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Next weekend up here in Fort Collins is the CSU race weekend, complete with a road race on Saturday followed by the Oval Crit on Sunday. Granted I am horribly biased as a former member of the CSU Cycling team, but the Rams bust their ass to put on this race in the spring (and their mountain bike race in the fall), and it would be well deserved of them to have a great weekend that serves as both training for nationals later this year and as a fundraiser.
Unfortunately the Boulder Roubaix is being held that same weekend, and for reason unknown to me the race promoter took issue with the CSU race. Below is a message written by the current president of the CSU Cycling team to provide some insight in regards to what has been going on over the past few weeks.
So, the sh*t has really hit the fan now in regards to the CSU Rams Cycling Race Weekend and the Boulder-RBX conflict.
To set everything straight, we did not choose our dates. They were assigned to us by the RMCCC BEFORE, the merger of ACA and USAC was final. There was nothing BRAC or RMCCC could do to right the dates. We were super bummed to be on the same date at Boulder Roubaix as we knew our event didn’t have the history behind it, and would suffer less interest. We did not plan to try and compete with Boulder Roubaix for that reason.
We work really hard to put on an event that our conference can enjoy and use to prepare for Nationals. We don’t make much money on it. We barely get by year-in-year-out and riders have to pay out of pocket for most of the expense racing presents.
Even with these factors, the promoter of Boulder Roubaix called our race director, Zack Allison and proceeded to ream him out over the conflict.
These are a couple of his more “delightful” thoughts:
“Cancel your race and do a fucking bake sale”
“Collegiate racing is stupidly underfunded and we (collegiate racing) a drain on CO racing”
“CSU never gets any results nationally”
“You CSU guys should never show up at any of my events…ever. ”The Boulder Roubaix course is fun, I rode it just last week. Its very challenging and hard on equipment, but so is any racing. DBC Events puts on great events, and we did not think our race would even be considered as a challenger (though part of me is honored that we are). It really sucks that someone thinks this way about Collegiate racing, and I hope that we can work to improve this outlook. If you’re still reading all this, you should really go ride your bike now.
Thanks for your support. We really appreciate it.
Like I wrote before I am horribly biased in regards to this situation, but this race promoter seems like a giant dick. Taking your frustrations out on a bunch of 18-23 year olds for something that is no fault of their own is a bullshit move if you ask me, and this guy deserves a kick square in the nuts. So if you were planning on traveling to the Front Range next weekend for some road racing, might I suggest you adjust your plans to include racing up here in Fort Collins.
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Fuck the Boulder Roubaix. That race sucks. Fuck Chris Grealish, his races suck almost as bad as his attitude. I would be happy to kick him in the nuts. He causes more problems I swear. Here is his contact info:
Chris Grealish
chris@dbcevents.com
303-619-9419
This promoter is a douche. It is a shame he considered it o.k. to denigrate collegiate racing. If I lived anywhere in the area, I would obviously choose to attend the CSU event. Collegiate racing has developed a number of national level pro’s, and it grows the sport by allowing students to race against other people who are under at least somewhat similar time and financial constraints. Collegiate cycling teaches riders more about the team tactics and group riding than USAC. There is much better (in my opinion) mentoring of new riders about safety and training. Collegiate cycling is the reason I started road racing, and indirectly one reason why worked in the cycling industry for 15 years. I still have close friends from the 2-3 years I spent involved with the collegiate team at Davis 20 years ago. If you expand it out, I’m still in contact with 20-30 people from that iteration of the team. Collegiate cycling builds a camaraderie that USAC will always have a hard time achieving.
Another Douchey Boulderite. Fuck him. CSU, Fort Collins, and all the great people here are waaay cooler. The Rams Cycling guys are great.
He can #occupysymbian…
DC Supports Collegiate Racing, full stop.
See http://gallery.drunkcyclist.com/main.php?g2_itemId=272&g2_imageViewsIndex=1
I wrote them a check, they let me spray paint the barriers with my own DC stencil.
I think the DC community ought to help out those young CSU athletes. Donate here:
https://advancing.colostate.edu/SA/CLUBSPORTS
I just threw $20 bucks a them. Money well spent.
Right now I couldn’t afford a ticket out of town if it only cost a quarter to go around the world. “Economic recovery” my ass.
On a lighter note, I’d bet the promoter is forty pounds overweight and has hairy legs.
This is why, despite living in Boulder, I have lost complete interest in local racing. The CX scene is not much better (see Stevil’s boulderwheretheytakecyclocrossveryseriouslycolorado).
long live long rides that take you from the bubble to far, far away, up into the mountains!
f that guy. collegiate racing saved my college career, taught me how to race, and introduced me to people who love to ride; these all subsequently kick started my love for racing. he needs to respect EVERY form of racing, and the people who dedicate the time and effort to make it successful.
…while it’s a shame that both races ended up being scheduled for the same weekend, ‘shit happens’ & for the ‘roobay’ promoter to vilify & denigrate the collegiate series is totally bogus…
…mr grealish, you should be ashamed of your behavior…it’s sadly ironic that you call yourself a ‘race promoter’…
It’s always a shame when two local races are scheduled on the same dates but it happens all the time in life. A shame that Mr.Grealish is being a dick about it though. I went to school in Boulder and was, and never will be apart of bicycle racing scene and it’s politics/douchebaggerey. But a small part of me is happy to see the rivalry between CU and CSU is still alive. When in Boulder head to the hills and Nederland, and avoid boulderwheretheytakecyclocrossveryseriouslycolorado
For what it’s worth, their FB is open for flaming!
http://www.facebook.com/DBCEventsCO
Who cares? No one that would do one of these events would want to do the other.
Racers are dicks for the most part. Promoters worse. The truth only becomes clear after you are done with it. Until then, keep thinking it is cool.
This guy is an ass. I graduated last year and raced for all 4 years with my college team. His ways will kill racing. I would rather see eight different races go head-to-head than no races that weekend. What a dick.
People who take themselves too seriously are dicks. I doesn’t matter if they are a racer or a promoter. Most promoters are just trying to grow the sport. Most work very hard for little reward. Very few are getting rich. It’s douchebags like Mr. Grealish that give promoters everywhere a bad name.
My 5-7 years of collegiate racing was the perfect gateway into this world of drunkcycling. It also taught me how to work the pelaton and give a lead out. Fuck him! Collegiate cycling screwed me over at nationals but it doesn’t stop all the great times and lessons learned… The gnome crushed the field and I wasnt allowed to race…good thing I got plenty of that from MBAA years later.
Collegiate racing teaches you how to get chicks to drive you to races, pay for your food & cheer for you, while you save all your cash for booze! Damn I miss it
The wkend will pass, freaks will race, both will pay. That bad mouthing promoter is sounding like an ass. We got free gravel races in the midwest – http://www.almanzo.com/- viva la racin revolution; governing bodies be damned.
Hell, there’s a THIRD race that same day!!!!! The Roubaix course is my back yard and I ride it all the time, but you can be damn sure I won’t be spotted anywhere near that area on Saturday. I’ll be grinding 150+ miles of the AntiEpic far from boulderwheretheseuptightturdstakecyclocrosstoofuckingseriously!
…here’s a little ‘riding drama’ for you…
…it’s a twist on those depressing ‘cyclists down’ posts we haven’t seen in a while…
…two pedestrians have died in san francisco in the last year from having been plowed into at speed by cyclists running red lights…both the woman hit last summer & the elderly man hit last thursday died in hospital from injuries related to the collisions…
…on top of the decidedly “not fun for anybody but the participants” critical mass rides, the city of sf, which honestly seems to be trying it’s best to accommodate cyclists is now taking extreme heat from every direction…
…granted, a lotta the heat is likely coming from idiot locals who do stupid shit like jay walk without thinking or text or talk on phones while driving but the bottom line is simple…
…‘two people have died in “the city” from having been hit by cyclists in the last year’…
…& while the number of car vs pedestrian or cyclist related fatalities will always be higher, that is two people too many…take pretty much any city & we’re held accountable by a different standard but we ARE the ones asking (rightfully so) for better, more lenient or accommodating riding conditions but this kinda situation sets us way back…
…anyway, douchebag promoters who prob’ly started out with good intentions notwithstanding, this is some real cycling drama…
Colin M., you are correct sir.
Can anyone shed light on what to expect at the Cobb lake course? A bit of gravel/dirt? What tyres?
Lets not be too harsh on Boulder, they have Vecchios and Mountain Sun…
Didn’t Boulder-Roubaix rip off the name and date of another, slightly better run race?
Chris +1
I’m gonna have to go ahead and agree with misters Chris and DB. Next, they’ll be calling it “The Hell of the Northish Portion of the Colorado Front Range.”