That was trash.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I do believe that in terms of televising races, crits should be the bigger focus if the goal is to draw new viewers who are not cyclists. They are far more exciting and require a shorter attention span. That said, the Red Hook series is getting a lot more coverage. I'm pretty sure I watched the championship race on TV last year, but if I did I don't think it was on a major channel. I can see that changing in the near future as they grow though.

But overall, the article was stupid. The crossfit crit races were extremely boring in terms of real racing action. The only entertainment value was watching most of them look awkward and waiting for a crash...but then being somewhat impressed they didn't eat shit (except for one lady). The announcers kept mentioning that many of them are uncomfortable with their cadence and that there were dangers of them crashing. I don't think that does much good for drawing new people into the sport as compared to showcasing the absolute best and racing that actually involves real tactics.

I thought there were some fair points.

This. I see no good points. What are the good points in that op-ed?

Women's cycling isn't televised b/c there aren' enough people who want to watch it. ...just like men's cycling: you get the TdF...and a short bit of coverage on the Tour of CA, a 2hr Saturday segment to summarize the Giro and that's about it...Crits aren't covered b/c no body cares. Cycling generally isn't covered b/c the audience isn't there.

smartyiak wrote:

.Crits aren't covered b/c no body cares.

I could be wrong because I'm predominantly a cyclist (former triathlete), but I find crits to be covered better than most triathlons, in the context of general U.S. availability, and not like getting Eurosport over VPN. U.S. Cyclocross Nationals coverage was great, as are all the Elite/Pro Nationals coveraged. Red Hook coverage is great. USA Crit series stuff is good. Men and women.

All of it is as-good or better than, say, live Kona coverage. The recent Twilight criteriums had live coverage.

This is the Director's Cut, but the live coverage is also good. And music and people having fun. And, look, women's racing with no noticeable difference in spectating!

Again, biased because some of my riding buddies (men and women) are out there tearing the shit out of these races.





Edit: Could you imagine WTC putting out a promotional video with the lyrics "Wasting mad swimmers on your back and break plastic fucking with your cupid black magic." :)


That's one thing that I think CrossFit/Red Hook have right: promoting to young people rather than promoting resort vacations with a catered walk-jog to the middle-aged affluent. (which is me, I just prefer to crit-bang with the kids to feel young).

Edit edit: And some here need to get to Rockstar Games and get them to stop having a combined men's-women's podium! Because markets or something! It's clearly just social justice warrior stuff and a bad business decision!

What page are we to take?

If you are talking about TV coverage or prize purses for women's cycling, then the viewers and sponsors need to be there or the hosting organization goes bankrupt. I would love to have more coverage of cycling, but in the US, I can't even see the Giro without paying an arm and a leg. How do you convince the broadcasters to provide equal coverage? How do you convince people to pay enough to put on the race?

If you want to look at raising interest in cycling as a whole, then maybe there is room for discussion. For the case of cycling and Crossfit, I hope it will encourage some of their members to try cycling. I know many of the local members and I can't get them to try riding. They always respond that it's too much cardio and will mess up their training. Maybe this will help change that mentality.


The same reason all the men and women I cycle with ride. Fun and fitness.