spec84

Amazing race. The weather turned out perfect as did the action. It was kind of weird to see so American fans literally going berserk for Sagan, especially considering the fact that our guys were in the running. Ben King was up front early, then Tyler Farrar was right there in the fight until the bitter end. Don't get me wrong, I like Sagan, and I like Tom Boonen even more. I was really pulling for Boonen, if and only if, our guys couldn't take the gold. I guess I can see how American fans would relate to Sagan since he's had so much success in the states and he speaks English fairly well. Anyway, this was an awesome event. I had a blast and it looked like everyone else did as well.

WCroadie

I was just down the hill from you, standing right under the 4k to go sign, we had such a primo spot to watch them go by then watch the big screen. Got home late last night, I'll post some photos later. Words cannot describe the experience, I was absolutely amazed with the whole weekend. To echo some others, the crowds were awesome, the people were great, never ran into 1 rude person, had some great food, met some cool people.

Yes the Americans rode better than expected and Sagan was definitely the crowd favorite, I never saw him the whole race til he attacked. I'm still so excited from the experience. I got so many awesome pics.

va_cyclist

Dan333SP

I'm so glad all you non-Richmonders enjoyed yourselves. I think we really got lucky with the weather. It's not often you see a 95% chance of rain for 2 straight days on the forecast a day in advance, and then end up with just some overnight showers and clear weather the rest of the time. The cycling gods smiled on our city.

I was reading some other professional cycling forums, particularly UK forums, and it seems that A) a lot of people hate Sagan and thought the win was a joke, and B) a lot of people thought the course was silly and not a challenge, and that the city's bid to host this race didn't make sense.

Haters gonna hate, I guess, but Peter was a very popular winner with virtually everyone I've spoken to, and all the riders seem to have very positive things to say about the course. Yes, some of the stretches were boring, but the final couple K were very selective as witnessed by how none of the races this weekend came down to a bunch sprint with the exception of the women's elite, and even that was a select bunch that were dragged to the line by Lizzie.

I guess we have to wait for the economic impact assessment that will inevitably be released in a few weeks or months, but initial estimates show that the crowds were even bigger than expected. I have no idea exactly how many people were there yesterday, but it had to be a couple hundred thousand around the length of the course. Libbe, 23rd, Govenors, Broad, and the turn on Monument were jammed. I used to work at a restaurant downtown and when I stopped by on Friday night, they were telling me that the previous 2 days had the busiest lunches in the restaurant's history and the dinners had been getting better and better as the week went on. I'm sure Saturday and Sunday were very busy.

My friend also ran a popup cycling attire shop on Broad & 3rd (Cutaway), he said he was selling out of just about everything and wanted to shut the shop down on Sunday since he'd already made a fair bit of money and just wanted to enjoy the race.

I'm telling you guys, the atmosphere at Libby was the best ambiance of any sporting event I've ever been to, and that includes every professional US sport, a bunch of F1 and sportscar races, all sorts of collegiate events, ect. I'm a little hoarse and deaf today because of the clanging cowbells and screaming fans.

I also loved that the city relaxed its restrictions on open containers. All 3 days I ended up driving from my house with my bike to Church Hill, parking a mile or so from Libby, and then riding back and forth to my car a few times over the course of the day to shuttle beer from my cooler to my backpack and then to my friends. Definitely cheaper than buying in the fan zone, and there was a bike valet at the bottom of the hill so I just checked it in each time and walked up to the fence in front of the jumbotron.

Did anyone go to the convention center this week? I never made it in there, I'd guess it was just full of the usual cycling retailers. I'd also love to hear where you out of towners ate this week, Richmond has a lot of great restaurants and I hope you guys picked some good ones.

This is the top story on the WSJ sports page at the moment-

In the Middle of Football, Brilliant Bikes - WSJ

seypat

Local paper says crowds were bigger than expected. Link: Organizers estimate 645,000 spectators along course for UCI Road World Championships - Richmond Times-Dispatch: Richmond 2015: The Worlds, Cycling's Pinnacle Event, Come To Richmond

It was a great day. No need for me to expand on that. But after sleeping on it, here is what stuck out for me. The abilities and efforts of the riders are just incredible! I scooted around on my bike seeing different parts of the course in reverse order. I would look at the climbs from the bottom then ride up to the top and look down. I did this at 23rd Street, then at Libby Hill. I was sitting at the top of Libby Hill past the first left turn on the final lap. The acceleration those guys put on coming out of that corner was astounding. The intensity, the jockeying for position, the determination was unbelievable. The part of the course from the bottom of Libby Hill to where it pops back out on Main towards Gov. St. is tough and technical. It is bumpy, tilting, off balance and kind of scary! TV doesn't translate that well. To see those riders attacking that part of the course the way they did is what sticks out for me. Nerves of steel! My hat's off to the riders. What a show!

Andy Somnifac 

It was a great time. I can see myself ringing the hell out of my cowbell down in front of the screen.

The atmosphere was amazing, I thought the course was laid out great. I challenge another American city to come up with a course that has multiple cobbled climbs, a park that acts as a natural stadium, and a city center finish, with great viewing available in SOOOOO many spots.

It was an amazing, once in a lifetime experience. Never in my life did I imagine that the state I live in would host an event like this, just a couple of hours up the interstate.


Beer handups, at a road race?


Ben King, leading the way up Libby Hill.


Fans, fans, and more fans.


More cowbell.

Thank you Richmond, it was great.

Dan333SP

Agreed, it blows your mind to watch the strength of these guys in action. The lead riders were all in their big rings up 23rd when Peter launched his winning move, I have no idea how many watts they were putting out but it was more than 6 hours into a tough race and they still had the legs to dig and crush it up a cobbled 19% hill. Even with my legs at their freshest, I have a hard time getting up that climb in my lowest gear.

seypat

Are you the guy with the mustache or the Jeremy Pivin look alike?

seypat

I'm no slouch when it comes to strong legs. Former college basketball player with a big vertical leap.(back in the day) But these guys, they stomped on it between that first left and the next one! I just sat there shaking my head thinking WOW! BTW, I was tooling around in that area on my 32T "granny" and 21 cog. I still felt like I was mashing!

WCroadie

I'm from Philadelphia, let me be honest with you, I've been to the Philly race when it was very big and in it's prime, I've been to the US Pro Challenge in Colorado, I've watched just about all the major races in Europe, my buddy who was with me in Richmond has been to Europe for some classics, Tour of Cali and Philly. When we arrived Friday and walked around, we saw a bunch of empty storefronts, etc. and knowing it would be an all urban course, we were like, of all the places in the US how did Richmond get the bid? Then we walked al over the course Saturday, I thought about the other worlds courses, which are circuits and often near big cities, it makes sense.

Then Sunday we walked from the finish line, saw them come up 23st, then camped out on Libby Hill, got a front row spot under the 4K sign next to some Danish fans, the race was amazing, everyone we met was super nice, no one was out of control or appeared wasted (unlike Philly) I was happy to sip a few beers walking around Saturday, the cops were so nice, even told me not to pay the meter on Friday. I parked in front of the Crowne Plaza for free Fri and Sun.

We saw the podium for the mens U23 and walked around the expo, you didn't miss anything, very few bicycle retailers, etc.

I watched some of the Men's race today, the coverage makes Richmond look awesome, Libby Hill was insane, my friends at home all said the race was great, everyone I talked to yesterday thought it was great and a great course. After Sagan won, so many racers congratulated him, more that usual, so they must respect him, if the race was a joke, why was it so hard at the end? I feel Richmond did a fantastic job, it was an unbelievable. Look on Twitter, FAcebook, etc, I don't see anyone complaining about it and everyone is congratulating Sagan.

Dan333SP

One more moment from yesterday that made me smile-

At some point in the last 5 or 6 laps of the race, the live feed on the jumbotron at Libby Hill showed an Italian rider, probably not even Nibaili, holding on to a team car for a fairly long period of time talking with someone in the car.

The entire crowd started booing loudly almost immediately. Clearly most people in that mass were aware of the Vuelta incident and reacted accordingly, very funny stuff.

WCroadie

Not the entire crowd, I did not boo! I am Italian

Dan333SP

There are a fair number of people complaining about it on social media in our area. It's really exactly the crowd you'd expect, they have absolutely no knowledge of cycling and avoided downtown like the plague and are proud to state that fact.

They think that the whole thing was a fiasco because they had to drive around some detours to get to work and they saw an article or two complaining about the lack of customers in restaurants posted on Wednesday or Tuesday (so clearly not reflective) so they're all assuming this was a financial disaster for the city.

Guess what? When these things happen, some places do spectacularly well. For instance, I rode past Proper Pie in Church Hill yesterday and there was literally a line around the block for their pies. Others don't get the business they were expecting, like privately owned surface parking lots inside the course environs that were shocked that most people decided to walk/shuttle/bike to the course rather than drive.

That's just the nature of the crowd dynamics, you can't perfectly predict where people will end up watching and what they'll want to eat/drink during the event. They were going to have a huge fanzone setup in Monroe Park near VCU for the whole week, turns out that was a bad place to watch because it was just a series of uninteresting fast turns and almost no one showed up, but no one predicted that months in advance.

I think when all is tallied up, the event will have a very positive net financial impact. People are shortsighted and forget that this sort of thing is a worthy investment because it brings attention to RVA and makes people consider moving here, along with all the other positive press we've gotten about being a great outdoor city and whatnot of late.

Angry people see the small, short-sighted picture of, "My sister at such and such bar made less this week than last week, this whole thing was a joke!". I think most other people see the positive reception by all of our visitors as a great step for the future of the city, but only time will tell.

seypat

I'm guessing Poe's Pub was not complaining about their business. I was thinking about the course section between Libby Hill and Main where Sagan made his move and won the race. For those not seeing it in person, I think the best description would be a huge Wild Mouse Coaster. If you have ridden one of those, that is what the riders were facing. Short steep climbs followed by scary downhill descending into sharp turns with no banking. The way Sagan gapped the other riders through there speaks to his bike handling skills. Definitely a worthy champion.

Dan333SP

He pedaled on the top tube on the descent, probably at 40 mph! Ballsy and epic.

seypat

As someone pointed out on a VCU thread, lot better ROI than having the Washingon Dreadskins in town.

I did forget to mention for the non locals that we are getting plenty of rain today!

GuitarBob

I've never been to Richmond, but the impression I got from watching race coverage was really positive. Nice!

seypat

If you look at the really big picture, urban renewal is happening across the nation. For that to be successful, public transportation and bicycling need to be important. Not everyone needs to be driving a car all of the time.

WCroadie

That's exactly how it is, hahaha, good description! Sagan is the best bike handler in the peleton.

Dan, my buddy and I walked all over the course, the city was nice, definitely looks like a revival going on, tons of condos going up, will they really sell most of them? We also went to the American Civil War Center Saturday morning, very interesting, glad we went. I got some food from La Bamba, very good authentic mexican, we went to Penny Lane Pub after the women's race and I met my buddy from Oklahoma there. It's a small, cool city, I am not a city person, I never go into Philadelphia unless I absolutely have to, Richmond was cool.

I ran into these guys Saturday morning, Julian Alaphilippe(next to me) Tony Gallopin(middle) and the last guy is Sebatien Minard, rides for Lotto.


Here is a link to some of the Photo's I took - https://goo.gl/photos/XjMt3HfWJzXxSwi69

thumpism 

My favorite part of the whole week?

Shortly after locating a friend at Libby Hill during Sunday's race, I decided it was way too crowded and went to wander more of the course. I made my way to the top of the hill and prepared to depart the way I came in. I walked around the fountain at the end of 29th Street and was crossing the part of the circle that would take me onto the sidewalk in front of that last block of houses and away from Libby Hill. It was a tight passage so there were single files passing in each direction, us leaving (with the race action to our left) and the oncoming people arriving. There was a guy directly in front of me in full Team USA kit and coming towards us was a real tall guy dressed as Uncle Sam and when the two passed they gave a little fist bump.

jyl

We need more WC in the USA. I'm imagining the peleton racing up Lombard Street in San Francisco . . .

Dan333SP

'Murica.

A friend of mine spent the entire week around the course wearing a full USA suit: blue jacket with white stars, red/white striped pants, a red tie and white shirt, plus his giro air attack with refelctive visor. Looked like bike racing robocop with a lot of national pride. He did manage to get most of the US pro ladies to pose for pictures, so I guess it worked.

WCroadie

Considering this was only the 4th time it's been outside Europe, that's not happening, unfortunately. THere were some guys from Denmark next to me, they said they go to Worlds every year, lucky bastards.

merlinextraligh

True, but they're going to Qatar next year, and cycling is becoming more global.

Not holding my breath, but I think it would be reasonable, and may actually happen, that you'll see Worlds in the U.S. once every decade or so.

redcon1

What an event, we had such a blast. Still too much to process, but I'm so glad I made the trip and my wife is now a lifelong cycle racing fan!