CCA implodes!!!!

kclw

Didn't you say the same thing before the last olympics?

It is easy to say that there will be no medals at the olympics, if you do the math we shouldn't medal.

In the mens the chances of medaling are remote. Kabush is very fast but even injury free (you know he 20 stiches in his arm at worlds) I don't think he can medal. At best he is top 7 but not top 3. Plaxton has the potential to medal a couple of years down the road but not next year.

In the womens field we have a better shot. We have one maybe two medal contenders. However,it seems that a lot women are capable of winning a world cup. Gunrita, Spitz, Furlana, Kataleva, the two Chinese(I know there is three but only two go to the olympics), and Premont can win at any time. To go out and predict a medal for a Canadian women is definately going out on a limb. But we do have a decent chance, lets say 3/7 odds.

I agree the performance at MTB worlds was dispointing on many fronts. But there where some positives.

Lets see how much you know. What where they?

Fausto Coppied

You want to claim cracking the top 20 is a positive thing when we used to be in the top 3?

As for Olympic predcitions in 2004, I said the medal count would be very low. It was.

Swimming and rowing were disasters.

Cycling came very close to being one as well.

We salavaged a few medals.

Next year cycling will not get one Olympic medal. Not one.

Swimming has completely re-vamped their program by hiring people who know swimming.

The Canadian Cycling Association has made things worse by hiring even more people who know even less about cycling and then worsening things by firing those peope who did know something about cycling.

kclw

[QUOTE=Fausto Coppied]You want to claim cracking the top 20 is a positive thing when we used to be in the top 3?

As for Olympic predcitions in 2004, I said the medal count would be very low. It was.

Swimming and rowing were disasters.

Cycling came very close to being one as well.

We salavaged a few medals.

[QUOTE]

So you don't know what the positive good news was. There was two very impressive results. That look good for the future.

Perhaps you should brush up on your knowledge before you start commenting.

Your right the our odds of medaling in cycling at the olympics are low. But you know what they better then the cycling powers of Italy, or Belgium.

Fausto Coppied

I don't care much about U23 women in the top 10 either.

Jasmineminor

M. Arzouian

Are you going to respond to my question?

How about a PLAN to revamp the CCA. Your bitching and compalining is getting monotonous!!!

holli

2003 was the last good year for canadian MTB? Well even that year the results were delivered by "old guard" in other words Green and Sydor. When the old guys quit there were no one to step up and take their place as there were no juniors moving up and other seniors were at their max already. At the moment there are Mcgrath and Kabush who have been top 30 finishers for the last 7-8 years(?) I would say that it's highly unlikely that these two will make it to top-10 in worlds or olympics. There are not many yesterdays top juniors there anymore right? Plaxton and Kindree are two but that's more or less it? So now canadian cycling is harvesting what was sowed in 1999-2003 or even earlier.

For example Switzerland is doing pretty well now and looking back couple of years give some explanation.

__________________
Pain is just weakness leaving the body.

Fausto Coppied

Oh, God, this question again! I have been answering it since 2003. If you want it done hire me and I'll do it.

OK, one more time:

originally posted Pedalmag.com
Feb 10, 2005 10:18 am Post subject:















Excellent idea.

Is there anything we can do beyond making this pulbic discusssin. Yet bet there is. Here is a whole list of things they could do. You can pick you favorites and write to Bill Kinash and the CCA Board of Directors (all addresses at CCA under "contact us" on a PDF document or write to me and I'll send all you need). Write to your provinces. Write to your newspaper and tell them how screwed up things are and ask why nobody is paying attention. Do we have to wait for a total meltdown likeat Swim Canada. Write to Pedal, Canadian Cyclist and VeloNews and ask why they are buryng their heads in the sand.

Write to this guy, he oversees what the CCA gets.:
Tom Scrimger
Director General/Directeur général
Sport Canada
Rm. 5, 16th Fl., 15 Eddy St./Pièce 5, 16e étage, 15 rue Eddy
Gatineau, QC K1A 0M5
(819) 956-8153 /Fax (819) 956-8006

Tom_Scrimger@pch.gc.ca

Here is a short list of things that was posted many times.

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 8:21 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What would I do about it? I have already outlined much of that elsewhere. I will do it again here.

1. I am ready and willing to handle the CCA's Marketing and Communications. I would have no problem working with Brett Stewart (current Interim Director General running to be the new Chief Operating Officer) and I do not think he would have a problem working with me. Having had to work under Hutsebaut is like having shared going to war together it brings people closer and creates a bond only those that were there can understand! They need only ask.

2. I would see to it that the CCA focused on domestic racing, all racing, and NOT send our best riders overseas to chase UCI points as was the case for the last ten years.

3. Short term that might mean a loss of Sport Canada funding so we would have to work to wean the CCA off the Sport Canada teat and find it corporate sponsors, in the same way Ski Canada, which used to get $5 million in sponsorship now gets $13 million. They get the same $1.2 million base from Sport Canada. The CCA now gets about $400,000 in sponsorship. How can skiing be 30 times more popular than cycling? I do not think it is more popular at all but even if it is, it surely is not 30 times more popular. The only difference is one person, Ski Canada has Ken Read (before Read they still had $4,000,000, more than the CCA). The CCA has left its Marketing Director job vacant for 21 months. How can you find sponsors if you refuse to even look? That is incompetence and negligence two stated reason for impeachment in the by-laws.

4. I would improve communications at the CCA and see to it that it trickled down to all those provincial associations who are not doing it properly. Quebec would be excluded since they regularly hold press conferences which are well attended and get good coverage.
4 a) simple thing, host a discussion forum on the CCA site to discuss future plans and get **** from people like you, instead of creating rumours and misinformation on sites like this.

5. I would work closer and more open channels to all the mainstream players in the media, picking the key reporters who like the sport and want to see it covered. This is not very difficult. There are only about a dozen key players to focus on across the country. I'm already on a first name basis with most of them.

I have spoken with the Sports Editor of The Leader Post in Regina, CCA President Bill Kinash's hometown. The Editor was not aware of Bill Kinash until I made mention of him. Twenty years of work with the Saskatchewan Cycling Association and his hometown doesn't have a clue who he is. How can you put that guy in charge of the sport nation-wide? The Editor there said "cycling is less than vibrant in SK". Sports Editors at most newspaper across the country already know who I am and respond to my calls and emails. Some have even come to post here, haven't they...

6. I would separate all Master National championships from Junior, Espoirs and Elite National Championship to focus on the young categories where development is needed if there is to be any future.
6. a) This should allow both championships to grow and make for better races for all categories. It creates another big sponsorship opportunity. It differentiates the groups and makes it easier to target the markets sponsors are looking for.

7. A well-sponsored national road series WITH NEW EVENTS would be a very high priority.
7 a) To know what well-sponsored was I would open up CCA financial statements and post them on-line, instead of keeping them a secret. The only reason to hide this information is because it is bad news and embarrassing. If the deals with Louis Garneau and Tim Hortons are poor we should know about it. It should not be hidden from us.

7 b) There should be at least one national road race in every province.

8. Cycling Tracks in downtown Montreal and Toronto would be very high priorities. Now that the CCA has this charitable foundation, I think I would use it to launch a dedicated fund aimed only at build a velodrome. I would consider the possibility of asking for a surcharge on each and every racing license in the country until there was enough money. There could be a cycling referendum on it. That’s what we did as students at McGill to build the new sports complex. For years while I attended McGill I paid into this a fund each semester like all other students to get the new field house built. I have never stepped into the place but I paid five bucks every course or every semester like everybody else until they had enough to launch the project. Some corporate donors matched the funding.

9. Sales of CCA promotional item across the country via Internet and better bike shops would be undertaken.
9 a) Create a list of "CCA-Approved Bike Shops" nation-wide to sell CCA promotional stuff and to let licensed riders get small discounts and know which shops are racing-friendly (ie they sponsor riders, teams, or events)

10. I would re-instate an Official National Criterium Championship for Juniors, Espoirs and Elite (men and women), another important marketing opportunity.

11. I would eliminate Master A and add more riders to the Elite field or find a way to incorporate them into Elite field. More riders, better show.

12 I would seek to bring back into the sport all those people with great experience and much knowledge that Pierre Hutsebaut and Brian Jolly have so pissed off that they have left or will have nothing to do with the sport. I’m thinking of guys like Mirek Mazur and others.

13. Present a full slate of qualified candidates for every position that will be open at the next CCA Annual General Meeting. Announce these candidates to the general public not just Provincial Presidents far in advance of the AGM. Have the candidates agree to work with one another on a platform that will have been presented openly and publicly and discussed beforehand with the cycling community on forums like this
13 a) Make the delegates who vote at the AGM public and accountable so their provincial constituents know what they done in their name.

That’s a good start.

If we could get rid of current CCA President Bill Kinash now by impeaching him and electing Lesley Tomlinson President, as allowed and laid out in the CCA by-laws, we would not have to suffer through another season of his mistakes and inaction. Instead of wasting three years we will have wasted only two.


Once those things were implemented I would then work on some bigger changes…

We are told the CCA has a 12-year Strategic Plan. Have you seen it? Why is it a secret as well? I can post my plan but the CCA wants to keep theirs in the dark.

Do Bill Kinash and his Board of Directors own the CCA???? Do they have shares in it?

Last time I looked it was supposed to belong to taxpayers. That being the case why hide everything from the public?

It can only be to hide what a poor job they are doing of managing it.



----------



Not many of these suggestions written three or four years ago have been done.



I would add today, Sept. 17, 2007:



1. Fire Lorraine Lafrenière (now than Kim Sebrango was fired, something I called for for months). Hire somebody with experience and understanding of the sport going in. not somebody who has to learn on the job. Hire somebody who is passionate about the sport and can communicate that passion to others. Sounds like common sense does it. It still isn’t happening, Kinash and now Pierre Blanchard continue to hire people who know nothing about the sport.

2. Move the CCA out of its disarray of crappy but very expensive ($52,000/yr.) office space in Ottawa and put it near the Forest City Velodrome. Create a complete cycling complex with tracks, mechanic shops, testing and training facilities. Leverage the $600,000 Hamilton Legacy being pissed away in $2000 payments and use it to bargain with a municipal, provincial and federal governments to match it with grants ($600,000 to a municipal $600,000 for $1.2 million to a provincial $1.2 Million for $2.4 million to match a federal $2.4 million for a total of $4.8 million). Show sponsors that were are serious about the sport. Make big plans you get big sponsors.



3. Dump the current sponsors who are undervaluing the sponsorship (i.e. Tim Horton’s and Louis Garneau). If we have to go without sponsors for a year so be it better that than to give the sport away.



4. One serious dialogue with the cycling industry in Canada. The players have big bucks. They sponsor foreign teams and do little at home.



5. Focus on bringing back road racing to downtown major metropolitan areas. That is key.



I’ll give you more but how is that for starters.

dropped

I suspect Jasmineminor simply hasn't seen your list Ed. There are many very good suggestions there, but the issue is the CCA and their inability to make positive things happen. I just finished reading LAM's book "One Gear, No Breaks" - not very complimentary for the CCA at all. Makes one wonder exactly what they see their purpose as?

kclw

Definately that was last great year for us. Chances are that will never happen again. Mountain biking is a world wide sport no single nation can or should dominate it. Even Switzerland, which is doing extremely well, did not win the top two events (mens and womens XC). Actually they didn't win a single gold out side of juniors, and the relay.

I disagree with your assement of Kabush, he did place 3rd at the world cup in Saint Anne this year. Healthy he is a top 10 riders (but not a top three).

Plaxton, Kindree and Gagne are our top male espoirs. Lots of potential in those three. With some decent coaching they could be spectacular.

For women, Emily had a very good worlds for a first year U23. (Remember the womens U23 category is relatively faster than the mens). Pendrel is also a relatively young rider who certain appears to have the potential to medal at worlds at some point.

As for Ed. You don't care about U23? What does developement mean nothing to you? A top 10 in the very competative womens U23 doesn't mean anything? Never mind that the first and last world cups where won by U23s and the top 10 at world cups is peppered with U23 riders.

Anybody with any kind of cycling knowledge know that U23 is what matters. It is just about to late to do anything about the senior riders (If you can't crack the top 10 after a couple years as a senior you never will). But a top 10 by a 19 year old U23 is something to build on.

Fausto Coppied

kclw,


I said I do not care about U23 women's MTB and I do not.


How much more can you marginalize the sport? Let's have U23 women with green eyes and over 160 cm in height who were born on Feb 29th.

You know what, nobody else, in general, cares either.


Nobody even gives a s h i t about women's cycling except for Genevieve Jeanson (and she's gone, I’ll have to look up her restaurant in AZ now that she’s single again!) and a couple others. Canada clings to it because it is the only place they get results (used to). If that is not politically correct I don't give a rat's ass.*


You people simply do not get it.

As MTB rise the sport sinks.

Cry and whine all you want.

The media and the BIG sponsor care ONLY about BIG-TIME Men's Road Racing.

Once you get that in order everything else improves.

Let that sink and so does the sport.

No, I know do not want to hear it.


TOO BAD!

*Here's a little anecdote to illustrate the difference between men's and women's cycling.

Back when I was riding I was selected to go the US Olympic Development team training camps in Colorado Spring ('85, '86 '87) for three weeks in February. I arrived after little or no riding in the winter, maybe some track since the Montreal velodrome was still there. I was coming from sea level to 6000 ft.

On some of the group rides (40 to 60 guys and some of the "A" team US Olympic women we rode from Colorado Springs to Ute Pass (9600 ft. all climbing)

I was riding in the back of the bunch and chatting with a guy from Pennsylvania (sea level, winter riding, just getting his legs back). We allowed ourselves to fall back in the line. By 3/4 of the way up, past Manitou Springs it was strung out in a line and we were still talking and telling jokes. Suddenly the first US Olympic team women's rider caught us.

We started laughing and said time to pedal bit. With a few flicks of the pedals we dropped her and caught the guys ahead.

END OF STORY.

Well, maybe not, at 46 years old, riding two times a week and 30 pounds overweigh I could race with most pro women in a crit since many of them cannot ride a straight lien or turn a corner.

Here in Binghamton last month with a few of tehm, maybe 15 girls, they had a big crash riding tempo , sort of like Lynn Bessette and that German in Athens Olympics when at the front of field chasing Sue Palmer-Komar (who was pushing an excruciatingly big gear), when Lynn Bessette should have been ready to counter attack, she crashed.

Prairie Boy

Well, maybe not, at 46 years old, riding two times a week and 30 pounds overweigh I could race with most pro women in a crit since many of them cannot ride a straight lien or turn a corner.

30 pounds overweight, ha, ha, ha! That's the funniest thing that you have written. I guess you have lost weight since posting that picture on your web site. Which either means that you are not too handy around the computer and consequently unable to update your web site, too stupid to know that you should update your web site or just confused about your weight, which one is it?

Fausto Coppied

Ahh, shit for brains has weighed in!

Prairie Boy

And the name calling is an affirmative to which, the weight, the web site?
You are entertaining and nothing more.

kclw

Ahhh. Now we get to the crux of issue. Why are you commenting about mountain biking if you think it is doesn't mean any thing?

I happen to think you are wrong. Actually, I know you are wrong.

I live in a moderate size town 80 000, our Sunday road ride has anywhere from 30 to 50 riders. The tuesday night womens MTB ride has three groups of 20 riders. Now tell me which is more popular? Oh and there is more racers in the womens ride then sunday road ride.

Your comment about womens cycling is a pretty funny. I hate to break to you buddy but this isn't the 80s any more. The good Pro women are really fast. Go ask any of the cat 1-2 guys who train with them and get dropped by them on the climbs. I remember climbing Mt. Washington with Erin Willock a couple of year ago on a pac sport ride, only 2 or 3 guys finished in front of her.

Do you know what a watt is? Let me explain in modern cycling they have something called a power meter, it measure how much energy you are producing. The best female canadian mountain bikers are putting out over 5 watt/kilo at threshold and 6.0 watt/kilo at MAP. (I have seen the test to back this up). These are huge numbesr for men or women. To give you a reference Svein Tuft has a MAP of 6.8 watts/kilo. You typical cat 1-2 guy has a MAP of 5.5 watts/kilo.

Good job on demonstrating your complete lack on modern cycling knowledge though. Definately want you running the CCA, I guess you might have a bit more knowledge than the current crop but not a lot apparently.