Burlingame, CA June 22, 2014 – today was the 28th
annual Burlingame Downtown Crit. True to
my word I voted with my money to support this event. Industrial Park crits have their place in our
sport but downtown venues are special. If
we don’t support the downtown venues the next generation of cyclists will be
stuck with boring deserted industrial parks!
Thankfully masters and junior teammates decided to join me in my 15th
year of racing Burlingame.
With the first race starting at 7am and the last race ending
at 3pm the time shift may have affected attendance, or it could have been the
conflict with the Little City Stage Race up in the sierras, or it might have been
a busy weekend for all those other California outdoor activities we love to
take in. It’s hard to tell, but it
surely did not stop the kids for coming out to Ryan Phua’s 11th
annual memorial ride. Thankfully, the
downtown venue lends itself to an event like this and the community has done
something great here – getting about 300 children under the age of 12 to come
out and ride/ race. With a parent or two
for each of the kids, the main event was Ryan’s ride… as it should be, for the
future of our sport!
Back to the present, and here comes the rant: I did three
races today. M55 in the morning, M35 at
noon and Pro/1/2 at 1pm. Sure, I get
fitter and faster when I race, but, why do promoters offer three races to old
guys when the very near future of the sport (the juniors, U23s and 20 something’s)
only get one race? One 60 minute race
for men and women? Even less than 60
minutes if you are an elite 3 or 4!
This is NOT a slam on Burlingame, but a wake-up call to all California
and USA promoters to pay attention to the categories you are offering. Instead of a conflict with LCSR, perhaps the
promoters could have worked out the conflicts, cut some categories and extended
the length of the Pro/1/2 men’s and women’s races? How else can we ensure that we prepare riders
appropriately for the next step in their young careers?
“Like” this post if you agree that Promoters need to extend
the time on Pro/1/2 crits. If you read
this and disagree, please tell us why.
Larry Nolan, Team Specialized
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