Originally Posted by
Ygduf
I am of the opinion that without a "Lance" the sport will continue to dwindle. It doesn't get media attention at all, at any level in this country. We are car-centric and without an american hero out there beating up on the twiggy Euro boys, there's no story. No story means fewer people ever see it and think "that looks like fun!"
The race license trends reflect only our performance in road in Europe. It truly is the overriding factor that determines our popularity.
I didn't read everything in detail from everyone but in general to those that don't know me outside of Bikeforums, etc - I've developed the second largest team in Illinois. That team has had a main focus on women's racing since day 1. We have bouts of men's cat3 fabulousness at times but meh - team rosters are always in constant flux. We worked hard at developing what I saw as a the segment with the most potential - women's racing - for the better part of the last decade. Most of the pros and teams I have sponsored are usually women's programs. My races over the years - I have always bucked convention and tried all sorts of new or different approaches. 10 years ago it was "payouts need to be equal!" my response was "no - let's pay the women more". While I enjoyed doing that and the tiny handful of women's racers who actually raced told me they appreciated it, there was definitely no change or long term growth because of that. To this day we still pay the women's field $1 more than the men's.
I have had women's masters races when there hasn't been any. I changed race duration to equal the men's (on that one got strange pushback I still don't understand but whatever). Cut men's duration to equal the women's.
I've had large payouts. I've had no payouts. When clubs full of middle aged North Shore white men decide that promoting their race is just "too expensive" for them to continue doing I step in and take it over....only to see numbers continue to drop as it's not hosted by the cool kids club anymore.
We've had Juniors functions, years of women's clinics. I paid to put together a composite women's team to race Joe Martin. That started a movement here in Chicago leading to some to create their own team and calling it Chicago Women's Elite Cycling - still around technically today who somewhere had the main purpose to develop and grow the women's cycling population in this area. In reality the number of women racing in races here locally has actually dropped to a near all time low in road (since I have been here ~2008 or so).
Advocacy doesn't work. Sponsorship don't work. Payouts don't work. Making it less expensive doesn't work. Making it more expensive doesn't work.
Time and time and time again I keep coming back to the fact that I have seen things work. They work when people WANT them. It doesn't matter who it is geared towards. It doesn't matter what it costs. It HAS to hold the imagination in a pop culture desire and want sort of way and it JUST DOESN'T have that as a sport right now.
Right now and for the last 5 -8 years or so we have had some of the most compelling racing and racers in cyclocross on the women's side. They are now considered some of the best in the world (at least able to compete, podium and sometimes win in Europe). They are amazing racers. They all have huge personalities and are more than gracious with their time and access. Any idiot with a microphone can make even the fairest of fair weather fans a rabid addict of the sport ..... and yet at our best right now cross number are "holding" (unless you have cross weather then they are down like mine
)
Sorry - it's winter and I am going to keep coming back here every now and then and unloading. Have to do that enough so that I still do this next year.
Also - I go to just about every race all year. I pre-registered even to race myself this last weekend. It's a smaller race outside of our series and held across the border in Indiana. That means the fickle crowds of Chicago cross won't drive the 30 minutes to go to it. The course is fabulous and the people are great. By all means a better race than many that are in the Chicago Cup as it is. Winter storm blows in. Wife is like - if we get caught there and can't get home our lives are going to suffer greatly. So at the end of a long season and with my pre-registration fee already paid for myself and my son I decide to pull the plug and not go. I have been getting constant crap about not going ever since. It's like somehow now I am a traitor. Meh.