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



Fausto Coppied

New Member
Aug 17, 2006
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If I am reading these results correctly it looks like there was a "big" BMX bike race in Kingston on the weekend. Most categories had 6 or 7 riders....


Nothing like winning a race against four other guys. Most club rides have more riders.

This is the continued sad state of affairs in the sport today.

Hard to believe 30-year old guys play on BMX bikes. A real image booster for the sport....

The Canadian Cycling Association was hoping that BMX would be the lifesaver of the Association and bring the international results they need to get more funding for Sport Canada. Given these numbers below it looks like one more failure for the CCA.

Good job, Lorraine Lafrenière.

Quit, babe, while you still have some dignity.



August 25/07 11:30pm EDT - Great Lakes UCI International - Kingston UCI BMX
Great Lakes UCI International - Kingston UCI BMX

Elite Female (13 Riders)
1st. Samantha Cools (Can) Airdrie BMX

Junior Male (5 Riders)
1. Douglas Hayes (USA) Club Unknown


Elite Male (22 Riders)
1st. Mike Day (USA) Club Unknown


13 Female (4 Riders)
1. Ashly Kenney (Can) Kingston BMX

6 Novice Male (6 Riders)
1. Sheldon Tryon (Can) Kingston BMX

7 Intermediate Male (5 Riders)
1. Bayden Parent (Can) Saugeen Shores BMX

8 Novice Male (9 Riders)
1st. Alyssa Seitz (8f) (Can) Track 2000 BMX

9 Intermediate Male (8 Riders)
1. Jared Mezzatesta (8im) (Can) Kingston BMX

10 Intermediate Male (9 Riders)
1st. Raphael Ouellet (9xm) (Can) Cap-De-La-Madeleine

10 Expert Male (6 Riders)
1. Pol-Emil Doucet (Can) Pointe-Du-Lac

12 Novice Male (7 Riders)
1. Tanner Briggs (Can) Track 2000 BMX

12 Intermediate Male (7 Riders)
1. Brodie Young (Can) Kingston BMX

12 Expert Male (7 Riders)
1. Matt Dilon Bellerive (Can) Pointe-Du-Lac

13 Expert Male (7 Riders)
1. Francis Lamy (Can) Cap-De-La-Madeleine

14 Novice Male (8 Riders)
1. Mathieu Joyal (13nm) (Can) Bmx St-Charles De Drummond

15 Expert Male (6 Riders)
1. Keyven Tellier-Lambert (Can) Independant

16 Novice Male (6 Riders)
1. Tanner Garniss-Marsh (14im) (Can) Saugeen Shores BMX

30 And Over Male (8 Riders)
1. Hugo Leduc-Benoit (16xm) (Can) Club Bmx Haut-Richelieu


Elite Cruiser Male (4 Riders)
1. Andrew Harper (Cjm) (Can) Kingston BMX
2. Kyle Pearson (Cjm) (Can) Tim Dasilva BMX
3. Sebastian Tejada (Col) Track 2000 BMX
4. Karin Newcombe (Cjf) (Can) Saugeen Shores BMX

Cruiser 13 And 14 Male (5 Riders)
1. Tanner Garniss-Marsh (Can) Saugeen Shores BMX

Cruiser 30 To 34 Male (6 Riders)
1. Alexander Brancier (C1729m) (Can) Track 2000 BMX



 
Pfffftttt....

perhaps you're looking in the wrong places...a friend recently finished the TransRockies, 600km, 7 days in the hills, it sold out again, 750 started, a little over 500 finished (he came in 31/83 in his group)

Last week the 24 hour at Albion sold out (another friend came in 4'th in his group)...the recent 8 Hour and O-Cup races sold out as well

also, the annual Squeezer has over 3000 riders

Our sport is growing...and we don't need to dope up like them roadies

http://www.transrockies.com/transrockies/index.html

http://www.chicoracing.com/html/index.php

http://www.libertybicycles.com/squeezer/

Geez
 
Sold out, huh....

Let me guess, you PAID an exhorbitant registration to PARTICIPATE in this popular mass event.

You were unsponsored.

There were few if any teams entered in the event.

Few if any riders were sponsored.

There was very little if any media attention.

If there weer any prizes irt was amterial donated by bikes shops or the like.

The sport is NOT growing. The sport has shrunk tragically in the last 15 to 20 years.

The type of events you are describing further serve to marginalize the sport and nothing more.

I'm familar with Chico Racing and have known Adam Ruppel for maybe 20 years. We sat beside each other at Gord Fraser's retirement pary last December in Ottawa.

Sorry, I hate to burst your bubble with a dose of reality.
When you see male pro teams racing again downtown in a major metropolitan area please let me know. All the rest is window dressing, side dishes to the roast beef.
 
Fausto Coppied said:
Sold out, huh....

Let me guess, you PAID an exhorbitant registration to PARTICIPATE in this popular mass event.

You were unsponsored.

There were few if any teams entered in the event.

Few if any riders were sponsored.

There was very little if any media attention.

If there weer any prizes irt was amterial donated by bikes shops or the like.

The sport is NOT growing. The sport has shrunk tragically in the last 15 to 20 years.

The type of events you are describing further serve to marginalize the sport and nothing more.

I'm familar with Chico Racing and have known Adam Ruppel for maybe 20 years. We sat beside each other at Gord Fraser's retirement pary last December in Ottawa.

Sorry, I hate to burst your bubble with a dose of reality.
When you see male pro teams racing again downtown in a major metropolitan area please let me know. All the rest is window dressing, side dishes to the roast beef.
I guess it depends on your definition of "sport"...a group of roadies in spandex dressed up to look like dessert trays probably explains why some aspects of biking are shrinking...

...Sponsors and prizes are just fluff

I ride in the Collingwood area, both road and XC, ride the 100km route followed by the Tour de Creemore as well as 3-Stage, Kolapore, and others (I have +60km of trails 5 minutes from my back door) and am amazed how many now ride up here...many more than just a few years ago

Lot more kids as well...Collingwood even opened a BMX/DJ park in town

Chico run great events...the entry fees are well worth the effort and organization they bring to our sport...even the weekly Tuesday races at Albion are well attended
 
Cycling is doing just fine. More people are on their bikes than ever,

We now have off road and all its iterations: XC, DH, freeride etc. Whistler on any given day in the summer is booked solid and the lifts are constanly shuttling riders up the mountains. Endurance events: Trans rockies, Ruta, Trans Alps and 24 hour races are booked up full well in advance.

BMX is now an Olympic sport. New BMX venues are sprouting up all over. Canada hosted the BMX worlds in 2007!!!!

The cycling public has spoken and they are moving in new directions.

Only ELITE Road and track seem to be in some difficulty. Maybe it is the old fashioned ideas of old farts like M. Arzouian that are the root cause of its demise. NOTHING is or can remain the same as it was 25 years ago. You must embrace change. If not you destin it to be a dinosaur and therefore doomed to extinction.
 
Jasmineminor said:
Only ELITE Road and track seem to be in some difficulty. Maybe it is the old fashioned ideas of old farts like M. Arzouian that are the root cause of its demise. NOTHING is or can remain the same as it was 25 years ago. You must embrace change. If not you destin it to be a dinosaur and therefore doomed to extinction.
Or, as the Taoists say:

"You eventually become what you hate"
 
All you have done is further marginalize the sport.

It is like having only pick-up hockey teams instead of the NHL.

You have fewer sponsors and lower calibre of athletes.

Elite cycling is what the the media and the fans want to see.

You wannabees can putz around on weekends and think all is well.

It is not.
 
Fausto Coppied said:
Elite cycling is what the the media and the fans want to see.
if this were true, then you'd be seeing a lot more of it

Seriously, I'm not aware of any demand to see bike races, anywhere here...including MTB. The few extreme bike programs that were televised several years ago are now off the air...I don't recall any road bike programs

Even the TdeF got a yawn, except for scandals

It's tough to promote a sport when nobody is interested...

So we soldier on, riding for the fun of it
 
Sad to hear cyclist panning their own sport, no wonder the sport is doing so poorly in Canada.

There is a demand to see the sport in many places, including the US. The Tour de France coverage got good numbers. It had numerous sponsors including Cervelo of Canada. Even 2003 World Road Championships in Hamilton, ON got about 100,000 spectators for the Elite race and that with all the mistakes the organizers made in promoting and marketing the event. The USA Pro championships in Phily get 200,000 to 400,000 depending upon the year and the weather. Races in San Francisco Georgia, Chicago do as well.

Had you bothered to watch you would have seen huge crowds in England for the Tour and also huge crowds in France, the mountian stages had more people than in recent years.


Of course, if a person doesn't know anything about the sport as did Kim Sebrango formerly in marketing at the CCA or like Lorraine Lafreniere currently at the CCA of course it is much more difficultl to sell. If you have no passion or no experience with sport it shows.
 
Fausto Coppied said:
Sad to hear cyclist panning their own sport, no wonder the sport is doing so poorly in Canada.

There is a demand to see the sport in many places, including the US. The Tour de France coverage got good numbers. It had numerous sponsors including Cervelo of Canada. Even 2003 World Road Championships in Hamilton, ON got about 100,000 spectators for the Elite race and that with all the mistakes the organizers made in promoting and marketing the event. The USA Pro championships in Phily get 200,000 to 400,000 depending upon the year and the weather. Races in San Francisco Georgia, Chicago do as well.

Had you bothered to watch you would have seen huge crowds in England for the Tour and also huge crowds in France, the mountian stages had more people than in recent years.

Of course, if a person doesn't know anything about the sport as did Kim Sebrango formerly in marketing at the CCA or like Lorraine Lafreniere currently at the CCA of course it is much more difficultl to sell. If you have no passion or no experience with sport it shows.
Who knew?

Somehow, waiting at the side of a road to see a group of cyclists ride by, and then going home, has very little appeal to me.

Same reason that I don't watch car races (yet I drive), ski races (i'm a skiier), and marathons (yep...I run too). I tried watching golf once...not a great spectator sport.

Anyway, I'm not panning my sport, just commenting on the lack of interest in the races. Last Toronto race, I recall, was cancelled because of the difference in prize money offered to the men and women

But...my wife just quit her job, starts her new one in two weeks, I'm heading up north and hitting the trails for a while
 
You seem to have very little comprehension of a what a real race entails.


At the Tour de France there are all kinds of things happenning on the road for hours before the riders pass. You can get all kinds of stuff thrown at you. Furthermore, in the mountain stages you will see riders go by for an hour or so.

In Europe many people who watch cycling have never competed themselves and do not ride bikes, they just like the sport like hockey fans or baseball fans here, many of them never played they just like the games.

You seem to have no interest in watching sports in general. I can understand that I usual prefer to participate or go for a ride myself rather than watch TV but many people do watch. Geez,golf!!! People watch that for hours.

As for the race in Toronto being cancelled because of that prize money issue you have Laura Robinson and Pedal Magazine to thank for thier useless and stupid by-law apparently still on the books in Toronto. The dumb by-law basically killed the competitve side of the sport in Toronto and almost the whole province as a results.
 
Those endurance events, 24h rides and trans rockies or trans alps aren't very much if looking at things from sporting side of cycling. Maybe after couple of years those might become competitive, but at the moment those are as beneficial to cycling as some adventure races. For bicycle industry those events are very good though. I've never heard anyone claim that these "fitness races" would be future of cycling. They might be future of cycling as cycling community is getting older and competitive aspect of cycling becomes less important for older people.

DJ/BMX scene...booming and the future of cycling? Yes it's pretty big, but this side of cycling isn't even close to sport. If DJ/BMX is sport then skateboarding is sport as well and masturbating is the same as making love. There's an easy buck in DJ/BMX though so that will help. BMX racing is more of a sport though but it seems to be less appealing to kids than 100km time trials.

Mountain biking is pretty fun though. I even did one race couple of weeks ago after five years off the trails. It was so much fun that I need to get a MTB for next summer and maybe even try my speed in Canada Cup. MTB should be pretty good training for road too.

And TDF is huge. Spring classics are huge. Worlds is huge. Even junior world cup races are pretty darn big. Not in a way that there's tons of older recreational riders "racing" but there are thousands or even millions of people watching. Even my grandparents watch cycling on Eurosport. Someone might not be very interested in watching cycling and that's ok as for exaple I don't like to watch CFL at all and I think it's the most pathetic "league" ever.

Here's some video from one marathon race which is UCI XCM 1 race where recreational riders start after racers. This might be much better for sport rather than cashing out on expense of weekend warriors. http://213.35.156.10/etv/16092007_tartu_rattamaraton.wmv

Fausto Coppied said:
As for the race in Toronto being cancelled because of that prize money issue you have Laura Robinson and Pedal Magazine to thank for thier useless and stupid by-law apparently still on the books in Toronto. The dumb by-law basically killed the competitve side of the sport in Toronto and almost the whole province as a results.
Is there some rule that women and men should get the same price money? So 50-100 men and 10-20 women should be racing for the same pricemoney? That's stupid.
 
Holli, congratulations, you made me laugh!


That was an excellent line, "DJ/BMX scene...booming and the future of cycling? Yes it's pretty big, but this side of cycling isn't even close to sport. If DJ/BMX is sport then skateboarding is sport as well and masturbating is the same as making love. There's an easy buck in DJ/BMX though so that will help."
 
holli said:
Those endurance events, 24h rides and trans rockies or trans alps aren't very much if looking at things from sporting side of cycling. Maybe after couple of years those might become competitive, but at the moment those are as beneficial to cycling as some adventure races. For bicycle industry those events are very good though. I've never heard anyone claim that these "fitness races" would be future of cycling. They might be future of cycling as cycling community is getting older and competitive aspect of cycling becomes less important for older people.

DJ/BMX scene...booming and the future of cycling? Yes it's pretty big, but this side of cycling isn't even close to sport. If DJ/BMX is sport then skateboarding is sport as well and masturbating is the same as making love. There's an easy buck in DJ/BMX though so that will help. BMX racing is more of a sport though but it seems to be less appealing to kids than 100km time trials.

Mountain biking is pretty fun though. I even did one race couple of weeks ago after five years off the trails. It was so much fun that I need to get a MTB for next summer and maybe even try my speed in Canada Cup. MTB should be pretty good training for road too.

And TDF is huge. Spring classics are huge. Worlds is huge. Even junior world cup races are pretty darn big. Not in a way that there's tons of older recreational riders "racing" but there are thousands or even millions of people watching. Even my grandparents watch cycling on Eurosport. Someone might not be very interested in watching cycling and that's ok as for exaple I don't like to watch CFL at all and I think it's the most pathetic "league" ever.

Here's some video from one marathon race which is UCI XCM 1 race where recreational riders start after racers. This might be much better for sport rather than cashing out on expense of weekend warriors. http://213.35.156.10/etv/16092007_tartu_rattamaraton.wmv


Is there some rule that women and men should get the same price money? So 50-100 men and 10-20 women should be racing for the same pricemoney? That's stupid.
Well put...but speaking with the LBS's I deal with, the future of biking appears to be road, hybrid, or even cyclecross...the aging population won't be hucking much longer...

But still, I'm 57, wife is 55 and we're on our MTB's in Collingwood every weekend (outriding most of the kids), but then we do a lot of asphalt as well

However, I can't see the point of watching bike races...reminds me of the time a client took me to the Molson Indy...great seats, and every few seconds a car zipped by...big deal

I'd compare watching a bike race as opposed to riding a bike to watching a **** flick to making love

Also, to Marylin Churley's law...why should women not have the same prize money as men?
 
JM01 said:
Also, to Marylin Churley's law...why should women not have the same prize money as men?
I thought Laura Robinson and Pedal Magazine brought us Toronto's stupid equal prize money law.

Why should they not have the same prize money?

Because they have 1/3 to 1/5 the number of women to men racing, going about 1/2 the speed of men and doing about 1/2 the distance men do. If you use that criteria women should get about 7% what the men get......, not 100%
 
JM01 said:
Well put...but speaking with the LBS's I deal with, the future of biking appears to be road, hybrid, or even cyclecross...the aging population won't be hucking much longer...

But still, I'm 57, wife is 55 and we're on our MTB's in Collingwood every weekend (outriding most of the kids), but then we do a lot of asphalt as well

However, I can't see the point of watching bike races...reminds me of the time a client took me to the Molson Indy...great seats, and every few seconds a car zipped by...big deal

I'd compare watching a bike race as opposed to riding a bike to watching a **** flick to making love

Also, to Marylin Churley's law...why should women not have the same prize money as men?
You must be looking at this whole thing from health, fitness, recreational POV? No offense but to me you are pretty stereotypical older cyclist ( I don't know you at all so this might be very ignorant assumption ). I think it's very good that you and your wife are on the bike as you are more likely to be able to enjoy your retirement days as well. Bad thing is that many young guys in their early 20's don't have the same passion to push themselves. It's easier for some young guy to go to the park with their 40lbs bikes to drink beer and smoke weed rather than torture themselves on a bike. There might be 1000 kids in the parks dirt jumping but that doesn't have anything to do with sport.

I can't understand how someone doesn't like watching cycling on TV. I've been watching Vuelta on cycling.tv alost every day and Tour was every day deal for me in July. I don't even like these big tours because they are boring. Spring classics are the high point of my TV year. I'm bit different though as I've ridden many of the roads the big boys race every spring and it's more personal to me.

If there's 20 women and 60 men they shouldn't get the same price money. If there would be 60 women and 60 men then there would be no problem giving prices for ~10 best in both categories. If there would be 20 women and 20 men the the prices should be the same as well but not for 10 best.

If women should get the same price money just because in some way it would be equal then cat 4/5 riders should get the same prices as cat 1/2.
 
holli said:
You must be looking at this whole thing from health, fitness, recreational POV? No offense but to me you are pretty stereotypical older cyclist ( I don't know you at all so this might be very ignorant assumption ). I think it's very good that you and your wife are on the bike as you are more likely to be able to enjoy your retirement days as well. Bad thing is that many young guys in their early 20's don't have the same passion to push themselves. It's easier for some young guy to go to the park with their 40lbs bikes to drink beer and smoke weed rather than torture themselves on a bike. There might be 1000 kids in the parks dirt jumping but that doesn't have anything to do with sport.

I can't understand how someone doesn't like watching cycling on TV. I've been watching Vuelta on cycling.tv alost every day and Tour was every day deal for me in July. I don't even like these big tours because they are boring. Spring classics are the high point of my TV year. I'm bit different though as I've ridden many of the roads the big boys race every spring and it's more personal to me.

If there's 20 women and 60 men they shouldn't get the same price money. If there would be 60 women and 60 men then there would be no problem giving prices for ~10 best in both categories. If there would be 20 women and 20 men the the prices should be the same as well but not for 10 best.

If women should get the same price money just because in some way it would be equal then cat 4/5 riders should get the same prices as cat 1/2.
I didn't say that I don't watch biking on TV, just not races...I followed every season of Drop In and watch those extreme biking shows...mostly to pick up tips to improve my technique...

...but, as a diabetic, I use my bikes to control my sugar. 50km daily commute (year round), 30-60km of XC at the cottage, and usually a daily 100km road ride on the weekends...in winter as well if the roads are clear. Last few years I've been averaging 16,000km/yr and plan to bike to Newfoundland next year.

Perhaps its stereotypical for us mature guys, but I don't know many kids who can keep up with me, especially on the trails on our Blue Mountain (really just a big mound, but its the best we have)

This prize thing in Toronto started with Marylin's traumatic childhood experience...she won the girl's public speaking contest as did a boy in his category...he got a trip and some good stuff, she got $25.00. After therepy, she made it her crusade to ensure equal prizes for both genders competeing in the same event

EDIT...some pics of our bikes:
 
JM01 said:
This prize thing in Toronto started with Marylin's traumatic childhood experience...she won the girl's public speaking contest as did a boy in his category...he got a trip and some good stuff, she got $25.00. After therepy, she made it her crusade to ensure equal prizes for both genders competeing in the same event.
So instead of dealing with her pain she inflicts it upon everybody else and basically kills the sport in downtown Toronto.

She wants equal prize money for "both genders competeing in the same event".

I have no problem with that. Have the women compete in the same event....

As it is they are 1/3 to 1/5 the women compared to men's events, they do 1/2 the distance and go 1/2 as fast, yet she wants to get the same prize money!

That's not equal that's about 7 times more for the women.
 
Fausto Coppied said:
So instead of dealing with her pain she inflicts it upon everybody else and basically kills the sport in downtown Toronto.

She wants equal prize money for "both genders competeing in the same event".

I have no problem with that. Have the women compete in the same event....

As it is they are 1/3 to 1/5 the women compared to men's events, they do 1/2 the distance and go 1/2 as fast, yet she wants to get the same prize money!

That's not equal that's about 7 times more for the women.
forget not that she's NDP, the party of envy

However, I can see her point...a woman should be rewarded equally for winning; speed and distance results are gender specific, if they perform at the top of their class in a mixed gender race, the prize should be the same for both. But like golf and boxing, the prize money reflects the drawing power of the athletes...although I do enjoy watching female beach volleyball.

An alternative would be to hold races for each gender at different times and venues...most road bike races in Toronto would cover the same type of terrain...maybe a climb from Bloor to Eglinton on Dufferin would bring out the best
 
Fausto Coppied said:
If I am reading these results correctly it looks like there was a "big" BMX bike race in Kingston on the weekend. Most categories had 6 or 7 riders....


Nothing like winning a race against four other guys. Most club rides have more riders.

This is the continued sad state of affairs in the sport today.

Hard to believe 30-year old guys play on BMX bikes. A real image booster for the sport....

The Canadian Cycling Association was hoping that BMX would be the lifesaver of the Association and bring the international results they need to get more funding for Sport Canada. Given these numbers below it looks like one more failure for the CCA.

Good job, Lorraine Lafrenière.

Quit, babe, while you still have some dignity.



August 25/07 11:30pm EDT - Great Lakes UCI International - Kingston UCI BMX
Great Lakes UCI International - Kingston UCI BMX

Elite Female (13 Riders)
1st. Samantha Cools (Can) Airdrie BMX

Junior Male (5 Riders)
1. Douglas Hayes (USA) Club Unknown


Elite Male (22 Riders)
1st. Mike Day (USA) Club Unknown


13 Female (4 Riders)
1. Ashly Kenney (Can) Kingston BMX

6 Novice Male (6 Riders)
1. Sheldon Tryon (Can) Kingston BMX

7 Intermediate Male (5 Riders)
1. Bayden Parent (Can) Saugeen Shores BMX

8 Novice Male (9 Riders)
1st. Alyssa Seitz (8f) (Can) Track 2000 BMX

9 Intermediate Male (8 Riders)
1. Jared Mezzatesta (8im) (Can) Kingston BMX

10 Intermediate Male (9 Riders)
1st. Raphael Ouellet (9xm) (Can) Cap-De-La-Madeleine

10 Expert Male (6 Riders)
1. Pol-Emil Doucet (Can) Pointe-Du-Lac

12 Novice Male (7 Riders)
1. Tanner Briggs (Can) Track 2000 BMX

12 Intermediate Male (7 Riders)
1. Brodie Young (Can) Kingston BMX

12 Expert Male (7 Riders)
1. Matt Dilon Bellerive (Can) Pointe-Du-Lac

13 Expert Male (7 Riders)
1. Francis Lamy (Can) Cap-De-La-Madeleine

14 Novice Male (8 Riders)
1. Mathieu Joyal (13nm) (Can) Bmx St-Charles De Drummond

15 Expert Male (6 Riders)
1. Keyven Tellier-Lambert (Can) Independant

16 Novice Male (6 Riders)
1. Tanner Garniss-Marsh (14im) (Can) Saugeen Shores BMX

30 And Over Male (8 Riders)
1. Hugo Leduc-Benoit (16xm) (Can) Club Bmx Haut-Richelieu


Elite Cruiser Male (4 Riders)
1. Andrew Harper (Cjm) (Can) Kingston BMX
2. Kyle Pearson (Cjm) (Can) Tim Dasilva BMX
3. Sebastian Tejada (Col) Track 2000 BMX
4. Karin Newcombe (Cjf) (Can) Saugeen Shores BMX

Cruiser 13 And 14 Male (5 Riders)
1. Tanner Garniss-Marsh (Can) Saugeen Shores BMX

Cruiser 30 To 34 Male (6 Riders)
1. Alexander Brancier (C1729m) (Can) Track 2000 BMX



Your sure as hell not going to save the sport of cycling here in Canada Ed/Fausto, you insecure, ignorant/arrogant, chauvinistic, narcistic goof! Your just like Michael Jackson when it comes to attention, if it isn't positive you'll accept the negative, as long it is some attention. Go back to your cave!