Doge

Jan 10, Reno Cross Nats, Collegiate As. I may hang and watch a few others.

Jan 20-21, Phoenix (kinda near) ASU Cycling Road Omnium.
College As race with P123 in the RR. RR is out and back on a straight road next to the freeway. TT is same road that afternoon.
Crit is on ASU campus.


"equal purse for men and women" Pro 1,2,3 - <20 entries $400, 20+ entries $800.
This promoter found a solution to not losing too much money on prize payouts trying to be equal.

https://legacy.usacycling.org/events...ermit=2018-396

mattm

Maybe will check out Valley of the Sun stage race in Phoenix next month.

But if I go I'll be solo up against a bunch of pro or pro-ish teams...

topflightpro

Could you find a team to guest ride for?

furiousferret

Its up in the air; no real traveling until a family issue is resolved so as of now everything is local.

Ontario Crit Series
Rosena Ranch Circuit Series
SB Airport Series
Citrus Series
UCLA RR
Victorville RR
San Dimas Stage Race
Redlands Classic Crit

On the Fence
CBR Series (70 miles away)
Barrio Logan (110 miles away)
Santa Barbara RR (On Call)
State TT Champs (no promoter yet, not on schedule)

Want to, probably not going to happen:
Belgian Waffle Ride*
Chico Stage Race
Sea Otter Classic

BWR is one of those races I want to do, but there are so many reasons not to do it. My off road handling is atrocious, its 140 miles (with 40 miles off road) and a ton of climbing. If my race season is going well, this will wreck it for at least a week or two and it falls during the same time as Sea Otter

Doge

I go about every year. It is tentative this year. Seems like more than half the field is solo. I often drive support, if it happens again, I'll save wheel space for you.

Ttoc6

Valley of the Sun and Chico for early season. Hoping to have my 2 by the end of that. Then I'll focus on the Utah competition and see how I can do. 2nd peak should be for a local stage race. Would like to do LoToJa in August but need to find someone to help run support.

Also planning to try out some xc mountain biking this summer. Maybe jump in a few sanctioned races.

Also hoping to try out at least one xc skiing race... if it ever snows.. @tetonrider.

Early season is the focus right now.

hack

How is your Merckx form? Some social media chatter from the Chico organizer about moving the TT to Merckx for all but the P1 folk. I doubt that will happen this year, but who knows.

mattm

I suppose it's not a bad idea.. hadn't thought of it.

Ttoc6

Needs work. I bought a tt bike to do well in these races.. Hope it stays TT eligible even if it easier to only have to bring one bike.

Only done 1 official merckx tt and it didn't go well for me, but I was sick so who actually knows.

rubiksoval

The big 'uns I'm planning/hoping to do. Most are PRT or USACrit series races, but all are solid events with good fields. And all crits.

7-Apr Sunny King, Al
27-Apr Spartanbug, SC
28-Apr Athens, GA
29-Apr Roswell, GA
26-May Snake Alley, IA
27-May Melon City, IA
28-May Quad Cities, IA
1-Jun OKlahoma City
2-Jun OKlahoma City
3-Jun OKlahoma City
29-Jun Whiskey City, IN
30-Jun Hyde Park, OH
1-Jul Madeira, OH
Jul Intelligentsia, Chicago
Jul Intelligentsia, Chicago
Jul Intelligentsia, Chicago
25-Aug VW Crit, Chattanooga
31-Aug Gateway, St. Louis
1-Sep Gateway, St. Louis
2-Sep Gateway, St. Louis
3-Sep Gateway, St. Louis

mattm

We're thinking of doing Intelligentsia this year, it sounds rad!

It's like 12 days right? Are you only doing three of the days, or all of them?

Also, no elite crit nats this year?

rubiksoval

Yeah, 12 days sounds about right. I'll just do 3-4 days; not sure which ones at this point. I can't afford to spend more time than that away, though.

Elite crit nats will be an 11+ hour drive, and since they changed the date it'll be the weekend before I have to go back to work... I'd have to be on some pretty good form, so that's a wait and see at this point.

Ttoc6

Thought about this.

Honestly if they make chico a merckx tt I might do the tuscon Bicycle Classic instead. Nearly the same drive and I imagine the competition might be a little bit lighter at this race. A very short TT is kinda meh, but at least there won't be a huge field, early season crit to contend with.

hack

Chico is a great race Merckx or no Merckx. Will report back if something final comes out before the flyer is released.

Doge

I love the one bike idea, BUT...
Until there are some rule changes, this does not help much with the 2 bike situation. The want-to-win/fast guys will likely have TT bikes setup to be mass-start-legal with TT optimized positions and use the IAB which is a bit less safe than a TT bar. Still a 2nd bike (and n+1) and as so few have this, really advantages those few that do.

hack

I'd estimate that less than 1% of entrants build a drop bar bike from a tt frame if the coordinator elected to go Merckx. Mostly because it's just an absurd thing to do, but also because those that are really TT focused will have an integrated frame that takes proprietary bars (exceptions include the Felt DA, older Orbea Ordu, or older Scott Plama).

Doge

I think that may grow. I saw 3-4 at collegiate. The guy who won was using one and the others in the top 10. My kid didn't do the ITT, rather pulled the whole TTT on one. They are good for about 2 mph, or more at 30 mph.

I'm not sure I follow the "absurd thing to do" part. I swap out "my" Felt DA2 removing the FELT Bayonet stem and attach the cable to the rear brake and adjust post height. I don't have to adjust/remove the front brake at all (maybe a tech forum thing to show). It is a 15 min job and requires a new rear brake cable every 3 or so changes.

That one bike is a collegiate TT bike for kid, regular TT bike for him, weekend rider for my wife (who may decide to 50+ or 60+ TT) and I guess I could ride it.

hack

I think the drop bar TT bike starts getting into intent of the rule vs letter of the rule discussion. If the director is leaning toward Merckx, it'd make sense that racers use the same bike for the whole stage race.

Doge

Same bike rule and hands must be on the bar rules, maybe a few sec penalty for an aero bike.

But it needs to be a rule or directive - letter of the law. Using intent seems unfair to me. Intent works for local races, smaller significance, but not so much for those traveling long ways or something significant.

The intent thing has burned me/us a few times. Here is one for a Merckx TT
Valley of the Sun is a junior European selection race that is when the USA Coaches sent a letter https://wmrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2...pmentRules.pdf asking the riders race Merckx. That worked as what the kids wanted was selection most. Breaking intent and winning by the rules was not going to get you selected.

In 2014, the first year requiring Merckx, Junior shows up on an aero bike (Venge) pre-cleared, not a problem, although most had round tube bikes.
The next year, same CR on the start line says to junior no "aero bars". I mention that is not in the rules, just the letter from USAC and let them decide. Junior, a bit shaken, gets to ride. Arguing at the start timer is a distinct disadvantage and should be avoided.

Doge

Going to the ASU Road Omnium next weekend.
They have an interesting line
"Collegiate racers can enter the omnium in their respective category and be scored both in
their omnium category and individual collegiate division in the road race. "
The P123 and Collegiate As race the RR together. So puppy gets to ride his big boy TT bike and it still counts for college.

https://legacy.usacycling.org/events...ermit=2018-396

Ttoc6

Man, I miss collegiate cycling..

Doge

I had no idea how alive it was.

There is energy there.
The average may be lower than the category. The best are better. But there is a vibe I don't get from the other.

But you know all that.

I won't be so cryptic. My opinion of course.
Winning a national collegiate A is harder than winning a national Cat 1.
Winning a junior or U23 is harder yet.

Why is simple. Junior, U23, Collegiate have pros. Cat 1 does not, nor do masters (according to the rules). Those also have a bunch of less competitive athletes, but it is the beating that/those pro/s that makes it quite interesting.

tetonrider

i hear it is SUPER dry down there. sad.


i agree with you--it's a bummer when they make these stage races mercx races, esp when you own a TT bike. i think maybe for cat 5 or cat 4 it may make more sense; for higher level races who travel for stage races (and are competitive for the GC) are more likely to have TT rigs, and they want to use them. this is not universal but is true more often than not.

a mercx TT has made me less likely to go to certain stage races in the past.

also, lack of a TT bike doesn't take a person out of the weekend; they can still stage-hunt even if they're no longer in the running for the GC.being forced to accept that one is not a GC contender at the outset may even be a good thing for many racers--most doing realize that they never were a contender until AFTER the TT.

chico isn't a stage race where many cat 2s & lower are flying to. does eliminating TT bikes materially affect many racers? of course, the promoter can do whatever s/he thinks will attract the biggest fields. i just question whether the *intended* benefits are ever achieved. a mercx TT is somewhat ill-defined, and you still wind up with people pushing limits.

fwiw, TBC TT is actually excellent. as an amateur you rarely get to do a short, prologue-style TT effort as the opening stage of a stage race. the TBC TT is around 7', which means it is at the long end of VO2max efforts, meaning you have to go really hard for what is a very long time at that intensity. if it was longer, the intensity would decrease, and if it was shorter it would be over before you know it.

is the cat 2 field separate from p1 @ chico? hard to say which is stiffer competition. i can tell you that both races can be plenty hard. tucson probably has more reliable weather.

Ttoc6

Chico is usually P/1 and 2's seperate, I think. I'll be racing in the 3's. One of the main reasons for wanting to do these big stage races is I can use stage race upgrade points now and it seems like it could be fun to actually compete for that kind of placing.

Also seems to be how my fitness is trending now, so I guess that helps.

Ttoc6

Collegiate cycling also seems to place a lot more influence on team dynamics and bonding than any non-collegiate racing I've done. You figure out pretty quick in the collegiate ranks you can't come in with a Cat 4 plan like saying at the start line "I'm gonna breakaway from 5 miles to go and solo it in." (the number of times I've heard this pains me..)

Just like the real world, roles and responsibilities need to be assigned. It focuses on that part of cycling where you have to be dynamic and know your (and your teammate's) strengths. Since, at most, you're going to have like, maybe 4 guys on an A squad.

IDK man, I felt like I learned so much more and was fast tracked on this whole thing because of collegiate racing. I don't think I would ever learn how a crit plays out or how to race smart if I was racing twice a month in season like so many people who are late onset to racing. Really getting after it, week in and week out; with teammates to call you on your bull**** is just such a faster way to learn.