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The Road to Louisville

Here's why:

USA Cycling awards 2008-09 Master Road Nationals to Louisville

Here's how:

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"This Armpit of a Course"

Those aren't my words - they're Peter Swan's, inveterate NCVC Master's racer and longtime friend of cycling in this region. And the course he's talking about is not some rinky dink circuit hoping to pull in 100 racers, or a 1st effort for a new club trying to produce a race in a region where cycling isn't well-established yet.

No, he's talking about the Crit Course for this weekend's Master's National Championships. Here's his full commentary:

Swanee Course Preview: 2007 Master’s Natz Crit Course

Can you say butt ugly?  That about sums it up for this so called Nat’l level crit course.  The venue is in an industrial park that is mostly truck depots, right next to the PA Turnpike. Lovely, eh?

Of all the wonderful little crits I have done in PA over the years, this has to be one of the least likely places for a Natz. Even the Tradezone Crit is glam compared to this armpit of a course. 

Last year’s event was held in an old speedway outside of town. Not a traditional crit course, but at least you could sit up in the stands, in the shade, and watch the entire course.  And it had food concessions and restrooms, ample parking - pretty nice actually.

This year there is no place to park after the races start, and the course is full of potholes on the edges of the road (did I mention that tractor-trailor trucks pull in and out of the course roads all day - no wonder).   I took these pics (ed: see below) on Monday, maybe I’ll be surprised by the city filling them by Saturday (However, I’m not holding my breath).

Gents, this is not one to bring your spouse or significant other to. You’ll never hear the end of it.  Nothing but bushes and ugly warehouses and the roar of the turnpike in the background.
Someone at USA Cycling should be publicly horsewhipped (perhaps at the rider meeting on Saturday night) for the course selection.

Well, at least it’s flat - a blessing for a fat, slowpoke like me.

Wow. Not exactly gentle and generous, is he? But to Swanee's point, why should he be. These are the Master's National Championships for corn sake. The best of the best in their age groups from the whole country are descending on Seven Springs, PA, and will end up competing on a layout that is unselective, inhospitable and wholly inappropriate to the caliber of competition. You want to know why it's hard to find long-term sponsor support for cycling? It's not just about the doping - whenever the sport settles for being the bastard stepchild of athletics there's not a lot of reason for deep pockets to open up. Racers are not going to walk away from their Natz experience glowing about it - even if they do well. A course like this doesn't treat them with honor, or even respect.

You don't have to take Swanee's word for it, though. Have a look at the course yourself, in the following slide show (if it's going fast just click the 'stop' control at the top and advance at your own pace) and let me know if this looks worthy of our regions, and our country's, fastest:

Registration for Road National Champs is now open

I always thought the Road National Championships were out west - either in Colorado or Utah. They're not - they're in western Pennsylvania, which means that local folks ought to have a strong showing there.

The event runs July 5 - 17. Registration for the event is now open here:

https://www.sportsbaseonline.com/Series.aspx?id=175

There are some pretty strict rules about which Elite cyclists are eligible and invited to compete, but the champs are open to Juniors of any category, and Masters (men and women) in Cat 3 and above. And the Masters categories are broken into 5-year increments with field sizes of 175 in the RR, 125 in the Crits, and 500 (or virtually unlimited) in the TTs.

Thanks to Super Dave Osborne for the heads-up on this one.