The simple contingent from last cyclocross national championship
Monday, December 13, 2021
Good Morning to the few that can get this wave length
Strange days indeed, not much happening in around these parts, I’m sure some of you people are either high stepping snow, sloggin through mushy ground, or trying to keep the tent stakes down after a weekend of Mother Nature having a bipolar moment. So if your getting this, boy I know this goes against, “ it was better back in the day” TMS way of thinking, but I’m pretty happy, happy that the actual number of you folks went to the Windy City to experience the best of USA cycling could offer in the form of cyclocross. I know enough to understand why some choose not go, and while others, if coined the Term TMS calls...seek the truth...you might not get the warm rub on the shoulder from Henry, Lemmy or even that guy called Fonzie, but by golly I’m giving it to you. Nice job. Way to let the wrest of the country the state of Michigan isn’t just full of gun toting, beer swilling Bambi killers.
Have a beautiful day
Regards Tripper
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Saturday, December 11, 2021
Friday, December 10, 2021
1. Alma GP or the Springfield Oaks UCI? Boy tough call but I got to give the nod to Uncle Bobby and the Tailwind crew on this one despite not having social media, and lack of cool swag, those folks pulled off a great race, never has there been soo much wattage in one place as it was in Davisburg those few years. JB carried the torch and did it with style that will be missed..
2. Sara Williams vs Queen Anne, bright kit, and flashy bike adorned by kitty ears, would never be enough to stop the queen! Sara has a cool style but, when Anne got rolling she rarely stopped, soo much so she would race race the Masters men for competition, not bad for a gal that saw the best side of 30!
3,Bikes that stop! Hands down! you could not offer me free entry fee for the entire season to ride a rim brake bike of the days of yore. No way!
4. The Pony Vs Burke, Holy booger picking Moron! Bring the Pony back from national championship form and plop him next to A few years ago Burke and that would be a race, right course, right conditions, right form. I’m not even gonna call it. But there’s a reason why Burke is still around!
5. Masters of 2004 Vs Masters of 2021...Not to through the back in the day gang under the bus. But i think on a good all show up day the Masters squad of current crop, would leather pretty much everyone from the days of yore.
6. Tire technology of 2004 vs today’s treads, tubular tires, to clinchers, the current crop of treads to today far out number the choices of the old days, It’s laughable to imagine trying to wrestle one of those Tufo tubular clinchers on a box section Mavic, when folks grimace at the thought of seating a Tire of a tubeless rim, I’d love to hand them one of the before mentioned...
7. Gotta give the AAVC huge props for growing that junior program, because the only thing we had back in the day was lil Gooch and a few other Masters racers kids willing to suffocate for a Sunday. Hopefully the scene gets healthy for those kids to bloom further.
8. Michigan CX 2006 Vs Ohio CX today...well back in early Y2K Michigan was on the forefront, a series, a UCI event, hell even the Black Ace lived in Miscene, (sorta) just reap the benefits of a healthy racing lifestyle, but then things fell apart Ohio took note, and the OVCX series happened, and the Ohio folks sent the Michigan boys home to there respected mothers to dry out and seek suitable employment. But as of 2021 it looks like Ohio got hit with the same sickness as the scene as it’s series limped miserably into December with fewer and fewer races, and questionable turnouts.
9. National Championship Miscene Attendees 2006 Vs 2021, not sure what it means when folks would of rather traveled 8-9 hours away for a National championship back 2006, rather maybe the 4.5 hour drive to this years, got to believe the Miscene representation is probably close to the same as the old days. But still its in our back yard, and so few took the full advantage of it.
10. Awards 2013 Vs 2021. Alma aside..Do they still give out awards, hard to tell as the promoters can not even post results in a timely fashion, pathetic.
.
11, The Michiganscene 2012 Vs The Michiganscene 2021, speaking of pathetic, TMS can not even supply enough riders for TMS to do even a properly composed pre-season, or a semi decent Power rankings. Its soo bad I think T wont even answer his texts from TMS anymore
12. Kisscross 2011 Vs Kisscross 2021. We used kind of poke fun that the Kisscross as being a lesser promoted events, But whos laughing now, at least Kisscross has stayed true to there roots and kept an even playing field for the past 10 plus years, but they too unfortunately were not immune to the virus lack of interest took a few hits on the chin this fall, having to cancel events in not a good sign.
13. The Elite field 2011 Vs The Elite field 2021..is it even a question? did Burke even have to warm up a few weeks, or did just pull the old Paul Martin get out of the car head to the line and ride around with his mouth closed? Like holy hell! 3 riders. i dunno maybe next year will be different, but I gotta think the coffin can only handle a few more nails
14. Entry fee cost 2012 Vs Entry fee cost 2021..At least back in the day you had the option of a price break for registering for the entire series! oops there wasn't one of those, so comparing single races, to single races, its probably a break even. But then there is always the awards or lack of..
15. Race announcer 2012 Vs Race announcer 2021. The no announcer is just a plain boner kill, i mean create a vibe, something fun, Put Icky Thump on repeat or something for crying out loud...the current vibe is a setback to the days of of no fun..I’d give my left nut to hear Robert throw out a few tracks from Hootie , or Our Lady peace
Thursday, December 09, 2021
“Everyone’s going to get paid,"
Olivia Ray posed with an enormous fake check on the Lion’s Den podium, $15,000 scrawled across its face. The Rally Cycling sprinter had just topped Legion’s Kendall Ryan and Amy Pieters of SD Worx to win Legion’s inaugural event, a high-speed, high-hype criterium in downtown Sacramento, California. The date in the check’s top right corner read 10/30/2021.
The race had a $100,000 prize purse, split evenly between invite-only men’s and women’s fields. The men’s teams raced in custom jerseys with their names and a number on the back and raced for a city, not a sponsor. The women’s field had stars like Pieters, who rides for one of the best teams in the world, lining up against Legion’s squad and other top US domestic teams like Rally.
“This is what we think crit racing can be,” Justin Williams, Legion’s founder and figurehead, said of the race back in August.
On Tuesday, Ray took to Twitter to make the lack of payment public. She posted that she was “still waiting” for the money. It kicked off a minor storm within the crit racing scene, bleeding out into the broader cycling consciousness primarily via a collection of meme accounts on Instagram.
Accusations flew. First at Legion for not paying up, particularly after touting the huge purse so widely. Legion riders responded, posting photos of race winnings they themselves had received after extensive delay. Ty Magner, another Legion rider, weighed in. “If you don’t like waiting a month for prize money, I suggest you don’t win any prize money in Europe,” he wrote. “The ‘Uci prize money management’ loves to sit on a years [sic] worth of winnings.”
In a quickly deleted Instagram story, Legion’s Tyler Williams wrote “Let them race for gift cards from now on.”
Then Ray recanted, posting an apology on Wednesday. The ire in the comments section turned toward “bullies” who had forced her to apologize, pointing the finger, without any evidence, directly at SRAM, a sponsor of Into the Lion’s Den and the component brand used by Ray’s own team, Rally Cycling. Her statement, posted on Twitter and Instagram, described her original post as “uncalled for” and went on to say, “I am deeply, deeply sorry for damaging the name of not only the @in2thelionsden event but also heavily disheartened by the backlash it has caused @l39ionla, a team I have the utmost respect for.”
Rally issued a short statement:
“We support Olivia’s decision to not comment any further.”
Wrapped around a dispute over late payment is distrust bordering on contempt of Legion that has been building within the American criterium scene for the last year. It’s a sentiment Legion founder Justin Williams has tied to racism, implicit and explicit, while others point to Legion’s perceived hand in the downfall of the USA Crits series, among other episodes, as cause for suspicion.
Justin Williams: “Everyone’s going to get paid”
To clear up one big question right off the bat: every racer who won money at Into the Lion’s Den will get paid, according to Justin Williams.
“Everyone’s going to get paid,
The core of the problem was a simple cashflow issue, brought on by the somewhat rushed nature of the event itself and sponsor payments that didn’t arrive until around Thanksgiving, with some money still yet to arrive.
“I’m not going to throw our partners under the bus,” said Williams. “This year was kind of a trial run, we got funding for it late. Well, not late, but we only had like three months to get the event together. All of the money was coming in, we got the green light for a big chunk of the money, but we still had to go to other people to make it happen.
“Everyone’s going to get paid,
everyone knows the process,” he added. “I just got a check from Joe Martin [another US race – ed.], that was like 100 days ago. There’s a process in this sport. I never asked them for my money.”
Pointing to the payment timelines of other events has thus far been Legion’s primary means of defence. And Williams, both Justin and Tyler (no relation) as well as Ty Magner, are all correct that race payments in pro cycling are often delayed weeks, if not months. Payouts for major European races can take a year or more. “I’m still waiting on a payment from 2019,” former WorldTour pro Pete Stetina chimed in.
Best practice for big American crits is to take tax information from winning riders immediately and make payment schedules clear in the tech guide. Neither occurred, and Williams acknowledged a ball had been dropped. “If we do this again, we’ll make sure all managers sign W9s [tax forms] at the race. That’s all growing pains,” he said.
That wouldn’t solve the cashflow problems or payments that came in too late from sponsors. But communication from Legion to the relevant parties – riders like Ray – regarding payment timelines would likely have prevented this entire episode. That’s a fact Williams also acknowledges.
The Legion backlash
As noted, Legion has found itself in the middle of a number of crit-related controversies in recent months. It helped kick off (along with other teams like LA Sweat) the downfall of USA Crits’ Scott Morris, who had received a Safesport ban this fall. That ban, according to an interview with VeloNews, was related to child pornography charges dating back to 2008. Those charges were abandoned, but USA Crits’ reaction to the Safesport ban and a perceived cover-up led both teams and races to remove themselves from the series. Within 10 days, USA Crits went from being the marquee criterium circuit in America to total collapse.
That collapse hurt American crit teams, though none I’ve spoken to is willing to be quoted saying as much, wary of appearing to defend Morris in any way. USA Crits provided the backbone of these teams’ seasons and the live video coverage the series provided was used to bring on sponsors. One team expressed concern that it would lose a $20,000 deal – big money in the crit scene – due to the lack of a cohesive series.
Those concerns led to the creation of a new team group, the National Association of Cycling Teams (NACT), which is working with USA Cycling to attempt to pull together a replacement for USA Crits. Legion is conspicuously absent from NACT. They were the only major team not to join the new organization, and Legion says they were not invited to participate. Update: NACT disputes this, and CyclingTips has seen screenshots indicating Legion was contacted.
The undercurrent is that Legion is the only major American racing team that already runs its own race, Into the Lion’s Den, and has plans for more. That would make it a direct competitor to USA Crits. The team is also rich by American standards, with a budget many times larger than its nearest competitor and funding that is not based on appearances in the USA Crits series. Legion never really got on with USA Crits, even forgoing the series’ leader jersey on a few occasions in favor of its own kit. Legion was also among the first teams to raise the red flag over Morris. Given its plans around running its own events, Legion is unique in that it stands to gain from USA Crits’ demise while every other American crit team will almost certainly lose.
Then there’s racism. Williams points to what he says is a double standard as proof that his team, founded and run by a Black man, is not treated as other teams are.
“The standard always seems to be different when it comes to us,” Williams said. “What’s really disappointing is that because this sport has no diversity in it, everyone thinks this shit is normal. It’s not normal for us to be attacked for generating an event that had the highest prize purse in a very long time.
“Even if they don’t want to see us fail, they’re feeding this kind of frenzy that blows things out of proportion,” he said.
The backlash against Into the Lion’s Den began even before the race occurred. The talk of changing crit racing forever, and defining what the discipline should be going forward, didn’t land well with some within the crit community.
Likewise, the hype built around the prize purse prior to the race made the delay in payment a memeable offence. Legion touted their race as one of the richest in American criterium history. Riders extended seasons into late October for a shot at the cash. Big money failing to show up is a bigger deal than little money failing to show up.
The race was invite-only, and riders from some major teams were conspicuously not on the list. These were riders who had run-ins with Legion throughout the season and one source indicated that a “lack of respect” led to the lack of an invite.
The result, though, was accusations that Legion had tailored the big-money race so that it would take home all its own cash. Legion fielded two squads in the men’s race and finished first and third with Justin and his brother Cory Williams and second in the women’s race with Kendall Ryan.
Williams is unapologetic in his pursuit of that vision. “We’re giving everything we can back to the sport, we’re leveraging our partnerships, and people continually throw us under the bus,” he said. “The cyclists that are our peers don’t understand the hatred that we deal with.
“It makes me not want to do this anymore,” Williams said, near the end of our phone call. It’s the first time I’ve heard him utter anything along those lines.
Failures and lessons and truths
It is possible for a number of things to be true simultaneously. It is true that payments from races are often delayed, both in the US and at much larger races in Europe. It is true that this isn’t a reality the sport should happily accept, but has for a very long time.
It is true that Legion didn’t follow some best practice regarding payouts. It is true that they simply didn’t, and possibly still don’t, have the cash. It also appears to be true, based on our reporting, that funds are coming and that riders will be paid what they’re owed.
It is true, though not necessarily right, that publicly calling out a race for late payment, when that race’s sponsors are also your own sponsors, is likely to invite blowback on a professional rider. It is unclear whether anyone forced Olivia Ray into apologizing, and she is not commenting further to clarify. Williams said he reached out to her, “and said, ‘hey, let’s talk.’” As of publishing, the two hadn’t yet spoken.
It is true that late-paying races with poor communication deserve some condemnation.
But here’s what’s also true: If it wasn’t Legion in this series of events, and it was any other team instead, this story almost certainly doesn’t swirl its way into an internet shitstorm like it has. The devil, as always, is in the details.
Marty Nothstein, a two-time Olympic medalist on the track in the men’s sprint, was arrested on Tuesday at about 10:00 p.m. EST and charged with stalking a woman with whom he had a six-year affair.
Nothstein, 50, was released on $25,000 unsecured bail, pending a preliminary hearing in front of Lehigh County district judge Michael Faulkner, at 1 p.m. on December 28, 2021, according to the district attorney’s office and court records.
According to the local district attorney’s office, Nothstein was charged with criminal trespass (a third-degree felony), two counts of stalking (a first-degree misdemeanor), and a single count of defiant trespass (a third-degree misdemeanor).
The criminal complaint with the allegations against Nothstein had been sealed until he was in custody.
One victim was reported to be a “female acquaintance” of Nothstein; the other victim is a male who is reported to be in a relationship with her.
Nothstein had been in a six-year affair with the female victim, the Allentown Morning Call reported.
“The Affidavit of Probable Cause details incidents which occurred between December 2020 and November 2021, which it is alleged to constitute an ongoing pattern of stalking of both victims, harassment, and damage to personal property,” a news release from the DA’s office
In March, an unknown person attempted to gain entry into the female victim’s Apple account, through a computer at her home. Forensic investigation of Nothstein’s phones were in the vicinity of the female victim’s residence when this occurred.
The criminal complaint against Nothstein also includes that the male victim received an anonymous letter that contained the language, “you don’t want to go down this path,” and “you have been warned.”
During the investigation, the female victim wore concealed audio and video recording devices, and a male identified as Nothstein said, “I wrote every letter there is. I (expletive) smashed windows. I, you name it, I did it,”
According to the court record, Nothstein’s black Ford F-150 Raptor pickup truck had been reported near the victims’ homes between July and September, and the female victim received numerous calls, 22 voicemails, and also text messages.
A recorded phone conversation between the female victim and Nothstein included the admission by Nothstein that he was responsible for the breaking and entering, threatening letters, and other harassment.
“You name it, I did it,” Nothstein allegedly said. “I always wanted you. I made a commitment to you.”
Nothstein won a gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games. He is also a three-time world champion on the track; twice in the sprint and once in the Keirin.
Nothstein attempted a local political career, based on his name recognition from racing in the Olympics and managing the Valley Preferred Cycling Center (“The Velodrome”).
He served as a Lehigh County commissioner and made an unsuccessful attempt at becoming the nominee for the 2018 United States House of Representatives for Pennsylvania’s 7th congressional district, and Pennsylvania’s 15th district, in a special election.
He was fired from the executive director position at “The Velodrome” in 2018 as a result of allegations of sexual misconduct.
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