after a long hard day of chasing koms and swiping right along with lurking strava to see what the rest of the hot-shoes are doing to gain the ever elusive edge...its time T gives his two cents on the thing most folks dont even know exist ...The always popular sometimes controversial all for somethin newly fuckn revamped MBRA point series...
hope your well rounded all natural training meal is fully digested
Sunday, May 6
Port City Criterium - Muskegon
this second year race was a hit from the folks that made the trip
nice town, marginal turnout...on somewhat of a boring course if it wasnt for the punchy little first turn hill it would put T sleep...
Saturday, May 19 - Sunday, May 20th
Weekend at White Lake Stage Race - Whitehall (Stage 1A only)
Hey whatta ya know a stage race..sorta seems like a good idea...but why not through a crit in there and count the whole weekend towards the series ?
Monday, May 28
Waterford Hills Circuit Race - Clarkston
Oh boy a weekend at Waterford....heres my gripe with this one...lets shake it up i dunno maybe im missin the details and i applause the Bias media guys for trying to keep the scene racing but lets hope its just not the same old Waterford..course..id like to see a 1 lap flying TT or a team time trial or win and out on the short course...just something different than Benny and Wanley show...fuck and if the any lunk head brings a disc wheel out this weekend some should throat punch em fuck me....
Saturday, June 9
CyclingLawyer.com Criterium - Kalamazoo
Hmmm..same weekend as the Death Crit..not sure how feel about that blunder..
go figure..doesnt matter most of the scene is scared to go into the Black Aces hood anyhow..go do the K-Z00 crit its safe..just dont forget your social security number...
Sunday, July 1
Great Lakes Classic Road Race - Ottawa County (Road Race, not the TT)
Hey....another road race..wow...
Sunday, July 15
Corktown Criterium - Detroit
Interesting thing about this race is the course isnt much less deadly than the Aces crit ..hell the pavement is shittier, cobbles and broken concrete hopefully they have Sram/Zipp there handing out wheels...its like the Mad Anthony of the road scene..the romance of going back down to Motown...i get it..and im on board..i also get why its on schedule this month but id be happier if it was one Labor Day weekend to piggy back of the Erie st race in Windsor
Sunday, July 22
Vuelta a Puerto Sheldon - Port Sheldon
what? two years ago you couldnt find a road race in Michigan, now we got dotted em all over the calendar....
Sunday, August 18
Strade Bianche Road Race - Ottawa County
seems weird..when most states and the scene as well years back concentrated there road races in the early spring and then have a summer of hearty crits, now a days the Michiganscene fills its summer full of road races and crits in the spring...seems odd...Maybe ist cuz we got all the gravel shit in spring? with the exception of a few people by mid summer most folks still are not pumpin out big miles for road races
Sunday, August 26
Debaets-Devos Criterium - Auburn Hills
the ever popular end of bummer Debaets-Devos Criterium...well attended even though it should go back to labor day in my opinion...
- Overall not a bad mix..with other races dabbed in the middle its solid...i guess..I do have one gripe and its a good one...
- why no Gaslight?..this arguably one of the longest standing best attended crits in the scene and it gets left off? dumb move in my opinion...
- No Zeeleand??? Michigan only twilight crit and the smartest run event in the state, they keep it simple no master racing just cats.
- No real Time Trials nice..good thing you spent all your money on that track bike instead of that Time trial rig you were eyein..you wanna race that shit better learn to swin and run....
- Im also surprised there is not Waterford worlds triple pointer tossed in there just keep that contingent happy might been a good idea..
- i do like they kept most of the races on Sundays much like the cross schedule that takes in no account bike shop guys and regular workin folks sometimes have to do a Saturday...This series is all around normal humans props...but in the next breathe it almost seems like the series was built around a certain type or cough cough group of riders..
- In all T honesty....The MBRA is not treating racers like what they actually are..customers...paying for something..and when you pay for something you should get the best product or service in return..period...instead of cashing in on mediocre races...many of which conflict other races...
- Not a huge fan of series anymore seems more like a 90's or a Y2K thing...I almost think lets just shut the fuck up and race our bikes save the overall grip for payouts spread evenly and uni formally across all category's
I dunno there is a reason why dinosaurs went extinct i suppose...
Love ya all the same
5 comments:
Customers! Ya right. You like that open source, maker fair assembled smart phone they have down at the Apple Store? You know the 6 pound one in the metal and wood case with the 12-key number pad on it? … Oh, you don't like that. Too bad. You get what you pay for. When bike racers start paying a commercial price for events (like Ironman charges) you can start calling yourself a customer. And the MBRA has about as much control over the race schedule as cat herder. The race schedule is like making kid art with macaroni and beans - just pick up what's there and make the best out of it. You want class and refinement, go visit a museum. T knows racing a bike. T is clueless about how races happen.
surprisingly enough T did not write this post entirely..your anon peers did.
2:44
Are you the same person that commented so cheerfully defending Waterloo G&G's price vs payout structure? You sound similar. If so and you actually have some affiliation with the event it's disappointing, as again the expectation is that you either pay a lot of money or deserve shit. There are events on the calendar that don't cost a ton and are quality, I get you couldn't hack it or figure out their magic formula, but it is a thing(Zeeland crit is $35 and a good experience for racers and the community). Now as far as the MBRA series is concerned, MBRA is a business, a non profit, but still a business as an arm of USAC. MBRA/USAC must collect money to exist, that money comes from races and racers, which would make these two groups their customers. If they don't put out a good product racers leave and races can't exist without racers so everyone loses. In the case of this series there is a huge reliance on races that traditionally get almost no attendance and have provided racers with an experience that is less than the best, which means our featured races are a poor example of the quality of the events we do have left. This is either because of some sort of sponsorship by someone involved or apathy. In the case of MBRA you can't look at the series as the only product and putting out a bad series devalues everything else you do. I'm not saying these races shouldn't exist, I'm saying wait for them to be a polished race that is well attended before adding them to the schedule. MBRA has also made some strides recently with a bigger social media and email push that could actually help, but it won't be over night. Joe L understood, you can't tell me he wasn't marketing the series, racing, and cycling like a product to everyone that paid attention to him and MBRA during his reign. Passion goes a long way in creating a good product(you probably hate that I called it a product). It also isn't a bad thing for cycling to survive through events that are pet projects or put on by clubs that don't need to take home money, it's how it used to be when USAC racing was growing instead of shrinking. If some people make money off it great, but you can't be a dick simply because you couldn't. If you read this blog you probably are passionate about bike racing locally and you also aren't making a living off of bike racing so why insist things should suck? T's at least opening up an honest dialogue on this, I had to go to the MBRA site just to find out who was in charge and even then there is never the honest discussion you can get here. Now get out and race.
AMEN
Well said. It was probably some douche racing on a disc wheel...
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