Anyone going?  Working on getting down there right now.  Probably for the final two days--the road races.

JP-are you in Vegas? If so, keep an eye out. My wife and I are in.

I'm in Vegas.  I'll message you on the list.  

And worlds?  

I'm heading to worlds. Leaving Friday after work & coming back Sunday after the race. Renting a car and taking bikes so we may have room if anybody's looking for a ride but would need to know by tomorrow night, as I need to go ahead and book sedan / suv accordingly

I follow Kwiatkowski on Strava and he's been tearing up the segments in Richmond. If you check out the KOM's there, it reads like a results sheet. Terpstra and Dowsett will round out the podium.
https://www.strava.com/activities/396594900/segments/9505145803

Maybe just me but both the U23 and women's ITTs were actually fun to watch because the times to beat were set so early on.  Also it was really nice to see non-cycling focused countries being represented as well.

I put on real money (10 euros ) on Alaphillipe and Stybar,
but i think Van Avermaet may win it if we get rain , But I didnt put money on him ,because could bring myself to cheer him on

Viviana has the sprint and ability to be there at end.

Belgians look good too.

And the Dutch look good also

Rain coming down on the women's field, be interesting to see how the cobble sections play out. 

The coverage was appalling. I am afraid to say the USA does not deserve to host such events if they cannot get even the most basic attributes of TV coverage right.
The picture break-up was shocking and frequent; the helicopter shots were pointless since the bikes were mostly hidden by buildings. The detail about time gaps and other logistics was sporadic.
The host broadcasters did an absolutely dreadful job.

That aside, I quite liked the racing and I believe we have very worthy women and men world champions.

The only feed I was able to watch dropped out just as Sagan was attacking.  Cool.

@Ian Ellis The Eurosport commentators were complaining about the shit feeds. They also were talking about how the Moto's were interfering with the race by letting riders draft — same thing happened at the USA nationals, except there they towed the break back up to what looked like a race winning move. Bush league, but yeah, Sagan was sensational. 

I don't know if they did much better on the ground.  There was limited information on much of the course--no PA system, no announcers on the flat side at all.  They never had lap cards driving ahead of the bunch--though they did have a giant Tissot watch that displayed the time of day on a 24-hour digital cycle.  They didn't hand out programs explaining bike racing to anyone and start lists were only available by the finish line.  And the spectator map they handed out stated that elite men were racing from 11-6, not 9-3:30 as was on the website.

They had three or four jumbotrons on the course.  Most on the finishing straight.  One was by the last turn and in such a position that most people had to face away from the course to see it.  They had Gogulski and Schlanger doing commentary at the finish line and Towle on Libby hill.  During the Junior Mens' race, they weren't doing any announcing at the finish line, other than occasional progress reports.  

One surprising thing was that a number of companies made pop-up stores on the course. (Rapha, Giordana, SRAM, Giant/Liv, three or four others)  Since they weren't part of the official expo, the organizers made no mention of them and you wouldn't find them unless you either came upon them by accident, were tipped off, or, in Rapha's case, were regular visitors to their site.  There were also many group rides led.  These, too, were not publicized in any fashion, other than Rapha trumpeting their own.

I did the "conquer the cobbles" ride Friday night, as Ilya and Kasia did the Brompton US Championship.  Their ride started at 6:45 (was supposed to go at 6:15) from the finish line.  Mine at 7pm sharp.  Sunset was 7:04  The difference was that my ride started a few miles out of town and hit the course at the far side.  Both of these were a bit nuts, as sunset was 7:15pm.  And my ride caught and passed many of the Brompton racers.  

Good thing that only the U23 men had to contend with real rain.  The roads had lots of seams and paint, and the stones were pretty slick.  But my experience is colored by dealing with darkness, an unfamiliar course and rain all at once.  The racers actually did lots of recon laps.

Racing was excellent. I saw the race from several vantage points and watched the men's and women's finales from Libby Hill, where I got to see the approach to the hill, the start, and the first left turn, then scan out to the jumbotron.  Could only somewhat hear Towle, even though I thought his voice was supposed to be heard by all.  

I was also down in Richmond from Friday through Sunday. My brother-in-law's apartment is on the course and I went to college about an hour away.  So, going was a no-brainer.

Greg Donovan and I drove down late Thursday night.  We met up with Al Barouh (who was there rep'ing for Finish Line products) on Friday. We watched most of Friday races from my brother-in-law's fire escape.  We rode around the course for Saturday's races and part of the Men's race. Then Greg and I camped out on Libby Hill for the last few laps of the Men's race.  Al went over to the Governor's Street climb for the finale of the Men's race.  

I think everyone knows the important details, but here are a few items of note:
- The Belgians were always at the front on Libby Hill.  Boonen, in particular, was top 5 just about every lap, except of the last lap.  
-Stybar and Degenkolb attacked last time up Libby Hill, but couldn't get any separation.  Neither of them finished in the front group.
-Andre Greipel is really big. He also did a bunch of work for Degenkolb.
-I had a front row seat for the first nature break of the men's race.  Those guys were well hydrated.
- A French Junior tossed me a water bottle near the bottom of Libby Hill.  That was nice of him.   
- Richmond has great riding (I already knew this).  It is mostly flat, but, if done correctly, you can avoid cars and spend the day riding through farms and Civil War battlefields.  Then you can always do Libby Hill repeats.

Somehow, I missed JP.  But I did see Ilya and Kasia on Saturday.  I also saw Chris Shaw (former Kissena member) and his wife on Sunday.  It was nice to see everyone.  JP - you are probably lucky you couldn't hear Towle.  He was... well... the same as ever.

All-in-all I had a great time. 

Todd McLoughlin said:

- Richmond has great riding (I already knew this).  It is mostly flat, but, if done correctly, you can avoid cars and spend the day riding through farms and Civil War battlefields.  Then you can always do Libby Hill repeats.

Somehow, I missed JP.  But I did see Ilya and Kasia on Saturday.  I also saw Chris Shaw (former Kissena member) and his wife on Sunday.  It was nice to see everyone.  JP - you are probably lucky you couldn't hear Towle.  He was... well... the same as ever.

Wow, you were there?  And Donovan (the neighbor I never see)?  

Crazy.  Saw plenty of other NYers, and other friends from other places, though FB tells me I missed even more.  Even ran into the mechanic from my team at the Irish Ras back in 2002.  He's worked his way up to wrenching for the Irish national team.  

Libby Hill also showcased Richmond's wrong side of history.  A monument to confederate soldiers and sailors the top, and the smokestack and buildings of an old Lucky Strike plant at the bottom.

But the riding was nice, and the people were courteous on the road.  There was speculation that it was because cycling was still a novelty.  A guy I was hanging with lived in the mountains a good bit west of Richmond, and he figures he might be the only person in the county who rides--the folks where he lives treat him as that weird guy on the bike.  And he works for NATO.

Went to Richmond too - headed down Friday night, met up with a couple old friends that live in Richmond. My wife and I headed out with our friend Saturday morning to get in a ride but ended up just riding our bikes to different parts of the course during the junior men's race. I saw JP in Kissena gear from across the course.

My friend is a civil engineer that works in transportation, so he pointed out all the bike lanes Richmond had added in the past couple years. Cool course - looked harder than I imagined. 

We watched the elite women's race on Saturday, trying out a couple different viewing spots - got lucky with a free VIP pass for most of the women's race so watched from the top of Libby, then made our way over to the 23rd street climb to watch the last lap, where we saw Ilya & Kasia.

I witnessed Ilya motor his Brompton up 23rd street after the race was over. Very Impressive. Seriously that climb is steep.

Saturday was a lot of fun. Some thoughts:

- Great, great crowd on Libby. Every time a break came through with a US rider at the front or a US rider attacked on the big screen it was incredible. Ben King led up the climb almost every lap while he was in the break. The first time he came through, I kept thinking about how hard it would be to race conservatively, as a US rider, in a crowd like this. If you were struggling, the adrenaline boost on the hill would help push you up.

- For that matter, every time anyone came through, the crowd went nuts - stragglers,  broom wagon, police cars, etc.

- Some of my favorite moments were the riders who had done their jobs for their teams, dropped off the back and then took their time up Libby while the crowd went mad. One of the dutch riders (who motored on the front to keep the 1st break in check) came through after his job was done and kept waving his hands for the crowd to be louder. There was a German, whose job was done pulling back the Boonen/Viviani break, who pulled up to the barriers mid-way up the climb and stopped to watch Sagan win on the big screen. Phinney blew kisses to the crowd. Craddock just looked wasted on the last lap and swerved his way up the climb, to great applause.

- I had a great spot right on a low corner so it was great to watch the Dekenkolb / Stybar attack on the last lap. (pic below)

- Alex Howes had consistent good positioning the last few laps. Impressive to see such a small wiry guy bumping shoulders with the big guys.

- Crowd went nuts for the late attack from Farrar and Sagan's final attack.

- Overall probably the best bike race watching experience I've ever had. It was really something, especially for people unfamiliar with the sport. I had non-cycling friends that watched the entire race and were screaming every lap.

Forgive the iphone quality... would have been a great day for good lenses. 

The view behind my viewing spot





Around the 5th or 6th lap

King leading break up hill was the norm
Belgians on the front most of the time


Big dude

Majka & Kwiatkowski were always toward the front, as was Boonen.

Boonen led the late break up the climb

I think this was 2nd to last lap

Craddock done for the day

Last lap attack

Random Sagan shot from earlier in the race, courtesy of Karla.

Brian!  you were just down the hill (and probably several hundred people) away from me.

When Ben King got into the early move, a friend questioned why King, not Craddock was the US rider.  I figured that King seems to like the long bomb and the US team possibly figured that he could be out until late in the race where someone could springboard off of his early effort.

But seeing him still in the mix pretty much until the final hills makes me think that that team should have saved his energy for later in the race.

And Farrar's move was quite the surprise.  And that he was the stronger rider in the escape.  As he seems to have lost some of his sprint and Cavendish is joining up with him next year, he'll need to show his chops as a tactician and hardman to keep his place on the team's classics squads, or accept being the sprinter for the "b" teams.

I wonder how Fabian or Tony Martin would have fared. Bygones...

mugwump said:

Brian!  you were just down the hill (and probably several hundred people) away from me.

Ah man! I should have texted you to see where you were. The hill was packed though. I started off the day right behind the jib crane, then moved around to watch at different spots and managed to find space along the barriers for the second half of the race.

I was really impressed with King. He was in the break around 150 k at the beginning & they really never got a big lead because the Netherlands wouldn't let the gap grow, then later on he helped pull back the Kwiatkowski / Boonen / Viviani break on the 2nd to last lap.

Farrar looked good too - at one point he gapped Sitsou & waited for him while they were on that flat section along the river. I was hoping he would make it to the cobbles solo with a gap because the crowd would have gone ape-shit.

Maybe my favorite part of the race was the finger-wagging smile Boonen gave Sagan as Boonen rolled across finish line...



In my head, Boonen was Bobby DeNiro circa Analyze This / That



 And Sagan was like 'Yea I just won a bike race'

Jules said:

I wonder how Fabian or Tony Martin would have fared. Bygones...

Tony was there.  Unless you mean off the front with Farrar.

Here's my take on the "conquer the cobbles" ride of the course Friday night.

http://redkiteprayer.com/2015/09/conquer-the-cobbles/

Three cheers for 
[spoiler]
Sagaaaaaaan!
[/spoiler]
but seriously the amount of ink being spilled on the left/right hesitation that cost somebody top step is getting pretty old. #wouldacouldashoulda

Also, I LOVE the Boonen high five at the end. Class act, that guy.

Jules said:

Three cheers for 
[spoiler]
Sagaaaaaaan!
[/spoiler]
but seriously the amount of ink being spilled on the left/right hesitation that cost somebody top step is getting pretty old. #wouldacouldashoulda

Totally agree....as usual everything has to be about Cav's....  I'm glad Sagan won again...though last years win was waaay more exciting.  I'm pretty sure he would have won that Olympic MTB race last summer...yet no bitching from Sagan.  Still curious how he would have fared on the downhills in the Olympic road race...

Would of loved to see Boonen in the rainbow jersey in his last year racing 

Did Joe Walsh just win worlds???

Is that some kind of national dress?

Mike Woods full World Champs ride in Strava... with powah

How does 400 Watts for 10 minutes after 7 hours sound?

https://www.strava.com/activities/1876451168/overview

I heard an interesting comment from him ,that he feels so much more comfortable when he's standing , he says he feels it's more like running , which  is why he excels on the super steep stuff.

Also Dumoulin , Zig zagging up that climb was mental!