Tuesday, April 30, 2019




This conversation for most people is simply an extension of them at races. You have the fast guys complaining they have to earn upgrades, guys that probably never get paid complaining other people get paid, and everyone whining that there isn't a fix. I wish for once this would create a meaningful conversation with results. You can have a payout in fields and still have races make money, it happens at races all the time. Races shouldn't have to have significant payout to exist, that also holds true. Road racing can never be as popular as gravel racing unless the "I'm a winner" mentality changes. In gravel there isn't only one pack and the longer the race goes the smaller each group is so everyone gets a warm fuzzy feeling from doing their best. This phenomenon is why the super long distance stuff is popular if the suffering is part of the distance and not the speed everyone that finishes gets to feel like a winner even if they aren't competitive. Different strokes for different folks.

In the mean time the weekday race model and races like Zeeland should be embraced if you are going to have fewer people show up but they are competitively minded set up 3-5 classes to race and run them all together. You could race all of your main money making groups in A, B, C format with additional races or scored categories for women and a 35+/45+ masters field. This would allow bigger fields with shorter schedules, fewer expenses, and a better overall experience. On the subject of masters racing, cycling needs it for the income it provides. You can bash 35+ year old guys that love racing and try hard but aren't on the pro path all you want, but if they serve enough of a purpose to a team or shop to get the bro deal and then show up to races and pay an entry fee(usually in bigger numbers than the wannabe pros) their money is worth taking in exchange for an event that keeps them around. In general racing bikes is a pretty harmless hobby and can be very fun and healthy the idea that only certain people should get to pay an entry will kill the sport quicker than a lack of payout.

If I was MBRA I would work to foster a pared down race day format, work with local clubs to find car tracks, office parks, or easy and affordable race venues, and to build a "race in a box". If every MBRA race had the same schedule in terms of race order and time, the same payout(if your race can payout more advertise and give out the extra money in primes), the same timing company(start their own or partner with an established one), and races held a season long number within their category it would certainly help to make everything smoother. No one can predict when or if the competitive bike racing bug will start to bite large numbers of people again, but until then hopefully some people step up or stay in the game long enough to keep it alive even if it is on life support.








Monday, April 29, 2019



Your not gonna like what George has to say come Wednesday Night...

The importance of good shoes




Sunday, April 28, 2019



Nice planning 
two races on the same day...

Rust Shaker draws crickets and 3 riders for the Elite race
Yankee Springs is...

Tell me again why the scene is hurting...

No 31 on the BadAss list







The importance of good shoes








There’s a chance that you’re immortal but you’re just don’t know it yet

Saturday, April 27, 2019

The Way we were



Eric Jellum
Stoney Creek CX state championship
2005
after a fierce battle with Walker for the State title 

Friday, April 26, 2019





1.volunteers
2.cost
3.trend
4.age of participants
5.venues
6.romance
7.society
8.return on investment
9.time
10.risk factor
11.social media
12.us
13.reputation
14.stress
15.commitment



the reason why road racing is dying.
think about it

explained next week..


TGIF
TGIF
TGIF
TGIF
TGIF
TGIF
TGIF
TGIF

Thursday, April 25, 2019

State Of The State




I don't know how many people follow sceners and ex sceners on Twitter, but it seems like road cycling is happier to fight itself than fight back. I'm not saying Jamie Smith is always in the right and his take on fixing pro cycling is either wildly pessimistic or optimistic depending on how you look at it, but for guys like Jack Mccann and Chris Uberti to come out swinging because he wanted people to "push" cycling coverage on social media is bonkers. My favorite comments were about how sometimes it seems like paying an entry fee and being fit enough to race isn't enough or how much should they be expected to do in addition to traveling in a van to races for $600 a month. I guess what confuses me is first NO ONE is making you do those things, one of you is literally a rocket scientist that is certainly smart enough to know about opportunity costs and should be able to take responsibility for the decisions you make. Companies understand opportunity costs and ROI and if you aren't doing a good enough job of getting their name out in a public way you shouldn't expect any paycheck let alone one big enough for you to live the high life on.



 Ignoring the ridiculousness of that squabble and how entitled it made bike racers sound I think the takeaway is that bike racers are responsible for the future of actual bike racing. If you are happy with charity rides and fondos instead of crits and road races, by all means train to be super fast, maybe even get paid to ride your bike. If you aren't putting on races, actually helping on race day, promoting the events you go to and treating it like something you want to grow don't whine about payouts, the race schedule, or how the sport is shrinking. As of this year some of Michigan's most "elite" road teams no longer promote a USAC road event because they found an easier option, haven't for many years, or in some cases simply have never put on a USAC race. That doesn't prevent their riders from expressing a desire for more and better events while the very clubs they ride for don't do anything to fix it. I understand putting on a race is hard, finding sponsors is hard, finding volunteers is somehow incredibly hard, but if everyone that wanted to race simply forfeit one day of racing to put on a race we would have a much healthier scene.






 Let's focus on something for a second -


 this blog is called "The MICHIGAN Scene" so let's focus on solely just Michigan for this. So far in 2019 - Race for Wishes, BTR, Zeeland and Corktown have been cancelled. Mostly due to participation, funding and volunteers... yet we have grown men crying and bitching about Cherry Roubaix being a "mass start" event. I see this as 1 of 2 things. Either people are upset about the state championship being ran with other categories (although it won't matter once you hit that first big climb let alone the other 6-7 of them) or people are upset that the course is Cherry Roubaix... means you will have to actually get off the couch to train - no bunch sprint for this one In recent years we have seen Frankenmuth, Cone Azalia, Mt. Pleasant, Brickyard, I am probably forgetting a few go away from the scene as well. There are still decent regional events but most sceners don't travel outside of Michigan (death crit doesn't count) Someone made a comment above about how road cycling would rather fight itself than fight back and this has never been more true. It is very apparent on this blog. People would rather anonymously bash other riders than do something to change the culture of this sport. I for one am super competitive, sometimes too competitive but at the end of the day I just enjoy riding my bike. This scene has a lot of super awesome humans and I enjoy riding bikes with them as well. It makes me a little sad that 4 races I normally do every year have now been removed from my calendar. Putting on road races is especially hard compared to gravel and mtb. We have to close down roads, sometimes cities to put on these races. We require way more licensed officials (which we are super short on right now) to run these events, lead and follow cars, etc, etc. Not saying running gravel, cx or mtb events isn't hard. They have their own levels of difficulty and stress but road takes the cake. So... let's do something about this. Let's put our heads together and instead of fighting and bashing others, let's figure out how to make Michigan road cycling great again. Let's step up and create change. If we don't do something about this then please, let's stop bitching about everything and just accept what we have. Open to ideas and suggestions as long as they are positive.













The State of the State at 8:08

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Tuesday, April 23, 2019





C'mon Road Cycling, get up!

 Fight back!



Folks, maybe we should talk soon...

Monday, April 22, 2019

The importance of good shoes




Sometimes you win. Some times you lose


Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words; Be 
careful of your words, for your words become your deeds; Be careful of 
your deeds, for your deeds become your habits; Be careful of your 
habits; for your habits become your character; Be careful of your 
character, for your character becomes your destiny.

Sunday, April 21, 2019

The Way we were



Highlander enjoying the final stretch of the Westbranch road race 
circa 2012

Be cool

we are here for a special purpose nerds