Yeah, I talked to Missy for a good 20 minutes at a snowshoe race because I sheered my front rotor completely off haha. She had the same thing happen to her at a Mont St anne race. Definitely an awesome person to talk to. I have heard guys like Strait are the biggest douche bags...
Even walking into the only serious downhill shop in Phoenix where everyone is very, very cool, he's just intimidated by all the 5K+ bike owners.
No, I see it out here too. Mostly, though, it's with younger kids. I rode a lot last summer with high school kids (I'm in grad school) and they seemed more hung up on what people were riding, etc, than almost any other group of riders.
HAHAHAHA, very true...although they put on a COUPLE good events.
Part of the problem is the lack of TV coverage and that stems from how hard it is to make a race look exciting on TV. I remember in 98/99 when they had a bunch of the world cups on TV it was cool, but the videos being put out were better. When we catch air its not as exciting as a freestyle mx guy gapping 100ft
What exactly does a resort need to be at that caliber to host a World Cup event?
i think it is 100/hr
What? No. Whistler saw more income from bikes last season than they did from skiing. First time this has ever happened at whistler, or anywhere else.
are you really that helpless? here are 10 random ideas to help you out...if you're worried about your way being "best" then you're worrying about the wrong thing.
It was in a whistler press release somewhere. I will see if i can dig it up and email it to you. Just to be clear, this is resort wide tourism income (hotels, restaurants, bike park etc etc), not just the bike park (obviously).
I will inquire but I do believe that deal has been dead for a couple years now. I remember trying to take advantage of the coupons a couple times for team riders and it was a sorta bum deal. You had to buy the tix thru United directly, which was a higher price than you'd get from shopping online. So, it basically canceled out any benefit. There is currently a deal w/ United for members to receive up to 15% off w/ a promo code.
And who exactly do you think was the leading force in getting the Gravity East Series going? Yep, it was Kelli Lusk from USA Cycling/Norba along with the efforts of a dozen or so USAC/Norba affilated promoters and event organizers!
A lot of it ends up being dates, logistics, and conflicts vs money. More on this below.
Almost all of it is in production and staging. What they did on the live feed coverage at Ft Bill was awesome! A bunch of cams, helicopters, etc. A well executed product will have the action and the drama. It certainly can be done.
It's not as much of what they need...they need to basically be within 2 hours of an international airport, have sufficient lodging on-site or with-in close proximity, have a promoter with experience at the venue and in promoting larger scale events. They also need to bond some cash (for guaranteeing prize payouts and paying officials and such), have well written plans for things like marshalls & EMTs, and put up some beds for officials and VIPs. Now, the major sticky issues in the US have tended to be 1. dates - Needs to flow into the schedule and resorts often end up having another event pre-booked on the available dates from the UCI 2. Sponsor conflicts - Many US venues are Ford or Chevy; UCI is Nissan 3. Beds - In the US the accomodations often are leased out to a vendor or controlled by an owner group so the mountain can't as easily have access to the comp rooms as we'd all think.
dead on Spoons! Kudos!©2001;2723706 said:
Depends on what you want the sport to do....if you want money to be injected into the sport and give the pros the ability to make a descent living, then yes we do need TV. Personally? I like that the sport is a niche and the racing scene around here is getting larger....more back to the numbers we saw in the late 90s and we have two nice freeride parks near by.
The car co.'s that offer 0%, 1.9%, etc are their own finance co. It's unlikely many, if any, bike mfg. could afford to run that kind of business. Especially considering that they could earn more $ by leaving it in the bank. Also you will never find that kind of financing on a personal, uninsured item such as a bicycle, computer, etc..
, in the paper and so on... 
irate2:imstupid to have a race on a short slope with some friends on hardtails on a less gnarly track. Just some turns and jumps and show the beauty of riding in mud should be fun for a boy/girl who´s been doing a boring sport/hobby like f.i. soccer, ponyriding or whatever similar. If we could do smaller races to get younger people and more people racing with whatever bike, it might be easier for the sport to expand? A broader DH-community?
Those that you mention are licensing, for profit organizations. Correct me if I am wrong! I think this is one of the Fairies that pay for advertising for NASCAR: Sirius pays NASCAR $107 mil.
He showed up at the Mt Snow NORBA National back in 98. back when he was fresh out of diapers and only landing 90 ft no handed landings.....Someone send Travis Pastrana a DH bike for Christmas.
We'll all be doin' the Dew in no time flat, yo.
