Ty Kady- Again we just wanted to try and legitimize the sport again. After all we created the sport in the US, but you would hardly know it by the past few years. More top Pro’s and team’s are heading over to Europe to chase World Cups and the amateur riders haven’t been showing up in the numbers we used to get in the mid to late ‘90’s.
Plus being an outsider myself to this industry, essentially I grew up chasing Moto Cross my whole life; I saw a lot of division and negativity between certain segments and parties in the sport. While we can’t fix everything, we wanted to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. I think with Sho-Air being an outside industry sponsor, we have a fresh look on the sport, while still having the knowledge on what the sport and riders want. Plus we have been very open to feedback from the industry and riders alike, and I think that was a key missing ingredient.
Additionally, the marketing of the series and riders was just not there in the past. In the past the promoters were left to not only run and time the race, set up the course, put up the feed zones, but were essentially the marketing machine behind the series. So that was a big goal for us to have up to date press releases, a dedicated series website, series T-Shirts, number plates etc. Now you can see we are working with helmet cam’s and a lead moto, with the goal of getting some of this race footage posted to the US Cup site, You Tube and other online marketing forums. It’s what has been missing for some time and I think once people realize how gnarly this sport really is and how legit these Pro riders are, we hope that attracts more outside series sponsors, as well as gives the people in the industry sitting on the side lines a reason to jump on board.
MTBracenews- What are your goals for the US Cup/Pro XCT? Both short and long–term.
Ty Kady- Short term is just to stabilize the sport and make it whole again. Also quite frankly prove to all the doubters that Mountain Bike racing in the States isn’t dead and that Scott Tedro is for real. So many people doubted it couldn’t be done, so first we have to convince them that it can be accomplished. When you have an uphill battle like that, it makes getting things done even harder. Once we get more people onboard, we can carry that momentum into 2010 and beyond.
I must say a big thanks to the people who took the risk on us and the series in the first place. Companies like Specialized, Subaru/Gary Fisher, Giant, Hayes Bicycles, Kenda, USA Cycling, E2 Hydro, KMC Chains , ESI Grips, Primal Wear, Static, H20 Overdrive, Static technologies, Thule, Mountain Bike Action, Mountain Biking and others that provided money and product to get this thing off the ground. Without them, it would have been even harder. So I hope these riders who attend our series, go out and support the sponsors who made this possible next time there at the local bike shop.
Long term is to obviously make the US Cup series the premier series in North America for the Pro and aspiring amateur racers. The ultimate fantasy is to have TV coverage, a World Cup or two and large corporate sponsors, while still maintaining the integrity and feel of what makes mountain biking so great.
It’s a fine balance of not “selling out” the sport, but on the other hand getting enough sponsorship dollars to run the series and legitimize the sport. So we definitely have to change some things for the better.
MTBracenews- After the first round of the Pro XCT what would you say were the successes?
Ty Kady- Well I think the men’s Pro XCT field was unreal! I think we had 120 men, which included like five Olympians, Current and former National Champions, U-23 bronze medalists and a good crop of top Pro’s.
I also think the change in the course was a hit with the riders. The same old course for the last five years gets boring, plus with the layout we had, I don’t think anyone walked away saying it was too easy.
Another small victory was we increased the amateur turnout by over 56% over last year. Given the tough economic times, we would have been happy to break even with last years amateur numbers! So that was good to see.
MTBracenews- What still needs to be improved?
Ty Kady- It’s definitely a work in progress. There are so many things right now; we just have to take them one step at a time.
One thing I see right away is increasing the women’s Pro field turnout. Only twenty-six female Pro riders showed up, which was a bit of a letdown for us. I think those numbers were down from last year?
The series is doing everything in its power to draw more female racers, both Pro and Amateur alike. Rider clinics with PRO XCT racer Krista Park the day before, just for fun rides so the first time riders can get a feel for riding some sections of a mountain bike course. Plus we are offering the ladies equal UCI prize money to the men if they can get a minimum field of 25. Not too many people realize that the World sanctioning body (UCI) or even our National sanctioning body (USA Cycling) don’t make it mandatory for the promoters to pay the women equal prize money with the men at these UCI events, or any other event for that matter.
But we understand that the girls are working just as hard, so we are doing our best to honor their efforts by pulling money out of our own pocket to make up the difference. We even got a dedicated PRO XCT tour page on the US Cup website and have some of the girls bio’s up there. We want to market them along with the guys, because they have a lot to offer as well.
But at some point, it’s all simple economics for these promoters. A field of 120 Pro men brings in considerably more dollars than a field of 26 Pro women, and so these promoters are losing money trying to match the women’s prize money with that of the men. It’s a double edged sword that we have to deal with, but the US Cup is here to market them as much as the guys and try to bring in more female participation.
MTBracenews- How can the US Cup/Pro XCT attract more amateurs to Cross Country racing?
Vincent Lombardi conquered the field of Golden Race Series competitors at the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, CA, the first of seven officially sanctioned GT Golden Races across the U.S. With over 2,000 amateurs competing on the 19 mile course to capture the first Golden Bike, Vincent led the pack and took home the Gold. Vincent receives an all expense-paid trip for two to the next stop of the Golden Race Series to defend his title along with a commemorative GT Golden Bike, a $250 Sugoi gift certificate, and will be supported with a personal bike mechanic and his very own cheerleaders, the GT Gold Diggers at the at the GHORBA Big Ring Festival in Cold Spring, TX on May 3rd.
