SLEEP TALKIN

Those that don't know me, I'm basher, and I'm what you would call a no shit guy, or in other words an asshole..TMS asked me to say a few words...I didn't plan on speaking about the grumblings and rumblings of what has been going down on the east side of our state as of late, so i thought about and well i cant keep quiet any longer, so Ive got nothing better to do at this time of the night but shoot my mouth off about the comments on the last MEAT post. So if you wanna hear my take, and can keep on my wheel, stick around, if you don't oh well let the gap open and keep fooling yourself.

Just like T i too have been around the scene for awhile I have seen birth, death and when i want to, i can recall all the rest. I will shoot from the hip, but will not mean to insult, but so be it if it does, as the Fate of quality cross is at stake here, and i cant keep from stay in quiet . i may not go in any order, but it will all pertain to the same thing.

picture this, your in a rock band, you start out playing in the garage, time goes on you get better, cut 4 c.d.s or maybe 5, get a small following..you move up through the chain, make somewhat enough to play large venues, 8 to be exact. Now for the next 7-10 odd years you play at the same concert halls around the metro area, year in year out. Sounds pretty boring huh, for you and your fans right? well its very similar to what Ive seen here in Michigan with another type of racing, ITS NOT CROSS..think about it..many years ago it was new, fun and the rider turnout was great, time went on things stayed the same.. riders changed, some married, some died and some moved away. Now we see a series that's a mere shell of former self..

sound familiar?

the first shot from the hip...The venues that are getting used need a change, NO i don't mean a shuffle on the schedule, A full change I dunno.. maybe somewhere else in the parks, or other areas.. but you cant tell me that this all they have to work with. with the exception of the Night cross at Munson and the battle at the Fort..the rest are ho hum, Put some effort into it. make us think you really care about all the groups not just C's and B's

Shot #2.. The courses themselves, To be flat faced straight honest! are piss poor. sorry i said it I had to...CROSS is hard enough when your only getting 20% of oxygen to the brain..But gosh darn it doesn't need to be a obstacle course, Why barriers before the run up at lower Huron? why not create some excitement and let riders try to ride the hill? some will, some wont....sounds exciting to me to see who can make it to the top, I recall many moons back when the SIMONSTER was riding a rigid Giant mtb and storming that bitch. IT WAS AWESOME Why lay logs in the sand? or having barriers before, we all know how to ride that shit! Right? ....VETS park was just plain stupid THERE i said it. You got hills, off camber and mud, that in itself is hard. But adding all this weaving and dodging just magnifies it. No I'm not saying less turns would make the Wiz and also ran margins closer..but with a more flowing course it may allow the beggars to stay together longer, the constant up and d down and yo yoing just blows em apart. LESS is more. The elite race on Sunday just looked like a act of survival after lap 1. No before all the shit throwing starts, I DON'T want to do it.. But god damit use your head, If your gonna do the job, do it right...think of yourself rollin at The Elite field speeds. The C's and B's will enjoy just as much...your not gonna scare em off or offend them.... what next? rings of fire, or how about trip wires in the beach at stony..

Shot #3. cross is fucking HARD PERIOD....anyone who says it F.U.N isnt racing at REDLINE and probably riding around smiling. or they don't really care about there results... Which is OK I see no problem with that but. Because its hard is also the reason why the Elite field is suffering. To keep from getting your ass chopped off and then lapped while stopping to look for it takes some dedication and time spent perfecting the skills, coming in cold or with little or no racing in the legs only mean 1 thing..... disappointment..I'm calling out all the lappers.... you cant play a mans game without doing mans work sorry guys.. Truth be told. I love you guys... Ask Saari, Wiz, Parmalee and few others and there gonna tell you, they probably have some hard ass racing or tough training in there legs before Sept 1st. You can get away with half in it in the B field , and when i mean half in it..... little to no cross workouts, sporadic interval workouts, etc....you can do little to nothing to race C, (NO DISRESPECT, but truth, check the results of those went up a class only to get it chopped off......) But stepping into the Elite ring or the top 3 in the Masters you better have the engine pretty well tuned and running lean, come November 1 have the octane boost on hand, save the nitrous for the last 3 weeks and put it down. the Season is short.. hell its dam near done already. Getting good is Hardwork it doesn't come easy. You think Wiz, saari, and Foshag walked into the top 5, No those guys as well as few others took there hits for many many seasons before they began to develop, But as a society in whole we want it right now! not 5 yrs !!!yes, 5yrs..less if your gifted.

shot #4 why the elite field is barely creating a pulse? UH ITS HARD we know that... getting top 5 even with only 8 guys is like spending a night in Compton. the pay out is small and the compensation is smallER....Maybe... just Maybe if the pay was deeper you would get more riders willing to commit, Its all about commitment right? But knowing that you don't have snow balls chance in hell of cracking the top 5 , why try? But how about top 8? Maybe that would keep the class jumpers from jumping ship a month into to the season when they realise they don't got it.( those that do it stop it...it looks ridiculous..Don't wanna get lapped train harder, cant do it? dont bounce around.. I fucking hate that!) Ok how about the guys that race up the 1st few races only to drop down?... Come on guys be realistic... I understand why you do it, i guess..... but in the next breath riding around by yourself and waiting to get lapped isn't gonna make you faster RIDING YOUR BIKE DOES.......if you cant top 3 your B race or masters field on a consistent basis don't move up! its OK no ones pushing ya...but... Better yet it the increase in $$$, may draw out that guy in the B field who has won the class at least once in the last 4 years. You know who you are ...time to step up or step off....Or how about this, combine some of the fields. how about masters 35+, no others no 50+ 35 and over. wanna get really crazy? eliminate the C race. YES that's right A, or B pay the A race 12 deep, and spruce up the swag in the B race to entice the C's .is it USCF legal??? does it matter??? only thing the Vampires at USA cycling care about is getting there dough! a bigger field is way more exciting and everyone sticks around. Have you looked around at the spectators at this years events when the masters are out there? it looks like Detroit dead empty.

Shot #5 were have all the soldiers gone? Theres probably a few of you old timers out there saying..Man Back in my day .......we had guys like..Herriman, Brian Adams, Archer, Blair Dudley, Nick Durrie, Scotty Q, Brett Robinson, Simonster, Tucker Ollander. Rob Foshag Pappa T .the list goes on...we had 25+ rider fields guys battling it out 8-10 getting lapped..were did they all go? good question only they can answer that, but if you ask them you might be surprised on what they have to say. we all change directions are many as well as reasons.

shot#6 the promotion of the whole show, at one time flyer's were sent out to local bike shops, posters were made to promote and Bike shops names were lay ed on the barriers for all to see. with all do respect the announcer makes the small crowd quite aware of who is paying the elites, but if i was a shop id have to question if its money well spent, half the time you don't even know which shop or who is sponsoring what race. NOT good. the series/sport is not that strong enough to self promote, effort is needed to keep it thriving and keep interest high.

shot #7 The competition, NO not the other guy. but the other type of racing..going against a full road season and MTb season is tough. There is so much great racing from April until September its hard to compete, cross will always be fringe and lower number sport, so when the numbers drop it looks worse than it is. Maybe if our road season and all the mtb races were lower quality cross would see a rise merely for the fact of a lust for racing. who knows..

shot#8 the economy, lets face it with exception of a few.. money is tight. sponsors are thin and bicycle shops cant do all the work to fund a race series. without sponsors or shop incentive there is little to no excitement. The Munson race is by far the best shop promoted event, a shop tent food. a family like atmoshpere,Half the races you don't see any shop employees or know who's sponsoring what, but because the economy is poor, shops cant afford to throw out swag or more $$. It's simple.A large out side sponsor is needed for the series, but being the State is near poverty, this may be a tough hurdle... enuff said.

I'm out... empty, too tired to reload..spent.

In wrapping up... it all comes down to change, and life cycles, cross is not immune to change and this year has shown how dynamic a sport can be, Running a race series isn't easy, keeping track of points, setting up the courses, awards, etc..is allot of work i understand. But without the incentive of a chance to go to the next level may be bad. I seen the exact same thing happen to another sport in cycling in Michigan. I watched the ship sink, It resurfaced a few years later but it was never the same, things that change rarely are the same right? I think in the future you may see a smaller series with more emphasis on quality rather than quantity.. but for now..it will have its ups and downs, it may get worse and may get better. try to embrace the time you have with it , change is coming, But it wont happen tonight.

don't let the bed bugs bite.