mike868y

you've got it backwards, imo. it's less of a big deal (still a big deal in regards to preparation, peaking, etc.) for the full salaried pros who don't have work to go to on monday and have sponsors to foot the bill. for the working men and women (this is probably way more of an issue in the womens field, see: arley kemmerer) who have work/school to go to on monday and don't have sponsors to foot the bill.

gsteinb

I think you over estimate what 'full salaried' means in the case of US domestic cycling.

TheKillerPenguin

+3, whatup player?!

TheKillerPenguin

+3

Whatup player?!

globecanvas

Although I understand your point and agree with it (the less $ you have, the more hardship the postponement creates), gsteinb is also right that there might be about 3 elite CX guys who don't have day jobs. My buddy is #15 nationally and traveling to Nats is always a hardship for him.

himespau 

Heck, ticket change fees alone will be a pain in the butt for some. Even if they'd planned on staying Sunday night and flying out Monday and now plan on crashing Monday night in the airport. That and not everyone can get an extra day off work. It's all well and good for the organizers to say, "oh we just postponed the race, we didn't cancel it, so it's not all that bad" but it's still a cluster**** for a whole lot of people.

rankin116

Southwest waved fees for any racer needing to switch flights. Pretty cool of them.

rankin116

On another note, was asked to take a trip to UNC to interview for a fellowship position. I am excite!

gsteinb

the junior who rode for us for a number of years turned pro for champ-sys stan's this season.

wens

I'm not going to lose revenue from nobody seeing my race /lower exposure/my chances of winning a championship being harmed. Those are the big things I'd sue for, failure to uphold a contract negatively impacting my employment prospects.

As an amateur, none of that matters. Usac will be getting an email asking why I should believe any of their future events will actually happen before I renew my license though.

bmcphx

You guys act like the postponement was usac's fault. I guess next time they should sign a contract with mother nature to ensure they get better weather. Surely on oversight on their part.

globecanvas

I think the postponement is clearly USAC's fault. Austin Parks & Rec has the right to protect their resources. USAC should have found a venue, or even just a course layout, that could handle a couple of thousand laps in the rain, and communicated this need clearly to the manager of the venue.

There should never have been a scenario where Austin's version of Leslie Knope could wake up on Sunday morning and realize the event wasn't going to work.

wens

It didn't seem all that weather related. I'm not sure how thorough the risk assessment was, but if it wasn't, usac is culpable there.

Really I'm upset with the response to the cancellation though, that's the kind of thing for which heads should roll. People from usac should have been making sure the heads that were rolling were in Austin parks and rec, not usac... And they didn't

mattm

usac's fb page is blowing up. I feel bad for them; yeah in hindsight they should've chosen a different venue, but nobody saw this coming I don't think.

hell hath no fury like a scorned cx racer I guess.

at any rate, don't most flyers say "reserve the right to cancel" or something?

mattm

i could save you the time and tell you what their response will be, and what your response will be.. =]

mike868y

really?

mattm

seems like it. that article was about flooding, but I thought the parks & rec concern was more about wear n tear and some historical trees or something, not flooding.

and if nothing else the article was a good warning to racers that the races could be postponed due to weather.

mattm

ah yeah I'm sure usac has tons of weight in the parks & rec scene and could easily get someone fired..

Ygduf

I get nervous thinking about going to a race that's 2 hours away because I could get a flat.

mike868y

either someone at usac/the promoter failed to show the parks department how bad the damage could be OR someone messed up in writing the contract. sure it's the parks dept "fault," but it's usac/the promoters responsibility to make sure the event happens.

on another note, i want to see this turned into an episode of parks and rec.

echappist

Good luck! Carolina is a great place to live, not to mention the reasonable housing prices. I can basically afford what would seem to me to be a mansion on my current salary, which gets me maybe 750 sq ft.

shovelhd

USAC approved the course that was too close to the trees. USAC had the responsibility to make sure the land owner was informed of the potential damage and what their reparations should be. I hope that this is a lessons learned. Road racing has had to deal with increasing opposition from business. This is the CX equivalent.

mattm

congrats to him.

one of our local sprinter kids is joining them too this year.. I wonder how much it'll change local racing considering he was always winning.

gsteinb

that prick rode me off the back of a break last year. at least I can get a signed jersey out of him

mike868y

all the more reason to support dedicated cx courses!