becomes-nica-media-partner

So Cyclingnews is going to give more publicity to the cycling achievements of American school kids

"More publicity" than...what? Than they already do, or more than what they currently give to pro women?

Did CN state somewhere that they'll be doing this at the expense of, or instead of, women's pro cycling?

A quick look at the NICA website shows three girls on a podium on the main page. Maybe some future pros in there?
http://www.nationalmtb.org/

 

[ElChingon]

I'm not going to read either one anyway so pufffttt...

Unless there's pic's! Then definitely more Pro Women.

 

[Fus087]

And to start with, they have put women pros to do things normally done by school kids:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gallery-specialized-lululemon-training-and-photoshoots

I haven't ever seen Cancellara, Contador or Gilbert "decorating one of their road frames" with scissors and paper.
They should let them try it, might be fun!

 

[Morbius]

Yes I'm referring to the article
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cyc...&ns_source=cyclingnews&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

However this is presented, the cost of covering high school cycling will be > 0, whether in actual expenditure, editorial time, or just screen space. As a result, women's cycling is almost certain to get even less exposure than it does today.

I would rather see more and better coverage of women's cycling, especially on a dedicated cycling site. Firstly because women's races are often less formulaic than men's races and secondly because more publicity will lead to more funding and higher standards - and hopefully onwards in a virtual circle.

 

[fatandfast]

CN is probably seeing that school racing, like the model of every other grade school and high school sport is the ONLY answer. or they could keep following the USCF/USAC cues and try and lure kids away from mass participation sports like soccer,volleyball, basketball, hockey, band, football, baseball, softball, la cross , field hockey, porn,social media sites to name a few .

Go buy a 1500 dollar bike to race against kids they may never see again.
The fact that the federation in the US doesn't already have a thriving high school following is why the sport is so tiny.
There are probably more kids involved in grade school and HS surfing than every Jr holding a license w USAC. Give up on sex, who cares what sex the fast person is,pro women's racing is reaching nobody. It is maybe filling a young girls head w a dream while she watches an elite women's event while holding the hand of her cycling fan father but what an indirect way to reach kids that could be racing bikes.

Young girls and boys can learn about bike racing lots of ways but in school is a better approach than the sh!t way the federation is promoting the sport now.

With closed tracks and very little land needed to hold cyclocross races,crits Most US high schools could have a great event right on school grounds, and use the existing facilities, showers, parking,scoreboards, bleachers,ect .Or we could do it the current way and hope that some young male or female athlete gets interested in an almost all adult activity from asking some creepy stranger why he is sweaty, breathing hard and wearing lycra and hope to god the answer has something to do with bike racing. Or maybe some kid in Indiana will come across a great article about the gals TT at the Tour Of Gila and be blown away.

Lots of great Euro events have finished in a multi purpose stadium why not a high school bike race. With mobile phone technology and a little CCTV or help from a local station the entire race or last 15 minutes of a HS race could be on TV at the very least youtube.
Or the grade school or HS kid will sit by the mailbox waiting for his or her CyclingNews magazine and turn right to the girls 15-16 race results from earlier in the month.

 

[fatandfast]

CN is probably seeing that school racing, like the model of every other grade school and high school sport is the ONLY answer. or they could keep following the USCF/USAC cues and try and lure kids away from mass participation sports like soccer,volleyball, basketball, hockey, band, football, baseball, softball, la cross , field hockey, porn,social media sites to name a few .

Go buy a 1500 dollar bike to race against kids they may never see again.
The fact that the federation in the US doesn't already have a thriving high school following is why the sport is so tiny.
There are probably more kids involved in grade school and HS surfing than every Jr holding a license w USAC. Give up on sex, who cares what sex the fast person is,pro women's racing is reaching nobody. It is maybe filling a young girls head w a dream while she watches an elite women's event while holding the hand of her cycling fan father but what an indirect way to reach kids that could be racing bikes.

Young girls and boys can learn about bike racing lots of ways but in school is a better approach than the sh!t way the federation is promoting the sport now.

With closed tracks and very little land needed to hold cyclocross races,crits Most US high schools could have a great event right on school grounds, and use the existing facilities, showers, parking,scoreboards, bleachers,ect .Or we could do it the current way and hope that some young male or female athlete gets interested in an almost all adult activity from asking some creepy stranger why he is sweaty, breathing hard and wearing lycra and hope to god the answer has something to do with bike racing. Or maybe some kid in Indiana will come across a great article about the gals TT at the Tour Of Gila and be blown away.

Lots of great Euro events have finished in a multi purpose stadium why not a high school bike race. With mobile phone technology and a little CCTV or help from a local station the entire race or last 15 minutes of a HS race could be on TV at the very least youtube.
Or the grade school or HS kid will sit by the mailbox waiting for his or her CyclingNews magazine and turn right to the girls 15-16 race results from earlier in the month.

 

[usedtobefast]

well put FNF

 

[Boeing]

I find it hard to believe someone actually thinks this has a negative impact on cycling at any level. In addition its comparing apples and oranges

IMHO this could be the most significant contribution to the sport in years.

the pool of talent just got deeper.

Imagine the young freshman guy or gal running cross country who discovers they can cross over their talents to another endurance sport and get literally international exposure with results. What better way to help self motivate kids. Or the kids on their fixies who actually ride their bikes who are killing it.

In addition it will lead to more organized groups and clubs to facilitate the events which will never get school funding

Locally here in so cal there seems to be more organized support for mountain biking. there seem to be many Mountain bike clubs and Tri clubs at high schools with events to participate but fer road race opportunity. I wonder how this might lead to HS kids on the road?

More Velodromes

 

[gregod]

Yes I'm referring to the article
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cyc...&ns_source=cyclingnews&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

However this is presented, the cost of covering high school cycling will be > 0, whether in actual expenditure, editorial time, or just screen space. As a result, women's cycling is almost certain to get even less exposure than it does today.

I would rather see more and better coverage of women's cycling, especially on a dedicated cycling site. Firstly because women's races are often less formulaic than men's races and secondly because more publicity will lead to more funding and higher standards - and hopefully onwards in a virtual circle.

while i agree that there should be more coverage of women's cycling, i don't think it is a zero sum game. cyclingnews can do both without sacrificing either. however, it would be nice to have a channel on the front page of cyclingnews that is dedicated to women's cycling. perhaps, if cyclingnews could give more prominence to the distaff side it might cause the UCI to take notice and give more time and money to promote women's cycling.

 

[craig1985]

ESPN shows little league sports (why there is coverage of this, I have no idea), so I don't see anything wrong with this.

 

[ggusta]

I have a kid that plays baseball. He used to play baseball and basketball. Before that he played baseball, basketball and bmx'ed. The competition cycling faces is not really these other sports, although of course in part that is the case.

All of the sports including cycling face the same competitor as I do as the parent of this one kid: namely, the couch or anything with upholstery especially when it faces a screen that contains color moving pictures and sound. In particular, any video game. It's a challenge for me, for cycling, for little league baseball, for the boy scouts, for everyone. I fight this battle daily. Sometime several times each day, especially with him home over the extended vacation and during the summer of all times. (It DOES get hot and unbelievably HUMID here, so there are times when I do give in when weather is just unbearable. I personally enjoy cycling when it's hot.)

We just got an email from a teammate's dad that coaches. Great dad, great family. There's a one day baseball camp in a few weeks. If he says it's a great camp, then I trust him that it's great. ONE EFFING DAY. 'Camp?!? But when does baseball start? Baseball is still 3 months away.' I hate to threaten him, coerce, bribe, cajole whatever but the thought of him spending that day on the wii ALONE while his friends and teammates are at a camp that I know he would love if he went is going to make me lose what little mind I have remaining.

And just to bring it back to this article and topic.... how I would love it if there was a cycling league here this far east for kids. And I work 60 hours a week, an hour away, so no I am not volunteering.

Lastly, I really think cycling starts losing kids at a younger age than high school (typically kids begin high school around 14 years old) By then, for 95% of them, their cycling days are long since over. I wish I had an answer. I really do. Outlaw video games, tv's, the internet and cell phones?? jk I've always believed the obesity problem started with invention of air conditioning.

 

[usedtobefast]

ESPN shows little league sports (why there is coverage of this, I have no idea), so I don't see anything wrong with this.

you would have to be here,and still maybe not care that much. i played little league and it was a blast, but i think the coverage is for the adults, and those few who like kids sports.
the high school level can be pretty fun to watch, as they are getting quite good. physically/mentally more mature. but i digress.