Don’t get me wrong, I have a huge amount of respect for the effort and the work L39ION are putting into the US scene.
Just to clarify, I was questioning the course in relation to the opportunities it offered. I think we can all agree that the L39ION train is seemingly unstoppable, at this moment in time. That course was an absolute dream for them. A few teams did try and mix it up in the final laps but was the result a surprise?
If I had to guess it was probably easier to close off a rectangular course rather than multiple cross-streets, etc to make a figure 8. That and the course looped around the CA State Capitol building, which was pretty awesome.
Though the stream seemed to be underwhelming, the atmosphere in person was electrifying and there appeared to be a pretty significant amount of folks watching that were unfamiliar with bike racing, which was a huge part of the goal IMO.
This section of the course has also been used in the past as the finish for Amgen Tour of California when going thru Sacramento. Logistically, there must have been pre-existing processes that the organizers were able to leverage.
In regards to 4 corners, ya I’m with you… but you know it’s really just their 1st race. They just need to get the hype train going. A good way to kill the hype train? Choose a hyper technical, risky course which provokes a massive pile up on your opening race.
I’m glad they organized this 1st event. I’m certain they jumped thru hoops to make the logistics work. I hope they continue to host more. Their success means we get to see more courses, more polish & ideas being implemented into the events, and hopefully more people getting into this sport.
I did the open 123 race and then hung out for the women’s and men’s pro races. The feeling was just like the Tour of California. Tons of folks lining the barriers, even way down at turn 3, which was 5 blocks from Start/Finish. Great atmosphere, great crowd. And the only publicity I ever saw was on social media, which makes the crowd even more impressive to me.
Did you do one of the Legion rides yesterday? I couldn’t make it but a lot of cycling friends did. My Strava feed is filled with pics.
Thanks for saying this. It’s amazing how everyone can find a way to denigrate all of Legion’s efforts and mock them when they win and ridicule them when they don’t. US racing is on the ropes and they’re trying something different (or something that hasn’t been done in a long time). I can only imagine the logistics of all the things they’re trying to accomplish - DS-ing, race promoters, coaching, pressure of the big-time sponsorship they have now, giving riders opportunities - all while training so they can win their own race 
I can’t even manage low-volume training. So kudos to them.
I didn’t make it. We typically get a ton of trick or treaters in my neighborhood, so I couldn’t justify another day away from housedad duties. But same as you, my SM feed was filled with all my friends ride pics. And post-ride pizza and beer! I heard they got about 200 to turn out, which is amazing.
It was livestreamed from a go-pro on Cory William’s helmet. We were on L Street near start/finish and watching them on our phones as they were on the backside of the course. There was a bit of a delay, but it was actually pretty awesome to see him move up the field to set things up for the sprint.
Yup, big turnout! And two different rides.
A friend posted this:
and her husband posted this, with an interesting comment
I agree. Not sure what they’re doing will work or that they’re doing the best thing, but doing something is almost always better than doing nothing. Massive credit to them for not just bitching about the decline and actually doing something to try to stop (or reverse) it.
After they (Legion) put two teams in the race do you still think (Legion) didn’t figure out how to have an advantage?
Complete Pooh!
That said, they are doing their best for popularizing cycling in the USA.
Hmmm…
It wouldn’t surprise me if they are sitting around scratching their heads wondering how to write a check, collect taxes, and 1099 a New Zealander.
She rides for Rally, a US-based team, so presumably there are domestic ways to pay her. But it sounds like
other people haven’t gotten their prize money yet either.
I hope the athletes don’t get screwed. My guess is that it’s more likely administrative ineptitude.
I noticed this morning Justin had something in his IG stories with a check post marked dec 3 and noted it was payment for a race in august… maybe he was less than subtly trying to say this type of delay is normal?
In the article I believe she says typical race payout is a week or so.
It was shared by others that USAC requires payment the same day of the event. UCI events typically take longer due to dealing with various country’s tax laws as well as waiting for WADA testing to come back. Easier to not give the money if you fail for doping than ask for it back.
Crazily, it was shared by a few sources claiming that L39ion told SRAM about Olivia’s post and apparently some back door shenanigans happened (SRAM sponsors Rally) and Olivia had to make a public apology. Another anonymous (so unverified) poster claimed on Reddit, that L39ion did this to Elevate after Tulsa Tough.
Obviously this is all bubbling up this morning on social media, last I looked some of the “meme pages” have started on with this. I have no dog in it or know any of these people personally, but that all this is out there is all around disappointing. Between all the crit and gravel drama, it seems to me cycling has a big problem where organizers and riders can’t seem to help themselves in not making the serious end of the sport look like a mess.
I try to take people at face value and assume they are honestly providing their perspective. I think a concerning part of the article is that the team (Rally) and the individual had not heard from the organizer about the payout. If there was an expectation of payout taking this long on the organizer’s side it did not seem to have been effectively communicated to the team and individuals involved. If drug testing and other things push out the timeline for the payout I don’t think it should be difficult to communicate approximate timeframes and set expectations.
I’m not up on the twitter stuff, but I don’t see what the event winner has to apologize for. At least from what I saw in the article. She hasn’t been paid, she hasn’t been told when she’d be paid, and she just said that. Its not like she called them a bunch of shady scumbags (caveat - at least from what I have seen.).
I would guess that there is a fair amount of social media backlash just due to L39ion’s huge social media presence and advertisement of the event: live by the sword, die by the sword.
Haven’t they set up a Go Fund Me? Or was that a p-take?
