Cypress

I was in the shower this morning gazing upon my soaped tanned thighs and thought "hey, I could do that. It's just a damn circle". Then that got me to thinking, if I did win and earned a spot on the disco team for the national race, how would that work? Isn't it a USCF race? Wouldn't I need to be considered a Cat1/pro to race in it?

This is all speculation, but the real question is: How could anyone but a pro race on the disco team according to USA Cycling?

eskimo85

I believe this is how it works: You will be racing for a "pro" team, they have the spot and anyone they want can race for them.

Cromulent

Here's my thought: It's kind of like American Idol. Disco is probably always looking at new talent, this is a way to perhaps bring some of that talent to them. So if they do find someone young and talented out of the hundreds (or thousands) of people who show up, cool. They'll stick 'em on a development team.

And if not, then it's marketing. And it sounds like a fun, potentially crash-happy event.

Cromulent

Hm... I went to the website and it really seems that if you win the race, you get to ride as a member of Disco at the US championships. Wow.

Which brings me to a reality TV show idea I had: Take two dozen or so cyclists. Give them the equipment, the training, the support, and everything else they need to turn them into a real team. Then they race in the Classics, the Tour de Georgia, the Giro, and the Tour de France. Any takers? Discovery Channel? TLC? Bravo? OLN? Anyone?

timmhaan

good thought, but i'd be up in arms if i were on a team that missed an opportunity to race these races because a tv show wanted to get their guys in there. imagine moving up in all the cats, turning pro, winning races, getting selected for a team, training all year round for years, and then watch as a bunch of newbies get your spot.

Cromulent

True, but they'd have to do all that too. It wouldn't just be "nine random guys get to ride in a grand tour". This would take a few years.

Another version might be take a dozen or so top bike racers from the US, start a brand new team, and take them to Europe, but I thought it would be cool to see the whole thing from the beginning.

Cypress

That's what I was wondering about... Say some cat4 guy gets lucky and wins this thing. How is he going to race in a PRO championship without the USCF waving the finger??

timmhaan

yeah, that would be interesting. sort of like the movie the hard road but carrying it further into the season.

x43x

Maybe "riding for the team" means riding in the support car and handing out water

*new*guy

I think that at this event the entire Discovery squad will be safely hidden behind 1 way glass having a big laugh.

jbhowat

A Cat 4 isn't going to win this. I'm sure there will be a **** ton of fast Cat 1's and Regional Pros who will be seriously, seriously trying to win this event. For those guys it is a chance in a million to get their name out there and likely get picked up by a bigger pro team (if not Disco, someone else0 is they perform well in USPro.

Cat 4's don't get lucky and win nation-level pro-1-2 races, which is what this will be like.

timmhaan

i'm sure this has been asked before...but do we know what the format of the race is? laps, miles? it's on the racetrack, right?

Pizza Man

Though unlikely, it would not be impossible for a Cat 4 to win a race against Cat 1's.
Some guys coming from other backgrounds (mountain biking or running) can be extremely strong as a Cat 4 and just not have the races yet to be a Cat 1. I've seen several strong Cat 4 & 5 guys beat many 1's and 2's in those rare events when they get to race each other.

Even the best riders have to go through being Cat 5 & Cat 4.

merlinextraligh

A Cat 4 is not going to win this race. Back in the day, I had a team mate who was a strong Cat 2, with ambition to move up who got a wild card entry on a composite team into the West Virginia Classic, a six day stage race with teams like Motorolo (Armstrong won the race on his way to winning a $1,000,000 prize for winning 3 designated US races). My team mate barely finished the first day off the back, and dropped out on the first climb the second day. The difference between a Cat 2, and even a Division 3 pro is dramatic, and between that and a Cat 4, its several orders of magnitude.

Cypress

This is a long FLAT course. I imagine a strong cat3 guy could at least hang. The race sounds like it will be a crashfest due to it's public draw and open format.

Freak crash, one lucky guy...I've seen it happen to the best of everyone. Cipo had his wins taken away from him because of crashes, then some no-name guy with good bike handling wins.

DocRay

Is is true that more Americans vote in "American Idol" than the US presidential elections?

Cromulent

I think that's true - or there's at least some truthiness to it. I've voted in four presidential elections and in two seasons of American Idol. Voting for an American Idol has always been less ethically painful.

Pizza Man

You can not say that with 100% certainty. (Sure, 99.99%, but you never know if you'll find some gifted rider who just hasn't done many races yet)
Yes it is very very unlikely, but a person isn't Cat 4 because they're not as fast as the Cat 3's or Cat 2's, but because they haven't done enough races.

In general, Cat 1 is stronger than Cat 2, which is stronger than Cat 3, etc.

I've been riding for about 10 months. My first race as a Cat 5 was a timed hill climb. I had a faster time than the Pro/1/2 winner (I'm sure their race was more tactical), but I still had to go through Cat 5 and Cat 4 before I got to 3, and I'll have to do a few more races in Cat 3 before I move up to 2, that's just the way it works.

Just because a friend of yours was a Cat 2 and couldn't hang doesn't mean that any Cat 4 couldn't.

worker4youth

And easier, you can do it online, can't you?