SSCX?

Let’s take something fun & beautiful and complicate it.

That sounds like a few relationship I had, and to mirror that; it’s the way I feel about NEOCX and my love of SSCX.

I’ve been racing cross for around 15 years now. Most of that has been on a single speed. Mostly because of the fun of it. I’m not going pro anytime, so why not have fun with it. (I’m going to pause for a bit, and so should you and re-read my last sentence at least 5 times and let it sink in)

And as the Single Speeders increased, we were granted our own category. (and a special thanks to that individual, you know who that is….) I thought this was great. I would be racing with people all with the same ‘handicap’ as I. I’ve known the feeling all too well of a cross race hitting pavement and hearing the clicking of gears, and I’m left alone. Then after the race looking for the other people that raced SS and seeing where I stacked up with them. Now the playing field is even. Great idea….

Well; I took a few years off from racing because there are many more important things than racing bikes (I should take a moment here again as well for this to sink in, but I won’t. because if you don’t get it, then you won’t get this and you should stop reading now).

And as I was getting back into the swing of wanting to race, my buddy tells me about the SSCX class. I was stoked. I get to the line, and I’m surrounded by a bunch of really fast guys. My first thought…”what the hell?”  Then I thought that maybe they broke up the class into two…nope.

So now as the time has gone on, I’m still confused about the SSCX class. So now it is nothing short of guys (and some gals) racing in the SSCX class and then moving on to their geared class. So is the SSCX race just a warm up for everyone? And now that they have moved the time of the race to 9am for this reason, are we just creating some kind of sand bagging?

Well…I can’t win in my category, but I may have a shot in this one & I really want the points in my category as well…so I’ll do this.

Is it NEOCX again catering to the 1% of racers in Cleveland that care about points? Is it a way to kill attendance? To kill off spectators? To kill off the participation in SSCX as a whole? I know half the SSCX field has a hard time getting moving so early in the morning esp to race.

I welcome any discussion….

tin foil Jens...

My tin foil hat looks good on me now…doesn’t it?

I made the prediction earlier this year that Trek was going to get their hooks into Jens. Some people thought I was crazy. But look at the logic here…

Jens has a outspoken personality. His interviews are always entertaining. He’s known for attacking in the break aways. Putting out a monstrous effort. His great one liners of ‘shut up legs’, ‘suffering’…

He’s marketable, which in Trek’s eyes means money. Plain and simple. Put him on a shirt, maybe even a make a Jens edition bike…people will buy it.

He’s going out on top, so why not make some money off of him.

Don’t get me wrong…I’m not blaming Jens. It’s a paycheck, and every damn one of you would take it as well. I mean look at Ray that started Ray’s Indoor Mtn Bike Park. Trek got him, and now he’s retired riding bikes all over the place. Not a bad way to spend retirement. Again…I don’t blame him.

 

Trek needs someone to lift their brand up after the whole Armstrong thing. Who else are they going to go after? Fabian? He still has years to ride, and could be on another bike in a year or two. Trek is scrambling for something. Did anyone even pay attention to the team this year at the Tour? Other than Jens…me either. I didn’t know the Schleck brothers were racing till mid way through the race ;) And when Fabian leaves mid way through to go ‘train’ for another race, what does that say about the faith of the team doing something, or even your teammate hanging out for Jens’ last ride on the Champs?

But one thing sticks in my head…he had a very long career. This career in cycling started in 1994. He rode throughout the Armstrong era. This era was plagued with doping. It’s been proven by independent laboratories.

It has also been proven that during the seven wins (yeah, I said it…wins) of Armstrong that no one was found to be clean. Unless you watch this:

http://youtu.be/tCBkEVXgtJM?list=FL8HuvNQy1FYDy9YzF8nDsMw

Although he denies ever doping, there are a multitude of evidence that states just the opposite. So my personal question then is, why do we raise up riders like Jens but not Armstrong? Was Armstrong a dick? I wouldn’t expect any less. During the height of Led Zeppelin, do you think those guys were ‘cool’? Doubt it.

So why give this guy (and many like him) a free pass? If doping is wrong, it is wrong. Or is it just a case of who is more marketable at the time? Open your eyes kids...