http://photos.jacksonville.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=255958 (http://photos.jacksonville.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=255958)
Rumor has it that the Cycling Classic will not take place in 2008. Last year was the 5th year of these, very poorly advertised, event being held in downtown Jacksonville.
I stumbled across the race in 2006 while on a ride with my husband from Baymeadows to downtown. We found ourselves among hundreds of "our kind" of people and wondered what the heck was going on since we had never seen so many cyclists in one place at one time in Jax.
I recently heard through the grapevine that it was shut-down for '08 due to some internal financial problems (possible misappropriation of sponsorship funds), and the fact that the pros were getting their butts handed to them every year by the rain and slick brick roads.
Whatever the reason, it's sad to see a sport so observer friendly, bringing people from all parts of the country and world, end so abruptly.
Why would rain and slick brick roads runn off the pros? The Classic oraganizers can't dictate the weather and if the race isn't very challenging then what's the point? :)
Because every year the race goes off, all is well for all the amatuers...sunny and nice, and then when 8:00 roles around and the pros go off, the weather turns rainy and windy. The wind blows through those buildings like a cat 3 hurricane and when the riders go into the turns (at 25+ mph mind you), then slide and go down like a ton of bricks and....well, it doesn't feel good, and is actually a bit TOO challenging considering the conditions in which they're racing. Granted, pro cyclists who race criteriums (a race in a circle with many laps) are used to crashing, but when you go to an event and year after year it's the same thing, you kind of start dreading it. The pros reluctance to want to race the classic is the least of the reasons why it's not being done this year. The real story, from what I hear, has to do with lots of money being donated by Pulte homes and not all of it making it into the event, but rather, in someone's pockets. There was a delegation of some of the funds to go to Comcast to televise the event again last year, as they have done in the past, but when race day came, low and behold, no Comcast. Rather than funnel money into an event that wasn't even going to be televised and whose promotion was dwindling (again because the money never made it out of a certain someone's hands...from what I hear), the sponsors pulled out. No money=no event=second_pancake very sad :'( Good news though, is some local groups may be organizing to keep the road race portion in tact.
The road race is in Penny Farms though and is not nearly as spectator friendly...each lap is roughly 20 miles long. With the best of the best riding 30mph, well, there's still alot of waiting around to cheer.
Thanks for the clarification Pancake. BTW I wasn't directing my questions toward you. They were just hypothetical. ;)
Quote from: Jason on January 03, 2008, 04:18:32 PM
Why would rain and slick brick roads runn off the pros? The Classic oraganizers can't dictate the weather and if the race isn't very challenging then what's the point? :)
Because they don't want to die or wreck a $3500+ bike? I raced on pavers in the rain, in Gainesville, Florida as a matter of fact while I was a student at UF, it's a deadly combo.
pancake: have you done the Sleepy Hollow Century, Interlachen FL?
Quote from: Jason on January 03, 2008, 05:19:04 PM
Thanks for the clarification Pancake. BTW I wasn't directing my questions toward you. They were just hypothetical. ;)
Ohhhh, well, it's hard to tell sometimes ;) A lot of people really don't know. I mean, I've heard locals on the radio stations here call in about football players and basically say that they get paid to put their lives on the line, broken bones or not, lol. Yeah, cyclists don't quite have that mentality. Like GatorB said, it's a $3500 bike, dude. That's a lot of dough, lol. Then when you factor in most of the pros having mediocre medical insurance and having to work fulltime jobs on top of fulltime training, a broken collarbone is a loss of livelihood.
GatorB: No, haven't done that one. Would like to though. Ever raced SugarLoaf? I'm not brave enough to put myself through that kind of misery ;)
Quote from: second_pancake on January 03, 2008, 08:53:55 PM
Ever raced SugarLoaf?
The mountain? I did Ski Beach. Took out my best friend's left patellar tendon. He could never ski again. I feel so bad--it was his first and last time.
Yup, the only "mountain" in the state of FL ;D My husband did it last year and was in the front pack riding really well. There were 3 laps and on the second he was riding strong, within the top 5. Then on the 3rd, I was expecting to see him coming up the last hill at the finish and nothing. The group he was in rode by, then came the lapped riders and still nothing. Then I saw it, the freakin support with him in the passenger seat. He went down on the ascend, hitting some guy's wheel in front of him, and broke his collar bone along with a spoke on his brand new Topolino's. I die doing bridge repeats on the Acosta. There's no way I could do Sugarloaf, lol.
I had no idea there was a bike race here in Jax. Too bad...