Originally Posted by
tetonrider
it would surprise me if the national championships (the actual ones, not the age group stuff--we know that isn't) is paid, but i could very well be wrong. i'd just be surprised.
paying $1k for the hill climb 'national championships' when basically by definition the best national riders will not be able to compete is, well, kind of silly.
IMO.
curious to hear others' opinions.
My opinion is USAC is mostly about fun and mostly for masters.
As far as cycling for making a living stuff, I think the only NC races that matter in order are U23, 17-18, collegiate and professional. Matter being they get you a contract/notice etc. - improve your cycling career. Pro mattering least because they are pros and it is really just more fun for them too.
So, all the other NC USAC events, while not silly, kinda in the same spot. They are for fun. If it is fun for the participants, I don't have an issue with it. If $ makes it more fun, and it pays the bills - $350 for first is less than many crits, and does not bother me (and not sure USAC put of that money).
I think it is fair to say the quality and number of competitors are a big indicator of how hard/worthy a champion may be. But it is one factor, and there are others. Of course the strongest guys were not all there. I think a hill climb that starts at 9,300ft and ends at 14,110ft is pretty much a one-off thing. There is just not enough air up there to power bigger muscles, found in many pro riders, or strong kids. I wouldn't expect the placing to be the same on that mountain vs on Palomar, or Washington for example. It is different. As such I'm not convinced all those strong Colorado Classic riders below could just scamper up the mountain. Phil still may have won.
This really was a RR and while riders were not drafting much after about 1/3 the way up they were marking each other and positions. There were only about 30 starter in the P12345 race, not enought IMO. Put 50 CC pros in there and it might look much more like a Euro mountain RR, with attacks being covered etc. I'd love to see it, but anyway it was fun there was it was.