Cyclocross Worlds - Forum Archive

Feb 02, 2013 at 04:43 AM

WilliamDC said:

^lolololol match made in heaven!

Worlds' Broadcast Schedule

also, regarding Superbowl, here's what my woman had to say about it:

"This is great. I just googled "superbowl 2013" and am pleased to inform you all that the 49ers and Destiny's Children will be performing. I collected all the 49ers pogs back when I was young, so I think I'd like to watch it."

Thierry Bonnaire

Feb 02, 2013 at 04:56 PM

Vos again..

alyoshas

Feb 02, 2013 at 07:42 PM

Aller les bleus!!!

Jules

Feb 02, 2013 at 09:53 PM

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04R3W-eGZSI&feature=youtu.be

WilliamDC

Feb 02, 2013 at 10:31 PM

DELICIOUS!!!!

I can hear the alcohol!

Marc Bertucco

Feb 03, 2013 at 01:10 AM

Hey guys...I want stories, lots and lots of stories. You are forbidden from writing anything else, until you lavish stories upon those of us stuck in NYC.

Jules

Feb 03, 2013 at 01:27 AM

Sad frog. Check twitter. That is all.

eragot

Feb 03, 2013 at 01:36 AM

@Marc. The beer was really hard to get, but when we did we had extra and people were all over its paying through the nose to buy it. Of , I was walking the course with a 12 pack in my hand.

Logan couldn't close the gap. Got 4th.
Compton didn't accelerate when vos did, chased to 2nd.
MacDonald was nowhere to be found. Then we got back inn line for beer.
The NYC readers were awesome to seer, but cleanly . Heckle, yell, drink, wait, pee.

The whole thing is, watching is better than being there for knowing what the hell happened, but Cecil and three Speedo don't make the video feed. We'll tell you about those in a ride.

Oh, Jeremy powers sucked. Page had a horrible mechanical right in front of us. Jp prognostications were correct.

Trebon was totally cool to talk to in our hotel. He's not that much bigger than I am I could take him...

Super fun. 2015 in tabor anyone?

Jules

Feb 03, 2013 at 03:34 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL3oXSTWQTY

Marc Bertucco

Feb 04, 2013 at 01:17 AM

Hey, not for nothing, but I was just wondering...

Did any of you beer drinking, airplane flying dudes even consider Master's Worlds?

eragot

Feb 04, 2013 at 01:29 AM

Can't do Masters Worlds with my schedule. I considered it, but it's not possible.

mperlberg

Feb 04, 2013 at 01:30 AM

This is the wall that was built to hold back the flood waters. Pretty impressive. Today the whole lower section of the course was flooded.

IMG_2451.JPG

Jules

Feb 04, 2013 at 03:14 AM

Some shots of the boys...

Feb 04, 2013 at 03:38 AM

Just started a batch upload to flickr. Enjoy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/92879490@N04/

mperlberg

Feb 04, 2013 at 11:46 AM

OK Marc, FYI, this report is pretty much all going to be about drinking.

Here is Cyclocross world's report part one.

I got to my lunch break Friday to find a flurry of emails and text messages to inform me that the Sunday races had been canceled and that everyone was changing their flights to come back Sunday. After an hour on the phone with delta, I made the switch ($212 change fee haggled down to $50) and was off to LGA for our flight.

Derek, Jeff White, Hubbard Ragot and I met up in the hip new Delta terminal. A sign of things to come, beers began to flow from the swank delta iPad ordering system. We then went to the terminal market and stuffed our bags full of beers and got on to our flight after a short delay.

The flight was delayed, but the gave us more time to booze it up. I can't remember much of the flight because I took a nice nap, but there were other fans on board getting ready for the weekend. I did spend some time making fun of Mitch Jacaruso (who was at dinner with Jules a flight ahead of us) and his insane cross posse kit only to be interrupted by the guy behind us with "Hey man, I'm on that team..."

To be continued.

mperlberg

Feb 04, 2013 at 12:30 PM

After checking in to the host hotel (complete with frosted glass UCI world championship signs on the doors) we headed out to the bar that was packed with CX fans, regional race promoters, and industry reps.

Oh yeah, it was freezing. We attempted to free some city bike share cruisers from their stands for a 1am downtown crit but were unsuccessful.

the next morning we ate the buffet breakfast at the host hotel. Bike racing fans would have been a bit starstruck to see some of the best racers in the world walking around the hotel getting in final preparation before the race. I was lucky enough to sit next to pat mcquaid, i did cycling fans worldwide a favor by crop dusting him with some toxic pre-morning shit gas.

Next we joined up with keith and stuffed 6 grown men into a Toyota yaris. Media parking!

tito

Feb 04, 2013 at 05:59 PM

I like this one - Whitey looking unimpressed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/92879490@N04/8442707067/in/photostream/

Jules

Feb 04, 2013 at 06:04 PM

I like this one - Whitey looking unimpressed.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/92879490@N04/8442707067/in/photostream/

He's blowing kisses to Canadian Mike

Jules

Feb 04, 2013 at 06:06 PM

http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/92879490@N04/8443804948/

This guy was the Emperor of Unimpressedlandia

mperlberg

Feb 04, 2013 at 07:21 PM

OK, here is the good part: the racing and boozing.

- We got to the venue and were inside pretty swiftly. The crowd looked impressive (turned out to be 10,000 - way above their 4,000 person estimate).

The U19 riders were on the course with a fresh coat of snow. Some really solid bike handlers in there, and we cheered hard for young America (Logan Owen) who just missed the podium. Apparently, he had problems on the first and last laps, kinda a bummer. The snow made the course slippery in section and fast in others. It was clear that if it warmed up there would be some serious mud to deal with.

We grabbed some beers and swag in between races, and then checked out the elite women's race. Vos was clearly the class of the field. She road away very early on and it was clear her 1 minute lead was insurmountable. We checked out this part of the race from the hilly sections (the limestone steps) where we could see some amazing suffer-faces on the women. American Katie Compton clawed her way to the front of the chase group and rode away for 2nd with a few laps to go. She was clearly the best of the rest, but no match for Vos. This was a great race to watch, despite the tiny field (25 riders). It is a shame more countries couldn't afford to or chose not to send real racing teams over to the states.

Now we all raced over to the beer tent. To load up before the U23 and Elite men's races.

mperlberg

Feb 04, 2013 at 07:26 PM

The beer and food situation was awful. It was the event organizers major screw up. The had basically all the beer and food in one giant tent, which was mobbed. Kids were crying for food while angry racers were clamoring for beer. Not good. We made our way to an auxiliary beer tent but they too ran out of beer. We got word a resupply truck would be there in 30 minutes so we found a place to watch the U23 racers by the pit, but close enough to run to the beer tent when the beer came.

The U23 race was pretty boring. The Dutch and the Belgians dominated, cleaning up the top 10. American Zach MacDonald (2nd at US Elite Champs) took 11th. If Americans want to be world class in CX, it has to start here. This showing was not encouraging.

Good news: beer truck arrives. We run over, buy a case of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and 3 Torpedo 4 packs. Game on.

mperlberg

Feb 04, 2013 at 07:34 PM

We staked out a great spot on the course well before the race began. The spectators did a great job representing - tons of folks screaming and chanting getting sloppy and hyped well before the start.

Bad race logistics part 2: we basically had no idea what was actually happening in the race. They had 2 jumbo screens on the course, but not in good locations. They need 5 to make this a legit event. The PA system was also not up to par - we couldn't hear any announcing. This is at one of the best viewing spots on the course.

The early laps of the race featured the French man off the front. Ballsy move, very respectable. The Beligans showed they were the dominant nation by reeling him in. Then the real race began. Again, we couldn't' really tell what was happening by it was really exciting to see them on the toughest part of the course.

I had to flee our spectating area to find somewhere to piss off camera, and then we watched near the finishing straight.

All in all - a great day. We retired to the Bourbon Bar in our hotel, and then for a night of BBQ. Yummy. We were too tired to hit the foam party, although Eric young at heart Ragot was really pushing for it.

Sunday we hopped a plane and got back in time for the super bowl.

It would have been a better weekend with racing spread between 2 days, but it was not to be.

All in all, American fans made a huge impression on the riders. The course was great. The food and spectator experience were lackluster.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

mugwump

Feb 04, 2013 at 08:21 PM

I watched the women's and men's races. With the women, the game was over about 7 minutes in. Vos was solo by the end of lap one, had 12 seconds on Compton, in seventh place. Compton crushed everyone else, but Vos still had 1:34 by the finish. Vos still looked good running up the limestone steps on the last lap, whereas Compton looked beat.

With the men, the Belgians didn't dominate the opening laps. Francis Mourey of France, Bina of Czech, and Marco Fontana of Italy rode by all the belgians on the first lap. Pretty amazing. Mourey led solo for 20 minutes, at times by 20 seconds, but the Belgians were smooth and four of them reeled him in. They basically sat on him for the next 10, before he stated to fade. Later, Nys said he knew Mourey would make mistakes and he thought Mourey would make enough that they'd reel him in without too much effort. Niels Albert was on a bad day and couldn't hang on, Kevin Pauwels looked good, but his chain got stuck at a terrible time, and then it left Nys and Vantornout. Each tested the other a little, but it seemed to be Nys' race to lose, and then Vantornout caught his pedal on a barrier. And that gave Nys the race. on the podium Vantornout looked like his mother had just died. Wellens had a crappy start so he did well to finish fourth.

Jules

Feb 04, 2013 at 09:16 PM

Additional logistics fails:

no way for the riders to get to the start line!
no clear path for the pit crews to get from the start line to the pits (apparently quite a bit of drama there)

in all it was a great time; the highlight of the BBQ was either Sad Frog or the waiter - when asked if all the beer was in bottles he offered with enthusiasm that they had beer in cans too, if that was what we preferred - coors light to be specific. We wasn't in Brooklyn anymore toto...

mugwump

Feb 04, 2013 at 09:34 PM

I heard only six pressure washers and only seven minutes to go, wash, and come back. 45 starters, seven minute laps, seven bikes per washer, each bike better take less than a minute to clean.

jim_nelson

Feb 05, 2013 at 02:15 AM

Nice write up from the Australian contingent:

http://www.cyclingtips.com.au/2013/02/inside-rattrays-world-cx-championships/

Marc Bertucco

Feb 05, 2013 at 03:53 AM

@Perlberg. Perfect, that's exactly the kind of write up I was looking for! Thanks. Weak-sauce on the food/beer situation. Yeah, that ain't encouraging. My favorite events have good food-age, generally.

@Jim. Nice that we get good reviews.

I think, I finally cracked the code on EuroCrossSpeak. When they say, "technical" they basically mean muddy and sloppy and sandy and shitty. World Cup courses, without the crap Northern European weather are the ultimate "grass crits." Except that one that has 3/4 of a lap in Sand. That's a sand crit.

@Anyone who's listening. I have to say that the American crossers are blue-balling me to death here. Such high expectations and then pfffffttttttttt. Literally and figuratively.

Can someone tell Katie Compton to maybe work on her starts, so that she doesn't have to spend the first half of the race chasing the podium?

Can someone suggest to Jonathan Page that maybe putting more than a few days of training on a brand new bike with a dramatically different fork rake before the WORLD F'rigg'n CHAMPIONSHIPS might be a good idea?

Can someone suggest to Jeremy Powers...jeeesh, I don't know. I don't even have a snarktastic comment for him. Something is going on here and it ain't good. I just can't figure it out.

It's funny, with the high level of competition in the states this year, I really thought we'd have a much better showing at World's. But I was fooled. Yeah, if you want to podium in the states, you have to be really good, no doubt. But it appears that we are still very far behind the best Europeans.

Jules

Feb 05, 2013 at 01:08 PM

I think JPow is just tired. He's been going apeshit all season. And to be fair, the Belgians are really on another level. I think the "hype" about JPow having a shot at the podium was marketing. I'd say top 15 is a much more realistic (and still difficult) goal for him.

Page was taken out by his chain going into his spokes; up until then (and after) he didn't seem to have any trouble driving his bike with the best of them.

One surprise was Helen Wyman who was really nowhere.

Anyone hear if Trebon is 100% after that crash?

mugwump

Feb 05, 2013 at 02:18 PM

Helen Wyman got caught in a big crash in the first or second minute of the race. She and Georgia Gould were effectively out of the race for that.

I don't think a slow, sloggy course suited Powers, but his form has been going backwards since December.

Page had one day on his new bikes before the race. And that one day was also his first time on the course in Louisville.

Overall, the course conditions were not kind to those who made mistakes.

Jules

Feb 05, 2013 at 03:54 PM

Page was the only American and only one of 3 riders total to pre-ride the course the morning of.

The women's crash was incredible. A 15 bike sculpture of broken dreams.