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| Iowa gravel |
I tried resisting doing any commentary on two articles published last week about the UCI Gravel World Championships. However; the takes were so poorly done that I have to say something about it or I feel I would be inherently supporting those who wrote such garbage takes on gravel cycling. As you might suspect, I do not support any of what was said.
I'm not going to give the honor of linking to either article. That would be giving the authors of these two pieces way too much credit. But I may quote a couple of lines they wrote to illustrate how far off these takes were.
Here's a zinger: "So now three years into gravel being a "sport" ", which was written that way because the author is trying to intimate that only the UCI makes gravel a "sport". Hogwash! Such a bogus statement. Then the same author tries to legitimize the World Championship course in Belgium by saying that Unbound in Kansas is a "boring road race on unfinished roads". By the way, the Belgium course is 50/50 pavement to gravel (claimed) and has forest paths and bike paths as part of the course because, in the author's words, "The forests near major cities are small and rarely connect without crossing highways, so planning a 187km race is pretty hard to do. So a 50/50 split of road/off-road is pretty good."
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| From FLO Racing YouTube: Women's decisive move on the "gravel course". |
A 116 mile course, with half of it paved or not gravel is "pretty good" but Unbound's nearly 90% gravel course is "boring"?
I don't think we need to go any further with that. The other piece I read was lamenting the fact that a North American probably won't win the World Championship UCI jersey and that this will "set back gravel as a sport" in the USA. There was more rubbish, but I won't get into anymore of that.
Apparently mainstream cycling media feels that we all should fan in the way they want us to, because kowtowing to the supremacy of less than 500 Pro, Elite gravel riders worldwide is what we should be doing to legitimize gravel as a "sport". Of course, that should be happening for USA riders on USA courses, if you listen to some writers.
Newsflash: Most riders don't care about the UCI, their form of "gravel", or an arbitrary jersey award that means nothing in reality. You do you. We built "gravel" to be what it is in most corners of this country long before the UCI came around and made their little mark in the "sport". You "fan" your way, we'll do it our way.
The Guitar Ted Podcast Goes Commuting:
The latest podcast episode is up and N.Y. Roll and I cover our experiences commuting by bicycle. We go all over the place covering bicycles, gear, how to plan routes, lights, and more.
We also get into the State Bicycle Co. Monster Fork v2, but since that is tomorrow's post subject, I won't say more about that. We do get into the weeds a little bit concerning fork offset. So, be prepared to nerd out if you listen in!
I also have a bit of a rant about internal cable routing on forks.
But the most important messages come in the last eight minutes of the episode where N.Y. Roll gives a passionate message concerning who is a cyclist. You have to listen in for this, as I agree 100% and I give my own example concerning this message and its impact on me.
If you don't listen to the podcast, know this: You should consider and support anyone that pedals as a cyclist.
Nuff said.
6 comments:
The UCI reminds me of a scene in the movie Born in LA where Cheech Marin is trying to teach a Mexican mariachi band how to play Rock n Roll. No matter what tune they started out playing it always devolved into La Bamba. In the same way the UCI seems to be desperately trying to turn every gravel event into a road race. Even Ray Charles could see that they just don't get it.
@Phillipe Cowan- Ha! Yeah, I think what everyone needs to realize is that not EVERYWHERE has a decent course for gravel events. Just like Iowa wouldn't be a great World Cup MTB venue, neither is Belgium a great venue for a World Championship gravel event.
Yes- The UCI wants to do this in North America, preferably in the USA, but when - not if - they do, it won't be the marquee event they think because of their dogged determination to stick to their formulaic event style. That won't be anywhere near as "epic" as some of the big gravel events here.
But what will eventually kill this is apathy. Most US gravel riders don't care about whatever it is the UCI is doing and they barely care about "big time" gravel events like the Unbound, etc, as far as the pointy end goes.
The UCI is a day late and a dollar short when it comes to gravel and it is easy to see that they are just trying to cash in on the wave of popularity for gravel. Unfortunately their style of events on gravel are too close to the way that classic road events are run and there isn't anything unique in that approach.
But I could be all wrong about this......
I agree the "Three years into gravel..." was laughable, but what's interesting is you both are making similar points: gravel riders just aren't interested in the UCI system. I suppose this illustrates the scope of the problem when it's expressed both by old time hall-of-famers like yourself, and newbies who seem pretty clueless.
@Owen - You are right. Gravel riders are definitely not showing interest in the hoopla surrounding the UCI's efforts in the genre'.
One side thinks that is a problem because they hold the UCI up as THE only way competitive cycling can possibly be legitimate. The joke is on these people that believe this malarkey,
The UCI is not - nor was it ever - the only game in town, and things like the Life Time Grand Prix show this to be fact.
Also: Why do people that believe in the UCI's authority think that a one day race to determine a World Champion is anything to be held up as being worthwhile? A far better way to determine a World Champion would be to have a season long series based on points to determine a champion who was good at several different sorts of events. Wouldn't that be a more fair and definitive way to determine a champion than basing things on a one-day event where anything could take out your best talent - IF your best talent even shows up. Giving a season long series to help mitigate weird chances and give riders a "mulligan" for whatever reason for a race or two might prove to be a better determinant of what is really a World Champion.
Wait a minute...... Isn't that kinda what the Life Time people are doing? :>)
This was just a road race partly on sanitized gravel and cobblestones. The riders acknowledged this, too. It is my home region which offers an abundance of unpaved roads and paths gravel riding and mountain biking. The organizers chose the "safe option" and all the muddy B-roads and tricky descents were left out. And of course they wanted to have the finish in the center of the town in front of a big crowd (Belgians are crazy about bicycle races). It is all about money and branding of our town and region.
@pwbalkan - Thank you, I appreciate your perspective, being a native to the area. It is interesting then, these choices which were made, to sanitize "gravel" because it is "less safe"? This only further solidifies my opinion that the UCI/Golazo entities do not understand "gravel events". It also helps make sense that the UCI/Golazo chose this path as it more closely aligns with their expertise, which is in paved road events.
The ending in the center of a town makes sense from an economic and fan perspective. This is another thing that many early gravel events did not cater to. As more money and a focus on community development for the towns and cities came into play many events shifted their focus to have events start/end in town and village centers. So, that part of your perspective is quite understandable here in the USA as well.
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