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I was just looking at the USA cycling page, and they list the "UCI Continental Championships" as being at Rad Canyon July 3, 2010. Anyone know anything about this?

http://www.usacycling.org/forms/bmx/201 ... hedule.pdf

Hey Justin,

This is refering to the Saturday UCI Pro Race in conjuction with the 2010 GSL National like they did at Disney this weekend on Saturday. Just guessing but it's probably part of the overall 2010 UCI series and not a single race championship.

This is HUGE if the schedule is correct. It does show Rad Canyon as having a class 3 and class 5 on both the USAC and UCI sites, so I think it's going to happen. The continental championships are worth a ton of UCI points for the elites. For comparisons sake.....
national championships are class 6=30 pnts for 1st (only one race/year)
continental races are class 5=20 pnts for 1st (unlimited number/year)
continental classics are class 4=65 pnts for 1st (only 4 races/year)
continental championships are class 3=90 pnts for 1st (only one race/year)
SX races are class 2=200 pnts for 1st
worlds are class 1= 300 pnts for 1st.

I hope this means every elite you can think of will be in the house!!

I also think this needs another go at the OPS track! Raise the starting hill, get a proper gate, and groom the track. Seperate the elites races from the ams, get the news crews out there, have some stuff to fill in the gaps in racing (bands, BMX dirt jumpers, hooters girls, etc). Get the Utah Sports Commission involved and really promote the hell out of this.

This race will be a big deal for North American racers only (USA & Canada) who are looking to obtain Olympic and Nation qualification points. There is a chance that the Elite turn out may be effected by the fact that that the race is just a few weeks prior to the UCI Worlds but will be very minor.

The race is not scheduled as a UCI SX so there will not be the need to build up a large starting hill and get all the prep in. There could be some opportunity in the future to bring a SX to SLC but a lot of work would have to be done to make it happen. I work closely with the UCI for MTB and BMX events and there are a lot of politics involved at the upper level. I am not sure the time and money spent on trying to bring in a SX would be worth it to hold one race a year even though it would be very cool to have.

There is still a great deal of opportunity to promote the race as a critical portal to the Olympics for North American BMX athletes. The Utah Sports Commision could be contacted for their involvement in hopes to create a great show to make the event one to remember. We would need to organize a committee under the supervision of the Rad Canyon board of directiors.... anybody up to lead such a committee? I will offer up my particiapation as a co-chair'. We have a great group of resources within our UtahBMX community to make a good event great.

Thanks,
Steve

sspencer wrote:...
The race is not scheduled as a UCI SX so there will not be the need to build up a large starting hill and get all the prep in. There could be some opportunity in the future to bring a SX to SLC but a lot of work would have to be done to make it happen. I work closely with the UCI for MTB and BMX events and there are a lot of politics involved at the upper level. I am not sure the time and money spent on trying to bring in a SX would be worth it to hold one race a year even though it would be very cool to have.

There is still a great deal of opportunity to promote the race as a critical portal to the Olympics for North American BMX athletes. The Utah Sports Commision could be contacted for their involvement in hopes to create a great show to make the event one to remember. We would need to organize a committee under the supervision of the Rad Canyon board of directiors.... anybody up to lead such a committee? I will offer up my particiapation as a co-chair'. We have a great group of resources within our UtahBMX community to make a good event great.

Thanks,
Steve

Let's get it done... is the resident athlete spot available for the committee, Steve? :p

In all seriousness, if a SX track were to be built at RAD Canyon, RAD would be, hands-down, THEE best track/facility/BMX Program in the world!

For riders such as myself, this is the next level of racing. A year ago when I raced in the Dew Tour SX race, I was completely unprepared for that type of racing. However, after each lap that I completed, I became more and more confident and my lap times dropped as a result. I know that if I had been able to practice on a SX track prior to that race; I would have done MUCH better.

I see a large group of local younger riders that are coming of age who would be able to ride a SX track. Just look at all the new blood in the Pro-Ams in Davis! Thomas Bullock, Cody Kelley, Skylar Campbell, Chantz Silver, "Mr Style" Yuri Yassin, Zach Jiminez, Colton and Brody Dale, Jordan Wilson, Braxton Jorgason, Tyler Albretson, Braxton Fordham, Taylor Taul, and the rest! Not to forget Danny and Robby Patterson, Christian Martinez, Ryan Omera, Jaden and Kris Park; who knows, we might even see Mike Kelley busting out a 40 footer! Heck, from what I have seen from the local young women at the track, we might see some of them hitting it up.

Not to mention the younger-kid phenomena... I can't believe what 10 y/o kids are doing on their bikes these days. When I was 10, I was not doing some of the stuff I see them doing now. Jumping jumps, big manuals! I never even considered jumping jumps I see kids jumping now-a-days... If the younger riders now see the older riders jumping huge jumps on a SX track, that will make the overall talent of these younger riders EVEN better!

Let's get it done!

That would be very cool. My bet, is that in order to make it happen, some more volunteers will be needed. It seems like Mont Allen and his crew spend a TON of time keeping one track in good shape, and another track would double that work load. I think that's one of many reasons why the OPTS track didn't really work out.

If RAD builds a big start hill over there, how about building something like Gatezilla that can 1-sit on top of the start hill over there and 2-be used indoor to save on dirt and make a start hill similar in size to the nationals.

If there was a good second track over there, they could run 14 and older X on that track some of the time.

That would be very cool. My bet, is that in order to make it happen, some more volunteers will be needed. It seems like Mont Allen and his crew spend a TON of time keeping one track in good shape, and another track would double that work load. I think that's one of many reasons why the OPTS track didn't really work out.

Give that man a cigar! Good example Justin. That is one of the primary reasons why there are only two exisiting full time SX tracks in the world (Chula Vista & Aigle). It is a very costly and time consuming undertaking to build and maintain a SX track. Both of these facilities have a full time paid staff maintaining them which we dont have the luxury of. Both also have big corporate sponsors dumping money into their programs.

It is not out of the question but would be a huge undertaking. Somebody would have to be very ambitious, resourceful and well spoken to get such a big project together. Anybody up for the challenge?

Steve

well, I dont really think I meet any of Steve's criteria, but I would be interested in at least heading up an exploratory committee to ascertain the feasibility of such a project.

My idea wasn't really to set up a permanent SX track, or even really to set up an SX track at all. Maybe something that bridges the gap between a regular track and an SX track. Maybe for just this one event, maybe more.

I do agree that whatever is done (if anything) we cannot add more work to the already over taxed volunteers that take care of the regular track. We could look into utilizing juvies that need to do community service or something.

So Steve, using your vast wealth of knowledge, what would you say that that track would need to be able to host an elite level event? Probably not to the SX level of race, but something more advanced then our regular track. What was the feelings of the pros the last time it was tried? I know the race didn't happen as planned, but I'm not really sure of all the reasons. Was the track design OK? Was it just not ridable because of soft spots or grooming problems? Is this something that the pros would want, or do you think they would rather just keep it simple and stay on the regular track?

Anyway, lets throw some ideas around and see if this is something worth pursuing.