Originally Posted by DXchulo
Not that you need any more evidence that America doesn't care about cycling, but...
Did you see how small the crowd was? And they thought nobody cared about the Indy 500. Granted, this wasn't a top level pro race, but it did involve the only cyclist that most Americans care about, Lance Armstrong.
I get why the public doesn't care, but I don't really understand why most cyclists didn't seem to care. What's up with only 400 people signing up for the race? Maybe people were afraid that thousands of riders would show up and it would turn into a big crash fest. And why didn't any teams show up? Maybe they think it's a better bet to go the traditional route if they want pro teams to notice them.
Then again, it seems like more of a publicity stunt than anything else? Why would Discovery set up such a short race that isn't even ridden under UCI rules if they're really looking for a team member? When guys are showing up on TT bikes and they just let them race in the pack you have to wonder what's going on.
Dude...
First off, the Indy 500 draws about 300,000 people. Not bad for "nobody cares..."
Second, there was this race in Chicago that had a $150,000 purse. All the good riders went there. With all due respect, those that know racing knew that this would be exactly as it was.
It
was a publicity stunt. Geez...
Last, the guy that won will only be doing the individual time trial in South Carolina. He will not be in the US Pro race. As one needs to be licensed to race at that level. The stink of this was that the Disco people did not think of this beforehand...about a month ago, this became an issue.
$150 bucks to ride 25 miles....again, why the really good riders were in Chicago. Elk Grove was the race that Landis was to have ridden before his mess...the $150 bucks was a fundraiser and they made it expensive enough that you, at least, had to think about it before writing a check.
I know a couple of people who were thinking of going...this was before the ITT issue came up...and I asked them if they had ever ridden in a 6 hour race before, and I get "the look"...this race is about six hours long.
Thank goodness the licensing thing came up...
This was on a par with the "open tryouts" that major league baseball teams have. You pay a lot of money to "try out" when these guys spend millions scouting for talent. Rarely does anyone have the talent to make it...
Disco knows every rider in the world that is potentially good enough.