Holy [censored] this Blows!!

Bill C said:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/jul05/jul01news2
Quoted:
San Francisco Grand Prix drops women - hopes to secure sponsorship for
men
By Mark Zalewski

Dave Chauner, CEO of Threshold Sports and organizer of the Pro Cycling
Tour, announced today that this year's San Francisco Grand Prix will
not include a women's event, due in part to T-Mobile not renewing as a
sponsor and the prohibitive costs to running two races on the city
streets of downtown San Francisco.

"T-Mobile elected not to renew its title sponsorship for strategic
reasons," said Chauner. "Part of T-Mobiles commitment was the
requirement to add a women's race in 2003, the first year of their
title sponsorship. It was important for [T-Mobile] to host a women's
race... without their support and the costs and time required with
additional TV time made it cost prohibitive this year. The time
requirements for using the city roads preclude us from running two
races. We are going back to the original format the city approved the
first couple of years."

I can't tell you how much I think this blows, but given the state of
the German, and most of the Euro economy I'm not surprised at this
decision. When are they going to cut loose the women's team here, and
the Pro Tour team. I don't think booting Schroeder is going to be
enough to save them economically. It's a tough call. The major Euro
markets are in serious trouble, but if the name isn't out there, or
they're percieved as bailing when things got tough then that's going to
be even worse.
Bill C

Had a thought. Where the hell are Governor Arnie and NOW? There's
plenty of money there to be put where their mouths are, and Patricia
Ireland and Arnie could take turns groping the women.
Bill C

"Bill C" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bill C said:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/jul05/jul01news2
Quoted:
San Francisco Grand Prix drops women - hopes to secure sponsorship for
men
By Mark Zalewski

Dave Chauner, CEO of Threshold Sports and organizer of the Pro Cycling
Tour, announced today that this year's San Francisco Grand Prix will
not include a women's event, due in part to T-Mobile not renewing as a
sponsor and the prohibitive costs to running two races on the city
streets of downtown San Francisco.

"T-Mobile elected not to renew its title sponsorship for strategic
reasons," said Chauner. "Part of T-Mobiles commitment was the
requirement to add a women's race in 2003, the first year of their
title sponsorship. It was important for [T-Mobile] to host a women's
race... without their support and the costs and time required with
additional TV time made it cost prohibitive this year. The time
requirements for using the city roads preclude us from running two
races. We are going back to the original format the city approved the
first couple of years."

I can't tell you how much I think this blows, but given the state of
the German, and most of the Euro economy I'm not surprised at this
decision. When are they going to cut loose the women's team here, and
the Pro Tour team. I don't think booting Schroeder is going to be
enough to save them economically. It's a tough call. The major Euro
markets are in serious trouble, but if the name isn't out there, or
they're percieved as bailing when things got tough then that's going to
be even worse.
Bill C

Had a thought. Where the hell are Governor Arnie and NOW? There's
plenty of money there to be put where their mouths are, and Patricia
Ireland and Arnie could take turns groping the women.
Bill C

Bill,

4 hours and 13 min. until July 1st.

Brian

B. Lafferty said:

"Bill C" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bill C said:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/jul05/jul01news2
Quoted:
San Francisco Grand Prix drops women - hopes to secure sponsorship for
men
By Mark Zalewski

Dave Chauner, CEO of Threshold Sports and organizer of the Pro Cycling
Tour, announced today that this year's San Francisco Grand Prix will
not include a women's event, due in part to T-Mobile not renewing as a
sponsor and the prohibitive costs to running two races on the city
streets of downtown San Francisco.

"T-Mobile elected not to renew its title sponsorship for strategic
reasons," said Chauner. "Part of T-Mobiles commitment was the
requirement to add a women's race in 2003, the first year of their
title sponsorship. It was important for [T-Mobile] to host a women's
race... without their support and the costs and time required with
additional TV time made it cost prohibitive this year. The time
requirements for using the city roads preclude us from running two
races. We are going back to the original format the city approved the
first couple of years."

I can't tell you how much I think this blows, but given the state of
the German, and most of the Euro economy I'm not surprised at this
decision. When are they going to cut loose the women's team here, and
the Pro Tour team. I don't think booting Schroeder is going to be
enough to save them economically. It's a tough call. The major Euro
markets are in serious trouble, but if the name isn't out there, or
they're percieved as bailing when things got tough then that's going to
be even worse.
Bill C

Had a thought. Where the hell are Governor Arnie and NOW? There's
plenty of money there to be put where their mouths are, and Patricia
Ireland and Arnie could take turns groping the women.
Bill C

Bill,

4 hours and 13 min. until July 1st.

Brian

Hey Brian,
How is it OT asking questions about our female racers getting screwed?
There are a bunch that were focusing on the SFGP, and now they are
screwed. That's OT how?
Bill C

Bill C ha escrito:

Quoted message said:

I can't tell you how much I think this blows, but given the state of
the German, and most of the Euro economy I'm not surprised at this
decision. When are they going to cut loose the women's team here, and
the Pro Tour team. I don't think booting Schroeder is going to be
enough to save them economically. It's a tough call. The major Euro
markets are in serious trouble, but if the name isn't out there, or
they're percieved as bailing when things got tough then that's going to
be even worse.
Bill C

The women's race was at like 6am on a Sunday- San Francisco doesn't need
the streets at that hour - they should donate them.

--
My bike blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/

"Bill C" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

B. Lafferty said:

"Bill C" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bill C wrote:
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/jul05/jul01news2
> Quoted:
> San Francisco Grand Prix drops women - hopes to secure sponsorship for
> men
> By Mark Zalewski
>
> Dave Chauner, CEO of Threshold Sports and organizer of the Pro Cycling
> Tour, announced today that this year's San Francisco Grand Prix will
> not include a women's event, due in part to T-Mobile not renewing as a
> sponsor and the prohibitive costs to running two races on the city
> streets of downtown San Francisco.
>
> "T-Mobile elected not to renew its title sponsorship for strategic
> reasons," said Chauner. "Part of T-Mobiles commitment was the
> requirement to add a women's race in 2003, the first year of their
> title sponsorship. It was important for [T-Mobile] to host a women's
> race... without their support and the costs and time required with
> additional TV time made it cost prohibitive this year. The time
> requirements for using the city roads preclude us from running two
> races. We are going back to the original format the city approved the
> first couple of years."
>
> I can't tell you how much I think this blows, but given the state of
> the German, and most of the Euro economy I'm not surprised at this
> decision. When are they going to cut loose the women's team here, and
> the Pro Tour team. I don't think booting Schroeder is going to be
> enough to save them economically. It's a tough call. The major Euro
> markets are in serious trouble, but if the name isn't out there, or
> they're percieved as bailing when things got tough then that's going
> to
> be even worse.
> Bill C
Had a thought. Where the hell are Governor Arnie and NOW? There's
plenty of money there to be put where their mouths are, and Patricia
Ireland and Arnie could take turns groping the women.
Bill C

Bill,

4 hours and 13 min. until July 1st.

Brian

Hey Brian,
How is it OT asking questions about our female racers getting screwed?
There are a bunch that were focusing on the SFGP, and now they are
screwed. That's OT how?
Bill C

You went OT with your editorial about Arnie and Pat. But you still have 3
hours and 10 minutes.

Bill C said:

Quoted message said:

There's plenty of money there to be put where
their mouths are, and Patricia Ireland and
Arnie could take turns groping the women.

Okay. If it would save the race, I'll volunteer to help.

gwhite said:

Bill C said:

Quoted message said:

There's plenty of money there to be put where
their mouths are, and Patricia Ireland and
Arnie could take turns groping the women.

Okay. If it would save the race, I'll volunteer to help.

What, help grope the women? Run that by Suz.
Bill C

In article <1120177585.c2e300ec99c3d966bac7d227dd53cac9@teranews>,

Diablo Scott said:

Bill C ha escrito:

Quoted message said:

I can't tell you how much I think this blows, but given the state of
the German, and most of the Euro economy I'm not surprised at this
decision. When are they going to cut loose the women's team here, and
the Pro Tour team. I don't think booting Schroeder is going to be
enough to save them economically. It's a tough call. The major Euro
markets are in serious trouble, but if the name isn't out there, or
they're percieved as bailing when things got tough then that's going to
be even worse.
Bill C

The women's race was at like 6am on a Sunday- San Francisco doesn't need
the streets at that hour - they should donate them.

You mean over and above the deal the city already cut with the race
promoters for a reduction in the fees the promoters pay to hold the
race?

sounds back to front to me. A lot of events of a similar stature as
T-Mobile make their venues pay them to have the race held on their
streets. I didn't realize they were having to pay SF to run the race.

Adding a W's race was a step FW. Removing it is like takeing 2 steps
back. That's a major blow to W's racing. Not because they won't be
able to race, but because of what going backwards and removing a race
truly implies.

What that they couldn't afford both races and the men's field is a lot
more competitive than the women's field in the same race?
Unfortunately, I think it's just a matter of money. If they would
have pushed to have both, they probably wouldn't be having either
race. That would stink. It stinks for the ladies, because it's an
awesome race for them, and an awesome race for the spectators to watch
as well (both men's and women's races). There is a definite problem
out there for women's racing in general though. The field sizes are
tiny and small at most of the races I've been to this year. We had our
state crit championship this weekend, and 8, count them, 8 women
showed up to race it. Taking into account one of the local teams
around here has about that many women just for their team only, and
there are other women's teams in NC, it appears that they just don't
care about racing all that much. We had a HUGE turnout in Greenville,
SC at the start of the season, something like 55 women or so, which
is not huge in terms of men's fields, but for the women that's
gargantuan. I guess my question is; what the hell happened to ALL of
the women that were racing then? They all just disappeared. How can
we get more women into the sport? This seems to be a problem for most
locales unfortunately.

Tom

1) The women's race may have been a good race for the women but the TV
coverage was minimal, there were hardly any spectators and about half
of the Board of Supervisors HATE bicycles with a passion so great that
it is a wonder who Tailwind has managed to keep theri venue at all.

2) State money is earmarked for the Tour of California. With the way
Arny is running in the polls at the moment I hope that the ToC
organizers have it in writing because there's no doubt that the next
Governor will drop any support if for no other reason than it is one of
Schwartzenegger's.

3) The California Liberals spent more money than they had. Now despite
the fact that they have a load of bills they want to spend more and
they're not shy about lying about anything surrounding the problems
(Such as the claim that Schwartzenegger cut school funding when instead
he cut the percentage of the INCREASED SPENDING). We see the same sort
of thing occurring this very minute in Minn. Even though they don't
have the money the Liberals want to spend more than they're taking in.
Bicycle racing can only survive if it can take care of itself. That
means not accepting money from government.

But San Francisco drivers would proudly run down racers in a split
second given the chance. That means that the San Francisco Police
Department is really loaded on race days. Every hour is time and a half
or doubletime for 300 officers.

I don't think that Tailwind EVER wanted the women's race but T-Mobile
had a winning women's team which would give them more publicity. The
thing is that just ONE race is a huge undertaking especially in San
Francisco where everyone whines about everyone else. Why, the big draw
of spectators inconveniences the BUMS on the street. No [censored] - they
have advocates that say that the city should be spending more money on
the bums "instead of funding rich men's games".

In article <[email hidden]>, Tom

Quoted message said:

What that they couldn't afford both races and the men's field is a lot
more competitive than the women's field in the same race?
Unfortunately, I think it's just a matter of money. If they would
have pushed to have both, they probably wouldn't be having either
race. That would stink. It stinks for the ladies, because it's an
awesome race for them, and an awesome race for the spectators to watch
as well (both men's and women's races). There is a definite problem
out there for women's racing in general though. The field sizes are
tiny and small at most of the races I've been to this year. We had our
state crit championship this weekend, and 8, count them, 8 women
showed up to race it. Taking into account one of the local teams
around here has about that many women just for their team only, and
there are other women's teams in NC, it appears that they just don't
care about racing all that much. We had a HUGE turnout in Greenville,
SC at the start of the season, something like 55 women or so, which
is not huge in terms of men's fields, but for the women that's
gargantuan. I guess my question is; what the hell happened to ALL of
the women that were racing then? They all just disappeared. How can
we get more women into the sport? This seems to be a problem for most
locales unfortunately.

Tom

Tom,

With good long term programs and good support you can greatly increase
the number of women racign in your area. In Northern California we
have 270 Cat 4 women,117 Cat 3 women, 60 Cat 2 women and 26 Cat 1
women. In one race earlier this year we had 94 Cat 4 women show up. We
were lucky to be able to run two fields of Cat 4 women to allow all the
women who showed up a chance to race.

I think some of the reasons why we have so many women racing are.

1) We have a couple of women only clubs. These clubs offer a lot of
support in a friendly manner to begining women.

2) For 10 years we have pushed promoters to have separate Cat 4 women
races when ever possible. For the past several years we have been
pushing pormoters to have separate Cat 3 women fields.

3) We have held special clinics for women riders and we run a Cat 3/4
women's race series with rankings and prizes.

It takes a lot of work over several years but you can certainly
increase the number of women racing in your area

DepartFictif said:

sounds back to front to me. A lot of events of a similar stature as
T-Mobile make their venues pay them to have the race held on their

come on, it's SFGPX. you're calling it T-Mobile still and they're
pulling out?

Just let the women race the men's event - problem solved.

-RJ

http://littlechainring.com/tmobileintl2004/sfgp04-0461%20-%20web.jpg

http://littlechainring.com/tmobileintl2004/sfgp04-0684%20-%20web.jpg

http://littlechainring.com/tmobileintl2003/posting%20photos/sfgp%20451.jpg

http://littlechainring.com/tmobileintl2004/sfgp04-0572%20-%20web.jpg

http://littlechainring.com/tmobileintl2004/sfgp04-0656%20-%20web.jpg

Mark VandenBerghe

Hey Casey,

I like those ideas really, but in the area around here, we don't have
the numbers to support that. Well, yet. Maybe someday we will. One
of the largest complaints that I do hear though is that women's fields
are all stuck together. So it's Pro-4 right now. But that's the
hitch, we just don't have the number of women to make it work.

We do have a woman's team in the area that is progressing nicely though
(BMW-Bianchi), and they keep recruiting women into their fold. But
with just one local woman's team, it's tough. It's been tough trying
to get women to race at all for the most part. No manner of talking,
and trying to convince them will make them do it. Maybe someday...

Tom

In article <[email hidden]>, Tom

Quoted message said:

Hey Casey,

I like those ideas really, but in the area around here, we don't have
the numbers to support that. Well, yet. Maybe someday we will. One
of the largest complaints that I do hear though is that women's fields
are all stuck together. So it's Pro-4 right now. But that's the
hitch, we just don't have the number of women to make it work.

It isn't ideal but as a start you can have a separate prize list for
the Cat 4s ( and maybe even the Cat 3s) within the open women's race.
This way the Cat 4s are just competing between themselves for prizes.
This isn't as good as separate races but it is a step in the right
direction. Also running handicap races where the Cat 4 women get an
advantage on the other riders. This works out welll especially with the
Cat 4 women still have their own prize list. This way the Cat 4 women
et at least somt time to ride in their own group before getting caught
by the experienced women racers.

Quoted message said:

We do have a woman's team in the area that is progressing nicely though
(BMW-Bianchi), and they keep recruiting women into their fold. But
with just one local woman's team, it's tough. It's been tough trying
to get women to race at all for the most part. No manner of talking,
and trying to convince them will make them do it. Maybe someday...

Another idea is to have a coaching/training clinic in the early spring
( before the start of the race season) for begining men and women. Have
an hour or so where there is some off the bike and on the bike
coaching/skills practice. Follow this with a practice race. In the race
have experienced racers ride along to act as mentors who can ofer
encouragement and correct dangerous situation during the race and then
offer observations and answer questions after the race.