Let’s face it, our sport has really be taken over by professional promoters.  Not all promoters and all races have this issue, but many races that I consider doing has this issue.  And by this issue I mean that they are charging pretty unbelievable entry fees for really shitty prize lists.   And by shitty I mean sometimes nothing.

I know, I’m going to hear all the complaints that it takes a ton of money to put on a bike race. But I’ve promoted a few races and was alright charging $15 to race.

Let’s use the Intellegentsiacup as an example.  This is kind of a replacement of the old Superweek, but not really.  For the PRO 1/2 races, it is $53 to race for a $1750 prize list.  So, if there are 35 guys at the race, it pays for the prize list.  Some bingo huh?   The hook to the riders is that  there is one NCC race during the 7 day race that has a $13500 prize list.

Let’s compare this to Tulsa Tough that is $50 to race for $10000 a day, or $42500 total for the weekend.   At the Intellegentsiacup, you pay two and half times the entry for 1/2 the prize list.

When I started racing, entry fees were really nothing.  Nearly always under $5.  And you’d win pretty great prizes and trophies.  Then it slowly turned to cash.  And this was great.

Cash prize lists allowed many guys like me, who were trying to make cycling a lifestyle, to go from race to race and live.  There were lots of guys that were living off the prize money they were winning each weekend.  It was a minimal existence, but it was enough to get by.  Enough to pay for gas, motels, food and entries.  There is no way that is the case nowadays.

There is no journeyman bike racer anymore.  There is no way that you can come close to living off prize money now.  Everything is way more expensive, but the entry fees have really gotten out of control.

What kind of irks me even more is that many of these “professional promoters” are ex-racers that wouldn’t have considered going to the races that they are currently promoting now.  These are guys that made their livings by hitting big money races and wouldn’t even thought of racing for “peanuts”.

Let’s use Dennis’ Seeley Hill Ski Race as an example.  He charges $40 for entry and has a $3000 prize list, which is nearly unheard of in cross country skiing.  Plus when you enter you get a $25 Swix Ski hat,  a bowl of hot soup and unlimited cookies.

I know it isn’t fair comparing a ski race to a bike race.  The average ski racer doesn’t do anywhere near as many races as a bike racer.  Bike racers compete in way, way more events than nearly any other sport.

Let’s use another example.  How about the US National Mountainbike Championships in Mammouth in a couple weeks.  Here’s a link to the entry.   If I wanted to enter the x-country, the short track and the enduro there, it would cost me a total of $340 now.  And that is for $0 prize list.

When I went to the first Nationals I did, which happen to be in Milwaukee, when I got there, I was paid, yes they handed me a check for travel money to come to the event.  I was the Kansas State Champion and the USCF (USAC) wanted to help me come to the race.  Here is the organization that we fund to promote our National Championships and they are making a pretty big pay day promoting an event that is part of the reason they are in existence.

I know some races have a reduced entry for juniors.  I think that all junior’s entries should be almost nothing.  Maybe $5 to cover the insurance.  The race is already happening.  We don’t need to be making money off a bunch of teenagers.  We need to be encouraging them to race as often as possible.

I’m not sure how to fix this problem.  It used to be a rule that each cycling team had to promote one event a year to stay in good standings.  That isn’t the case anymore.  Maybe if they went back to this rule, then there would be more races with less expense for the riders.  Because if we don’t get this under control, we are going to price ourselves out of existence.

Affordable transportation between races?

I read a good article that Bauke Mollema wrote about the Tour and riders safety.  It is spot on. And since the Tour starts tomorrow, in Holland, where it could be crosswinds, this is a good time to address the elephant in the room.  The riders and the team managers need to address the issues with all the crashes that have historically happened early in the race because when you really look at the situation closely, they themselves have escalated the danger of the race.

I don’t disagree with anything that Bauke mentions.  He is correct on all observations.  The danger exists because there is not enough space for all riders at the front.  And the team directors are on the radios telling all their riders to be at the front, which again, is impossible.

The peloton needs to be more concerned with safety.  Trying to stay in line, on a team mate’s wheel, in the middle of the pack is just plain stupid.  Fighting for position in the middle of the peloton is just plain stupid, early in the race.  It does nothing but endanger all the riders around you.

When I went out to Colorado three years ago and “witnessed” some pre-race testing of the Garmin team, from Jonathan Vaughters’ invite, a lot of what Tom Danielson and Christian Vande Velde talked about was being scared shitless about the first week of the Tour.  Could they survive the carnage that was going to for sure happen?  I never remember, ever having these thoughts in any race I started.

Everyone recognizes the problem, just no one or no team wants to say uncle and change the way they ride.  Everyone has to change their tactics.  Most places during of the race, or coming into technical sections, there isn’t enough room on the road for all 200 guys.  So a lot of them end up on the ground and out of the race.  This is a relatively new phenomenon.  Definitely since the inclusion of the race radio.  The GC riders, and their teams, need to back off at the finish of the races. There isn’t enough space for all the sprinters, plus their leadout trains, and all the CG riders teams.  It is physically impossible.

Get rid of the radios and let the riders figure out how to stay safe on the course.  A big part of bike racing is being able to read the race as it happens.  That part is fast becoming history in this new age of electronics.  To the riders detriment.   The team directors need to quit playing Russian roulette with their riders.  The sport is dangerous enough on its own.

Here is a link to Bauke Mollema’s article at Cyclingnews.  I agree with it nearly 100%.  I’m not quite sure about moving the 3K rule out to 10K, but other than that, it is spot on.

There is obviously only so much road for the peloton to use.