Yup, BMX is going to save Canadian cycling!!!!

Fausto Coppied

Forming another Association might be the way to go since the CCA refuses to do the right thing.

It is not that easy.

It requires money. It almost happened back in the late 1980s when Serge Arsenault began putting on the Pro Men's Road World Cups. He was fed up with the pencil-pushers in Ottawa at the CCA and wanted to start his own pro federation like USA Pro. He explained it to me one day in his offices on Ile Notre-Dame beside the F1 track.

Certainly it would be easier if a major sponsor signed on and decided that they wanted to take over the CCA. For a couple million dollars, less than the cost of one hockey player, they could own the entire sport across the board in Canada. That's a pretty good deal.


Think of it, a big sponsor coming into the CCA, moving them from that stifling Ottawa office building to a full-service headquarters with velodrome, BMX track, gym, cycling museum, mechanic shops, etc.!!! (say beside the Forrest City Track)



That will never happen while we have the bumbling mediocrity at the CCA. Lorraine Lafreniere’s biggest idea for change is dyeing her hair.



A group of people could take over the CCA if they banded together presented themselves as slate of candidates for the AGM and had a sponsors lined up guaranteeing two million dollars or so.



It is all about the money.



There will be litigation. Court battles cost money.



It would be much easier if the current CCA corpses just rolled over and died before they infect and kill the whole sport in country.

JM01

Jeez, I go away or a little while and come back to see that nothings changed.

Jeez

Fausto Coppied

Actually things have gotten worse.

Didn't you hear about the BMX World championship organization going broke and making the sport look like shit again?

Doesn't that fly in the face of your earlier comment in this thread, "Our sport is growing...and we don't need to dope up like them roadies".

Do you think a bankruptcy implies the sport is growing?

Do you think CBC Sports is pleased they are owed $43,000.

Where was BC Cycling and the CCA, they sat on the board of this organization, didn't they?

JM01

Our sport is growing, the bankruptcy of a BMX park really isn't that significant, in the long run...it's just that bike world is changing, but some are still stuck in the old days. Support for a tiny group of elite roadies is really irrelevant to the biking world.

In our area, mountain bike activity is increasing, and when I'm on the roads, I'm amazed at the increasing number of cyclists that I now see. Toronto is a biking city with over 50,000 bikes on our roads, and I just won the City of Toronto Business Biking Award for our support of our biking employees..

My retail contacts tell me that bikes are becoming the hottest Christmas gift this year, so our sport continues to grow.

When Pythagoras discovered the mathematical theorem that bears his name, the Greeks sacrificed 200 oxen in his honour...ever since, whenever someone comes up with a new idea, the oxen begin to worry.

Just a long way of saying that to many oxen, the old days are the best days...their survival depends on this.

Fausto Coppied

I have no idea what you are talking about.

Are you sayng we are asking for the status quo?

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Obviously change is needed because the current state of affairs sucks.

I'm not sure what you're drinking but maybe we should all try it.

There is less money in the sport, both in races and in most teams.

There are fewer teams.

There are few racers IN EVERY CATEGORY & DISCIPLINE.

There are fewer events.

There are worse international results.

There is less media coverage.
Ands somehow you think the sport is grwoing??????

Obviously you have no idea what used to be, no benchmark, so you have no clue.

JM01

Let me try again...

...the common theme of all of your posts is that things aren't the way they used to be and you long for the "good old days"...I can relate, you have much in common with my 90 year old dad.

Perhaps it's time to face reality...Elite road biking has lost a lot of support in Canada and the organizations that regulate and promote this activity reflect that apathy...they are probably doing as good a job as they can with limited resources and the lack of public interest, but those days that you long for are gone for good.

However, our sport (biking) is growing, more popular than ever...but its more of a grass roots activity...yes, us plebs are taking over. Mountain biking, road, BMX (for kids, mostly), and commuting have grown exponentially over the years...no one cares about those elite racers because they're biking at their own levels....many of my MTB friends race and are sponsored...my son in law is a semi-pro downhill racer, sponsored by his LBS and does well at Blue in Collingwood...and he couldn't care less about the snotty roadies (roadietude?) in our area.

Like that old Dylan song, "The times they are a'changin', Mr. Jones"

Fausto Coppied

JM01,

You seems very confused. You say, " Elite road biking has lost a lot of support in Canada"

Then you say, " no one cares about those elite racers because they're biking at their own levels....many of my MTB friends race and are sponsored...my son in law is a semi-pro downhill racer."

What does "biking at their own level" mean? Can you translate that to English?

Your son is a "semi-pro downhill racer" so does that make him in the elite? I've known a few semi-pros myself, if you they like you they won't charge for an evening.....Is he "biking at his own level"?

BMX you say is growing, then why did the World Championships in Victoria go bankrupt? If they sport is doing well then it must be the organizers themselves did avery opor job so I guess they are not doing as , "good a job as they can with limited resources", nor were their resouces very limited since though owe thousands and thousands of dollars.

You post is one of the most disjointed, confused, unsubstanitated post I've seen in a long time.

Did you crash on your head recently without a helmet?

Finally, I understand the good old days are gone in Canada but they are actually better in the US and other countries. Why is that? Used to be things were in Canada than in the US. Is the US culture that much different than Canadian? Certainlynot, the US does not have cycling ingrained in their culture any more than Canada does. Is it a question of economies? I don't think so because the Canadian economy is better now than the US.

In fact, about the only reason you can really attribute the poor performance of the sport of cycling in Canada on all levels in all disciplines in all facets (events, teams, media coverage, sponsorship, etc. ) is due primarily to incompetence from those people in charge.

I'm sick of you apologists for the sport and those running/ruining it. You accept mediocrity. That is the main problem.

mettlehead

sorry but it is only the high level competitive events that are suffering. the primidona attitude that the high level racer exhibits has turned me off as a race organizer for wanting to put on high level events.

my focus for the past few years has been to the grass root racer who may only do 1/2/3 events a year and are totaly appreciative of the efforts of race organizers.

in b.c. grass roots racing is growing leaps and bounds. in 2007 there were 5 major mountain bike events that were not sanctioned by cycling b.c.

in 2008 look for that number to grow. the cca and cbc need to get their collective heads out of the sand and realize the number of competitive racers is shrinking and grass root racers is growing. the amount of red tape put up by the governing body of the sport is doing more to kill the sport than anything else.

Fausto Coppied

I'm curious, what do "grass root racers" in any cycling discipline aspire to?You wrote, "In 2007 there were 5 major mountain bike events that were not sanctioned by cycling b.c."

What were these "grass roots' guys racing for?

What did they hope to obtain?

Why do they want to compete if not to be better than somebody else? Given that what do they do once they win your unsanctioned events? where do they go next?

mettlehead

they were racing for the fun of seeing who they could beat on that day. kinda like some one playing football in canada because they love the sport and playing in the usa because they want the money. why do you you have to aspire to anything aside from being the best you can be.

once they win an event they come back next year and see if they can better their time.

why does everything have to be about gold medals and elite level racing? what about just going out and giving the best that you have?

i have nothing against the athlete who wants to win a gold medal at the olympics. i have a problem with the governing bodies of any given sport supporting the 1% of the people who aspire to a gold medal level at the expense of the other 99% of the sport's participants who want to take part in the sport just because they enjoy it.

Fausto Coppied

Mettlehead,

It is that kind of attitude that sponsors use to screw riders.

Divide and conquer.

That's what mountain biking has done to the sport. Instead of having organized teams and structure it is now mainly disorganized individuals.
The free-for-all approach is why Canada now has poor results internationally.

mettlehead

yes mountain biking is an individual sport over road teams however don't blame mountain biking/bmx/cylocross for the decline in our elite medal counts.

the governing bodies of the sport both provincially and nationaly need to be held accountable for the decline. they are the bodies that are pushing for racers to "go for the gold". these bodies need to support those racers that aspire to the highest levels of the sport.

and not at the expense of the 99% of bikers who do not aspire to a higher level in the sport.

Fausto Coppied

"99% of bikers who do not aspire to a higher level in the sport"

Yup, add, 99% of the management of the sport in Ottawa and you got that right.

At best they aspire to mediocrity.

At worst they hope just just don't do anything wrong.

holli

No one was blaming MTB/BMX/cyclocross for shriveling success in sport. Cycling as a whole is doing pretty bad in Canada. If someone thinks that cycling's good in Canada then show me some facts please.

Investing in recreational weekend warriors, who might not even be members of any governing body and only support other organizations with the activities, would be rather bad business for CCA or provincial associations...still they feel obliged to support those who are reluctant at best to return any support back.

In business life this kind of stuff wouldn't even be concidered as an option but for some reason it's expected to be the norm in cycling.

__________________
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