[chomxxo]

"USA Cycling is planning to have the Cross Country National Championship at Winter Park in 2022. This would be the 3rd consecutive XC National Event at Winter Park which is at an altitude of 10,000'. This creates challenges for the majority of riders who live at lower altitudes and have to acclimate to the high altitude.

For comparison the highest altitude race for the 2021 UCI World Cup XCO was Snowshoe which is at 5000'.
USA Cycling has ignored the negative feedback on social media for selecting venues at such high-altitude. Many are electing not to participate in the Naitonal Championship which is not good for the growth of our sport. In 2021 we saw many Juniors racers struggle and share frustration that for all their hard-work they will not have a shot at a National Championship based on venues that create barriers for fair and equal competition.

Please sign this petition and share to let USA Cycling know we want venues that provide an even playing field for all riders to compete not just those in Colorado! "

Sign up here:

Sign the Petition

Keep USA Cycling XC Nationals Below 6000'

www.change.org

 

[LMN]

In XC skiing by the regulations races have to be below 1800m (6000ft).

 

[FortOrdMTB]

There are no good trails below 10,000 feet. Duh. (Joking of course)

If they want to show off the sport it should be in an area that is going to have a large attendance and get publicity. Look at the draw for something like Sea Otter and that is not even a major market. The potential is there. Makes you wonder who got the golden handshake.

 

[chomxxo]

My vote is for Bentonville, but there are an outrageous number of places that could host the event.

El Paso, TX in the Franklin mountains would be out-of-the box amazing. You could even do DH there. It's a sizable city of 500,000, plenty to do, inexpensive, and you could draw a large attendance from Texas and border states.

Tennessee around Cohutta, North Carolina around Pisgah, Pennsylvania around State College, I could go on...

Winter Park is a ski resort out in the middle of nowhere--this year that had lines and food shortages at the few eateries they had open. The place was practically a ghost town besides Nats. It's gorgeous but totally impractical, even for Colorado residents (met a friend from CO Springs).

The only reason they do it there is so that DH and XC can be done at the same time. Again, get creative, no reason that has to be done at high altitude, many World Cup XCO races are done at ski resorts at 6k or below.

 

[xcandrew]

In XC skiing by the regulations races have to be below 1800m (6000ft).

That's World Cup skiing, and it's a good rule for fairness. It's not or at least wasn't the rule in NCAA skiing. My girlfriend used to always complain about races up at high altitude (10,000ft in New Mexico for instance) because her team was from sea level. (Skied the past couple days here at sea level.)

 

[kosmo]

Makes sense to me. 10k is nuts for a flatlander.

 

[response3]

Sheesh, what a load of whining.

If big mountains are a problem for you then maybe try cyclocross. If not, harden up and go race the same course everyone else has to.

 

[vikb]

Please sign this petition and share to let USA Cycling know we want venues that provide an even playing field for all riders to compete not just those in Colorado! "

For the sake of fairness I asked USA Cycling for a comment and they said "#1 if you are not from CO do you even matter? #2 HTFU!" 🤘 🤘 🤘

 

[FJSnoozer]

Sheesh, what a load of whining.

If big mountains are a problem for you then maybe try cyclocross. If not, harden up and go race the same course everyone else has to.

It’s not the course. The course is lame and meant for dirt roadies who can hold the highest wattage up a 10 minute dirt road at 10k feet. Wow, that’s neat.

It’s a waste of time for most who go and the working families who have to burn their precious PTO to haul their family up there. I feel bad for the sibling/child of any of these racers.

USAC is just being lazy and wants it to be in their back yard to save money for their officials T&E.

Let’s go mountain bike somewhere Good with an abundance of trails to ride while we are there. Note a place in the middle of no where with closed down trails for ongoing events. Most of us burn a week of vacation to be trapped at a location and do the least riding/week we do in an entire year. Many have to burn two plus to go up to acclimate, and roll the dice on if it even works.


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[NordieBoy]

Sign up here:

Sign the Petition

Keep USA Cycling XC Nationals Below 6000'

www.change.org

Shouldn't that be "Sign down here:" ???

 

[Ptor]

And to be fair to those not living where it gets swelteringly hot, also not hold it anywhere that the heat index will be over 27°C (27°C with 40% humidity; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_index).

 

[*OneSpeed*]

It’s not the course. The course is lame and meant for dirt roadies who can hold the highest wattage up a 10 minute dirt road at 10k feet. Wow, that’s neat.

This is more offensive to me. Combine that with the altitude disadvantage for most and it's an all around bummer for skilled riders that don't have access to higher elevations.

 

[chomxxo]

I think y'all got that saying from Texas, Colorado was our former territory in the Repubic, after all.

Seriously like California, most people "from" Colorado are from somewhere else originally.

The Rocky Mountains are beautiful, but such a boring course too... up, up ,up, down, down down...

If it must be in Colorado, at least make it somewhere interesting that doesn't run out of pizza...

For the sake of fairness I asked USA Cycling for a comment and they said "#1 if you are not from CO do you even matter? #2 HTFU!" 🤘 🤘 🤘

 

[chomxxo]

Shouldn't that be "Sign down here:" ???

Correction: Sigh, Down Under...

 

[Jayem]

HTFU and train. Jesus christ.

And I'm a SL rider (that does endurance races above 5K).

 

[Joe Handlebar]

Can we get a new sub-category called "Karens" please?

 

[bikeranzin]

Can we get a new sub-category called "Karens" please?

There’d be far too many racing in that category, and they’d all be complaining about how lazily the category was defined.

 

[sooshee]

The max elevation during the race was under 9,600 feet, so nice dramatics with the 10,000 feet thing.

I think Nationals should be in locations with 10% humidity and a temperature of 55F and minimum starting elevation of 7,200 feet, but you don't see me starting a petition over it...

 

[Le Duke]

Just so we’re clear: the top 3 guys all finished on the lead lap of an XCO World Cup this year and are better bike handlers than anyone you know.


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[response3]

The max elevation during the race was under 9,600 feet, so nice dramatics with the 10,000 feet thing.

I think Nationals should be in locations with 10% humidity and a temperature of 55F and minimum starting elevation of 7,200 feet, but you don't see me starting a petition over it...

For real, we all want certain conditions that suit our strengths but have to race the course on the day. That’s racing.

When you boil it down, XC is a dirt version of a watts/kg contest and the courses rarely require much technical skill. Sure, you can build a course that has big climbs, or more rolling hills, or punchy climbs, or has a few steep dh sections, but it’s still ultimately all about power.

It’s probably no surprise to anyone that’s been around that riders from mountainous regions tend to have an advantage in XC racing either at sea level or at home. OP seems to think that asking for a lower elevation course will somehow level the field.