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Tour of America

Jul 14, 2009
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I'm not sure if there's a thread on this, but I just found it today. For those interested, the race takes place from September 4-26. It starts in New Jersey and ends in San Francisco. Not sure who will be taking part, but there is more prize money involved in the event than any other cycling race. (1 million to the overall winner) Anyways, thoughts? Any other details on the race would be appreciated.
 
Apr 28, 2009
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ericthesportsman6 said:
I'm not sure if there's a thread on this, but I just found it today. For those interested, the race takes place from September 4-26. It starts in New Jersey and ends in San Francisco. Not sure who will be taking part, but there is more prize money involved in the event than any other cycling race. (1 million to the overall winner) Anyways, thoughts? Any other details on the race would be appreciated.

where's the info on this race?
 
Jun 3, 2009
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Moose McKnuckles said:
Send 'em through the deep South and see who comes out alive.

true story. did a century ride not too long ago and it passes through Sand Mountain in GA... they don't particularly like us cyclists, so some of them decided to put out tacks on the road for us to run flat on.
 
Jul 14, 2009
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this_is_edie said:
thanks.

wasn't this announced last year too and never happened under a haze of vagueness?

yup, a little more digging reveals they've tried for two years now, but have received little cooperation from the UCI. It's funny, they originally planned to have a 27 stage race. Anyways, one can always hope.
 
Apr 28, 2009
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Right. found it:

From Tour of America faces harsh criticism, in theory (September 2007):

A reasonable follow-up question was how much Arokiasamy was asking for a title sponsor, to which he replied, "We won't have a title sponsor. We will have 27 event sponsors, so that when we lose people, it is not a disaster."

Beyond the money issue, the lack of logistics and local governmental support was glaring. From what Arokiasamy said, it seemed that none of the start or finish cities had signed-on to host the race, let alone any municipalities through which the race will have to travel. "We hope to have a final route by mid-March with all the cities signed-up," said Arokiasamy. "We are in negotiations with several cities and will be doing so in phases because we cannot talk to all 500 at one time. We are going to start with the major cities and then connect the dots as we go."

and, Tour of America cancels for 2008
 
this_is_edie said:
thanks.

wasn't this announced last year too and never happened under a haze of vagueness?

I think it was 2 years ago, from memory, and the organizers seemed clueless. They wanted to make it like a 4 week race, with some stages up to 300+km. And they talked as if they thought they could just be on the level of the TdF if they threw some money at it.

That's just my memory.

In fact, a quick internet search found this amazing link:

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=features/2007/tourofamerica_sep07

So it was 3 years ago, some stages up to FOUR hundred km, a 130km ITT... yikes. Interesting that it's even attempting to come back as an idea.

ETA: sorry, cross-posted.
 
Jul 14, 2009
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skidmark said:
I think it was 2 years ago, from memory, and the organizers seemed clueless. They wanted to make it like a 4 week race, with some stages up to 300+km. And they talked as if they thought they could just be on the level of the TdF if they threw some money at it.

That's just my memory.

In fact, a quick internet search found this amazing link:

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=features/2007/tourofamerica_sep07

So it was 3 years ago, some stages up to FOUR hundred km, a 130km ITT... yikes. Interesting that it's even attempting to come back as an idea.

ETA: sorry, cross-posted.

Well, at least they fixed that. Their new proposed route looks more realistic, but probably still won't happen.

EDIT: Alright, I clearly jumped the gun a little with this thread. There's a lack of sponsorship, local cooperation, and space on the calendar. Not to mention the head of the entire operation appears to have no idea what he is doing. Sorry for the mis-information, it looks as if this isn't going to happen for a long time, unless someone else gets involved.
 
ericthesportsman6 said:
Well, at least they fixed that. Their new proposed route looks more realistic, but probably still won't happen.

EDIT: Alright, I clearly jumped the gun a little with this thread. There's a lack of sponsorship, local cooperation, and space on the calendar. Not to mention the head of the entire operation appears to have no idea what he is doing. Sorry for the mis-information, it looks as if this isn't going to happen for a long time, unless someone else gets involved.

Also, they cite on their front page American racing 'success stories' that are making this possible, like the Tour of Georgia, Tour of California, and Tour of Missouri... I think their business model is perfectly set up to allow them to follow in the path of two of those events...
 
A

Anonymous

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how very odd..

tour of america sounds strange as well for a race that will go in a straigh tline from one side to the other. tour suggests some sort of well, tour..

will never happen if you ask me
 
Jul 11, 2010
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This is an interesting idea, and I think it could work someday, but they have some work to do. Did anyone look at the route? It could be a lot better. All the mountain stages are in the Central Colorado Rockies, it would be nice to see at least one mountain stage out east and maybe some out near Tahoe or something....any way...imo, the route is the funnest thing to think about, there could be some really cool things done with this, but I think you need to get some experienced advice (reads not me) in planning the route and such...
 
May 7, 2009
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Most of America hates (or is indifferent to) cycling. They are in love with (American) football and NASCAR.

Look at the way cyclists are treated on the road by drivers. Look at the Town (Black Hawk, Colorado) that just banned bikes from city streets.

Look at the fall of the Tours of Georgia & Missouri.

This was always a joke, it's just that the guy behind it was the last to find out.
 
Jul 16, 2010
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Ah yes, it's always refreshing to hear from the "experts" here who know we Americans don't care about cycling and how we all love NASCAR. And, of course, how cycling in the South is dangerous. I ride here all the time and have never encountered a problem other than ****ers who don't keep their dogs up.
Keep up those intelligent, informed posts, guys.
 
Jul 14, 2009
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Deagol said:
Most of America hates (or is indifferent to) cycling. They are in love with (American) football and NASCAR.

Look at the way cyclists are treated on the road by drivers. Look at the Town (Black Hawk, Colorado) that just banned bikes from city streets.

Look at the fall of the Tours of Georgia & Missouri.

This was always a joke, it's just that the guy behind it was the last to find out.

First of all, we don't all love Nascar. In fact, to most of the country the "sport" is a joke. And even though theres not a whole lot of legitimate interest in pro cycling; you are severely mis-informed if you think there aren't tons of people who ride all over the country. It's a very popular recreational sport, just not pro, yet. And man, there are only 118 people in Black Hawk, how the hell is that a good representation of the entire country. Still, this tour isn't going anywhere because of the pure idiocy of it's organizer.
 
Some good quotes from 2007's press conference, for those who haven't followed the links:

"Upon entering the room, the press corps was handed a three-page information packet with mostly vague details about the race organization, but shockingly detailed information about the entire 27 stages of the race, including both start and finish cities along with dates."

"One area that received a lot of attention was the proposed course, with four stages of more than 400 kilometers each and an individual time trial of nearly 130 kilometers. The question of if the race was possible for a someone to even complete, let alone compete in, were asked. As well, the irony of such an extreme race - one that is meant to solve the problems doping scandals have caused - possibly causing riders to turn to performance enhancing substances was also mentioned."

"Beyond the money issue, the lack of logistics and local governmental support was glaring. From what Arokiasamy said, it seemed that none of the start or finish cities had signed-on to host the race, let alone any municipalities through which the race will have to travel. "We hope to have a final route by mid-March with all the cities signed-up," said Arokiasamy. "We are in negotiations with several cities and will be doing so in phases because we cannot talk to all 500 at one time. We are going to start with the major cities and then connect the dots as we go."

In the audience and asking questions was John Eustice, a veteran of both US racing and race promoting. Eustice is someone who knows how difficult it is to put on a one day race like the Univest Grand Prix, and sounded astonished that anyone would propose a race of this magnitude without serious thought into the technical aspects, such as the fact that almost the entire proposed direction of the race course will be into a headwind or that the UCI would never sanction a race like this."


I personally love the obviously strained tone as the writer tries to report on this as a serious venture. Also, the entire proposed (27 stage, 7000+km) route into a headwind! Amazing.
 
Jun 16, 2009
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www.oxygencycles.com
The Tour of America will be one of the largest spectator events in the history of U.S. sports and is expected to become an epic annual event.Each year The Tour of America will invite close to 200 riders from 21 of the world’s elite cycling teams who will compete for their share of a $10 million cash/prize purse, the largest of any international cycling event.

Look for teams to be announced in the coming weeks and months ahead as they will not want to miss this inaugural and historical event.

ummm, still waiting for even a Continental team to name a squad.
 
May 7, 2009
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ericthesportsman6 said:
First of all, we don't all love Nascar. In fact, to most of the country the "sport" is a joke. And even though theres not a whole lot of legitimate interest in pro cycling; you are severely mis-informed if you think there aren't tons of people who ride all over the country. It's a very popular recreational sport, just not pro, yet. And man, there are only 118 people in Black Hawk, how the hell is that a good representation of the entire country. Still, this tour isn't going anywhere because of the pure idiocy of it's organizer.


You guys know what I mean, exaggerating to make a point. And if you don’t think NASCAR is popular, go to Indiana- where it borders on religion. There is no where near enough support to make a race like this happen in America. Ironically, if you look at the reader comments that have been posted in regards to the WSJ article about “Landisgate” most of the posters exhibit a serious disregard, if not outright hostility towards cycling. The Black Hawk thing also got a lot of support from posters on the Denver (http://www.9news.com) news website. A lot of people here hate cyclists because we get in their way. Logistical absurdities aside, this race will never happen. We lost a few great races around here in part because the community didn’t want them. I was a course marshall for a cyclocross race and was almost assaulted by an enraged driver who drove out onto the course and parked his car right at the start/finish line. I and a few others asked him to move (riders were coming in fast and sprinting to the finish line) and he got out of his car, almost foaming at the mouth, and launched a tirade against all cyclists and how we had no right to be there. All the while our team had secured a valid permit to hold the race. We almost had to call the cops on this guy. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident. There were many others, including a crit in downtown Denver where another enraged driver threatened to drive out onto the course with the race in progress.. The race organizers had sent out notifications weeks in advance. Also, large pick-up truck on the State TT championship course almost collides head-on with cyclist during race (I observed this personally while racing). People don’t threaten to run people over for street fairs and parades like they do for bike races.
For the record, I do not support NASCAR and don’t care about Football (either type).