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World Cup CX Thread
Last Post 02/17/2022 11:19 AM by Dale Dale. 118 Replies.
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 01/29/2022 06:53 PM |
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CK, like you, I'm dumbfounded. Alabama. Politically correct. No barriers to riders of any race, gender or ethnicity.
And serious on the race - didn't watch it; just read the CN review later. Brand needed to shed Vos. A commenter on the CN review said that it would have been a better race had Brand not towed Vos for 3 laps. Read that and thought "but this is bike racing, you have to shed those who can outsprint you". Brand didn't. Yes, that course sounds like almost unpaved road fast. Brand did open a gap when she took off w/ three to go but Vos closed it running the stairs! Only CX feature and it might have kept Brand from winning.
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 01/29/2022 07:19 PM |
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Wait they moved the race to Alabama?! I thought it was the other politically incorrect A state.
Yes, Brand needs to shed competition. That’s how she wins. Didn’t work on this course. Maybe if it had been muddy. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 01/29/2022 08:26 PM |
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Posted By Orange Crush on 01/29/2022 07:19 PM
Wait they moved the race to Alabama?! I thought it was the other politically incorrect A state.
Yes, Brand needs to shed competition. That’s how she wins. Didn’t work on this course. Maybe if it had been muddy.
That would be a long drive for Dale! (Non of the A states are all that PC.)
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 01/29/2022 08:35 PM |
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Maybe if it had been muddy.
Yeah, the course raced completely differently in November for the WC race. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 01/29/2022 09:45 PM |
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Live and on the scene, the course….
You can’t get them to shed mbt from cx. Several of the turns are banked. Banked turns in CX, we’ve jumped the shark. Hard course? Yup. Technical? Nope
The Vos - Brand battle was wonderful to watch. They made it sound like Vos never took a turn at the front but that wasn’t the case. Couple of times she put in a dig to gap Brand but either Brand pulled her back or Vos let off on the gas, it looked more the former.
Harvey an Irish U-23 guy rolled a tire before the stairs and came running past with the bike shouldered and a pink latex tube sticking out the back tire. He got as loud of cheers as anyone else, in fact the entire side started chanting IRELAND IRELAND IRELAND! It was nice to see everyone getting encouragement. A Canadian went past and it was CANADA CANADA CANADA!
The spectators we all well behaved as far as I saw, happy to be there and thanking Belgian, Dutch, Irish, and anyone else obviously not from the US for coming here.
Several of the exhibitors in the expo area with stickers supporting gay rights, LGBTQ stickers, etc. as an “Up yours, Arkansas legislature” message.
The parking was 4 miles away. Shuttle busses were too few. We walked back rather than wait for a bus. Someone messaged me that it took her over two hours to get to her car. Unacceptable. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 01/30/2022 08:28 AM |
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Several of the exhibitors in the expo area with stickers supporting gay rights, LGBTQ stickers, etc. as an “Up yours, Arkansas legislature” message.
Good to hear.
The parking was 4 miles away. Shuttle busses were too few
Someone on another forum said they were parking at a Walmart / Lowes that was only ~15 min walk. Might want to check into that today as an option. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 01/30/2022 09:31 AM |
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Thanks Dale for the real story.
Good to hear that Vos wasn't sandbagging. Sounds like she was using her abilities to advantage. She's not a diesel and she's not going to out diesel Brand. But Vos in a US criterium with its dozens of accelerations? She'd do just fine!
Banked corners? Lessons from stock cars. If you aren't going insanely fast, you aren't racing.  |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 01/30/2022 10:50 AM |
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| Nys ended up having to apologize for his sideline commentary during race yesterday. He’s Brand’s coach. Some of those comments would not have been misplaced in the Alabama ehr Arkansas legislature. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 01/30/2022 11:47 AM |
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| Awesome three way battle in junior race. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 01/30/2022 02:16 PM |
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| Very entertaining U23 women race even though it was strictly an orange battle. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 01/30/2022 09:21 PM |
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| Pidcock dominated as expected. So many Belgians lined up so little result to show for it. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 01/30/2022 09:56 PM |
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The first half of the race Tom was doing a great job of marking the Belgians, but he needed to go because he was risking getting worked over…..best defense is a good offense and he proved that today in spades.
It was lights out when he went….super impressive and the best victory salute outside if Flecha. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 01/30/2022 10:55 PM |
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BTW, shout-out to the fan on the climb with the “Protect Trans Kids” signs.
Well done, whoever you were. |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 01/31/2022 10:33 PM |
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| Post-race wrap-up
The U-23 Dutch women had the team time trial down pat! They were a joy to watch.
My wife and I were at the top of the climb that was not quite mid-lap. While we couldn’t see the lap counter, Jumbotron, or hear the announcer it was evident it was last lap by the way they attacked on the way up. That and the junior men were the best races of the weekend.
We went to the official merchandise booth before the first race on Sunday. In spite of the WalMart logo on the shirt I wanted one of the t-shirts. They were out of Small, Medium, and Large, the only thing left were XL and XXL’s. I told the guy, “Well someone in purchasing certainly underestimated the demand.” To my embarrassment he said, “Yeah, that would be me.”
They really had a poor selection even if they had everything in stock. Four or five tee’s, UCI world champ jersey (anyone buying one of those should be kicked in the shin… hard) and a hat or two. It was the same as it was at Louisville. If the US every gets the WC again I’m bidding on the merchandise booth.
I finally solidified what I thought of the course—too contrived. It was like being in Las Vegas at the Venetian Hotel. Trying to replicate a classic and it came off as trying too hard. The cobblestone section was 40 or 50’ of large flat stones you could have ridden a skateboard over. The stairs were just there in the middle of nowhere, just built there to be there. Plenty of climbing, a tough course, but not technical. If it rained it would have been a greasy, unridable mess. The courses at Jingle Cross and Trek CXC are better- more technical and build into the landscape, not a landscape built to make a course.
We parked at WalMart and skipped the remote parking and four mile walk or waiting for a shuttle. An easy walk of about a mile.
Two racers dismounted on the right side of the bike. Looked pretty cool to see them dismount at the same time someone was doing the mirror image next to them.
Two U23 women had a bottle cage and bottle. A US rider near the back on an aluminum bike, and Puck Pieterse.
I explained to my wife that a field of 40 people are not the top 40 in the world, it’s like the Olympics were each country gets so many slots (how that’s determined is a mystery to me) so a country like Belgium or the Netherlands might have ten of the top riders they only get to take six. Then you get Israel and Costa Rica who get to send someone to represent only to have them get shellacked (Alvarado notwithstanding, had she been there).
A Irish kid came running past, heading for the stairs with his bike on his shoulder, tire off the back wheel, pink tube flapping. Loads of speculation going on within earshot.
“Look, his rim strip is off.”
“I thought they were all on tubeless?”
“Listen up you clowns, he rolled a tire and that’s a latex tube.”
I only thought the first part but did say the rest.
At another spot a couple of 20-something girls who had zero clue were standing next to my wife and I. Everyone was hollering at all the riders and they started in as well.
“Is that the leader?”
“Nope, last place.”
“Seriously? Won’t they think we’re making fun of them?”
“Nope, everyone here is worth cheering for.”
They seemed to have fun joining in on the atmosphere, and learning a bit about CX.
The speed the pro men went up the stairs was insane! There was short section to remount and pedal before the plunge down (20% grade). While the juniors rode to the edge and dropped off, the pro men and women rode hard and hit the drop off still stomping the pedals.
My wife said she’d like to see a typical Cat 2 or 3 on the course at the same time to get a perspective of the difference. I’ll see if I can run the different race videos to time the stair section to show where Vos, the lead U-23’s and juniors would be when Pidcock hit the start of the decent.
We were at the top of the climb during four or five of the men’s, it was like the running of the bulls the first few laps with a lead group shoulder to shoulder flying up the climb!
Speaking of flying, both days before the elite race someone put on an aerobatic show. Lots of smoke and razor-sharp execution of a bunch of patterns. Fun to watch.
Drove home listening to the KC Chief lose in overtime. Got to the house at 6:10 and by 6:30 was on the road to Minneapolis, 8 hours away for a Monday morning nine o’clock product review and presentation. I might or might not have been at my sharpest for that meeting.
That’s all for now |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 01/31/2022 11:59 PM |
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Posted By Dale Dale on 01/31/2022 10:33 PM
Post-race wrap-up
The U-23 Dutch women had the team time trial down pat! They were a joy to watch.
That and the junior men were the best races of the weekend.
I finally solidified what I thought of the course—too contrived.
The speed the pro men went up the stairs was insane!
Yup x4. Thanks for report. |
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