"MagillaGorilla" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/may08/montreal08/?id=results
1.) How come Mara Abbott was on the start list but did not start?
Its because she's not ready to make her Debut appearance yet against Emma
Pooley! Just joking, but who knows, maybe seriously! She was on the start
list for Tour de l'Aude too, but didn't start that one either, but rather at
the last minute we find she is over at Mood Hood Classic where she won once
before and said it was a special race in her heart, yet she says she will be
working for Kim Anderson. Anyone care to explain that She wants to win it,
but... she has to work for Anderson, payback, favors, teamwork, scratching
backs and team loyalties. There you go, that cycling as a team sport, makes
a lot of sense huh? Well, actually I am glad she didn't start Montreal
because that's not how I wanted Mara to meet Emma for the first time, but I
would of much rather seen the two specialist climbers meet at Gracia Orlova
or the Tour De l'Aude. They may not meet at all this year, but they may meet
somewhere in Europe before the games. I prefer to see them meet in the
Grande Boucle or the German Tour for big showdown in the mountains, drum
roll. I can't figure out Abbott. She blazed a trail riding a lot races in
the spring classics, but after Redlands, she didn't compete in the world cup
events, didn't defend at Gila, a dry spell before she went to Gracia Orlova,
but then she didn't stay in Europe. I don't know if she wants to go to the
games or not, of if she thinks she will get on the team as a favored
selective pick. I know Powers has stayed in Europe and its obvious she wants
on the team. I think its going to be Neben, Armstrong, but the others picks,
there is Powers, Abbott, Thorburn, so I don't know.
Quoted message said:
2.) How seriously am I suppose to take the World Cup standings when Judith
Arndt is leading and the girl in second place (Marianne Vos) didn't even
show up to Montreal?
It's a sideshow.
World Cup is a meaningless competition, outside of how the UCI uses it to
control the sport. It's a gimmick like UCI races, a scam duping teams into
paying UCI fees, while the riders prizes is cut to nothing. Toona has longer
stages and excellent prize money because its not a slave to the UCI scam.
Leontien once said to the president of the UCI Hein Verbruggen in 1993,
"your UCI classification, no one knows it or respects it".
Cup standing favor a small piece of real estate confined to Europe except a
few odd ones out, like Ausse Land, Montreal and hardly ever the USA like
Mount Hood or Liberty Classic in the past. Its basically a terra firma Euro
game. Vos may feel she doesn't need Montreal, as a lot of girls don't like
to travel abroad unless absolutely must be. There are all kinds of Euro
girls who have never raced in North America, and don't feel they need to,
even if its a Cup event, and you never seen any top Euro riders fly over for
Redlands, Gila or even Toona! What you get at best is the only true
International team High Road dispatching a few lower profile Euro girls like
Fahlin and Wichmann, Rhodes, etc. The best rider to make it over was
Beltman, but Arndt won't come, because she probably doesn't want to, and
doesn't have to, but Montreal was a UCI cup race, so that's the exception
although she's been in other Candian UCI events. Should the USA be a pawn to
UCI by making our premier events UCI? No, don't do it!
Quoted message said:The women's world cup is nothing but a frequent flyer miles competition
where the winner comes from a team that has the budget to fly their team
to both Geelong and Montreal as well as the Euro World Cups.
World Cup favors the teams with the best riders who can win the cup, and the
biggest budget to fly their riders out. Its an unfair competition that
favors a small piece of real estate in Europe. But the UCI uses the cup in
their shell game to control the sport. Its a gimmick really, but we just
roll our eyes and play along. I mean its sports entertainment, so at some
point, we just settle back and eat our popcorn and drink our beer, and stop
trying to figure it out, and just enjoy watching the riders race and win,
even though as a team sport, it sends people who try to understand it to
mental institutions. Better just to eat the popcorn, drink the beer, cheer
on your favorite riders, and forget about the fact that nothing makes any
sense. You think a lot of women are that stupid? They know, believe me, they
know, but the motives of America women to race are somewhat different then
Euro girls, and some just want to race their bikes purely for no other
reason then sport, which is really the best reason, since its cycling isn't
going to be a lifelong career for them.
Quoted message said:
It's the same gimmick Saturn use to pull to call itself the "number one
team in the world."
Montreal had a statement on their website that said its the biggest and best
race in North America, so we know that's propaganda. Promoters are
scrambling to save their races. Gas money is killing riders in America since
its such a huge piece of real estate to travel and race, so are air fares.
Races are going to tighten once again, like the shrinkage of Redlands and
Sea Otter, CVC, etc. New NRC rules have caused some promotors like Merco to
opt out, but not because of cash, because of the new stupid rules. You may
see fewer races, and teams sending their teams to fewer races, only the big
ones, and less of the smaller one. Some smaller races may dry up completely,
but also its harder to put races on every year with working with county
muncipalites and road departments. Road cycling is waning for a lot of
reasons, but it won't die completely, its much too big for that, but too
small to compete for major sports. If gas prices continue to skyrocket,
expect to see a lot less riders traveling to races, or flying for that
matter.
Quoted message said:
Yeah, number one in airfare upgrades.
All the UCI world cup and UCI events are over-rated, and UCI classifications
are not a fair assessment of how riders stack up because they exclude a lot
of races where some riders have rode brilliantly and won. The UCI is its own
little world and a monopoly that should be broken up. But little, actually
they are not, scary.
I am done ranting, my eyes hurt now.
GBMT
