Race Thread

[TourOfSardinia]

crowds not that big in Sardinia

yes I didn't go

 

[CXXC]

what a great race WITHOUT Mathieu and Wout.

Great men's race , women's less so . Circuit was rather terrible but what could be done with so little elevation difference.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

I thought it was a pretty ordinary course - and surely there are better venues in Italy who can afford to host a CX World Cup?
I’d really like to see a hilly course in the Italian Alps, doesn’t have to be snow, just a course with climbs, and some descents to offer something different from what we usually see.
We’re coming into the part of the season which will likely see numerous Belgian mudfests, which soon become tiresome…….

 

[Barkintheeye]

Hope you all watched the Essen race. Mighty strong fighting by Hernandez that not only managed two times to come back to the front group but also made a senseless but lovely attack on one of the last laps. It didn’t hold of course but still hats off for the guts and showing. Vandeputte and Sweeck looked strongest but Vandebosch took the chance when it opened up.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

^^^This compared to gravel cyclocross is intense and sometimes tight and there are people watching and judging (or at least it feels like they are). Gravel attracts the cyclist version of the thousands of people who are "runners" because they paid 80-100 bucks to plod around a 10K race course at about half the pace of the front runners. They bring their love of "competing" without intensive training and their $100 entry fees in droves to the new sport of gravel which then turns around and uses part of those entry fees to attract all the top elite crossers away with more enticing payouts. Suddenly cross reverts to being the tiny little fringe sport that it was 20 years ago, except that Parks Departments have gotten used to charging a couple grand for exclusive access for a weekend instead of a couple hundred like they were asking 10 years ago. You can't pay for a park and set up a course and break even on expenses unless you get at least 200-250 entries. A cross course requires lots more preparation than telling a thousand racers "go, but remember to follow all traffic laws when you're on the road and when you get to the dirt be wary of cows and tractors".

I think the coach (Julie Young, winner of 1992 Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin) who is training me for Unbound, would disagree that my training isn't intensive.