Side bar. Rock Creek is awesome and nearish to Asheville, but the surrounding infrastructure is limited. Plus, no lift to the top. Just a U-Haul and trailer. But I could be wrong, as I would be skeptical about running to Nationals races at the same place. Creek is just more accessible and has lifts, hotels and more within 15 minutes.
Doesn't seem like Rock Creek has nearly enough infrastructure for a National unless they change some stuff. Soggy field to park in and a hike up the gravel road to get to the shop and shuttle pick up area. Probably a few hotels in Brevard 25 min away.
Either way im excited and will check it out since its about an hour from me.
Doesn't seem like Rock Creek has nearly enough infrastructure for a National unless they change some stuff. Soggy field to park in and a hike up...
Doesn't seem like Rock Creek has nearly enough infrastructure for a National unless they change some stuff. Soggy field to park in and a hike up the gravel road to get to the shop and shuttle pick up area. Probably a few hotels in Brevard 25 min away.
Either way im excited and will check it out since its about an hour from me.
In all honesty, I'll be curious to see what the numbers look like for Gravity Nationals. In Winter Park, at least, it felt like the XC crowd made up the large majority of the participants and spectators, dwarfing the gravity crowd. Even when the DS was packed with spectators, it was a lot of XC folks coming to view.
Sad that our DH national championships are going to be held on a <700ft vertical track that isn't lift serviced and is a 2hr drive from a major airport. Nothing against Rock Creek, it's just sad state of affairs when none of the western ski resort/bike parks have interest or willingness to put on a national championship race. Blame is on USAC for not paying good venues to put on national champs.
Sad that our DH national championships are going to be held on a <700ft vertical track that isn't lift serviced and is a 2hr drive from...
Sad that our DH national championships are going to be held on a <700ft vertical track that isn't lift serviced and is a 2hr drive from a major airport. Nothing against Rock Creek, it's just sad state of affairs when none of the western ski resort/bike parks have interest or willingness to put on a national championship race. Blame is on USAC for not paying good venues to put on national champs.
Who's stoked for a 2:0X winning run?
If Nationals had to be out east for the sake of variety, why wasn't it at least at Snowshoe. You know... the place that recently hosted World Cups?
Who's stoked for a 2:0X winning run?
If Nationals had to be out east for the sake of variety, why wasn't it at least at Snowshoe...
Who's stoked for a 2:0X winning run?
If Nationals had to be out east for the sake of variety, why wasn't it at least at Snowshoe. You know... the place that recently hosted World Cups?
Could be to encourage more people to race, or to show the potential for these smaller setups and to then increase the number of them that pop up around the nation. If people see that a National Championship can take place at a 700ft mountain, then we might start to see more bike parks pop up because Nats also means $$$ to the local community. Either way, this will be cool and hopefully start to give more opportunity for growth of the sport with a different spotlight.
Sad that our DH national championships are going to be held on a <700ft vertical track that isn't lift serviced and is a 2hr drive from...
Sad that our DH national championships are going to be held on a <700ft vertical track that isn't lift serviced and is a 2hr drive from a major airport. Nothing against Rock Creek, it's just sad state of affairs when none of the western ski resort/bike parks have interest or willingness to put on a national championship race. Blame is on USAC for not paying good venues to put on national champs.
So with that last sentence from Rider Mike, I'm curious to hear... Do folks actually think USAC "Pays" venues to put on national champs? It could not be more the opposite. It costs venues 10's of thousands of dollars, (maybe in the 6 figures when it was combined XC and DH) to meet USAC requirements, pay USAC officials, house all of the staff, and put on a national championships race.
On the same vein of polling the group... Does anyone know of even ONE other legit bid that was put in to USAC to host national champs in 23/24? I'm relatively in the know on these events (been announcing DH/DS National Champs since 2017) and from my sources I don't know if there was even ONE other legit bid on the table that met USAC requirements to host National Championships. And the Rock Creek Bid was put together at the 11th hour when no other legit bids were materializing. Neko/Rock Creek and Crew basically saved 2023 National Champs based on everything I know.
Sad that our DH national championships are going to be held on a <700ft vertical track that isn't lift serviced and is a 2hr drive from...
Sad that our DH national championships are going to be held on a <700ft vertical track that isn't lift serviced and is a 2hr drive from a major airport. Nothing against Rock Creek, it's just sad state of affairs when none of the western ski resort/bike parks have interest or willingness to put on a national championship race. Blame is on USAC for not paying good venues to put on national champs.
So with that last sentence from Rider Mike, I'm curious to hear... Do folks actually think USAC "Pays" venues to put on national champs? It could...
So with that last sentence from Rider Mike, I'm curious to hear... Do folks actually think USAC "Pays" venues to put on national champs? It could not be more the opposite. It costs venues 10's of thousands of dollars, (maybe in the 6 figures when it was combined XC and DH) to meet USAC requirements, pay USAC officials, house all of the staff, and put on a national championships race.
On the same vein of polling the group... Does anyone know of even ONE other legit bid that was put in to USAC to host national champs in 23/24? I'm relatively in the know on these events (been announcing DH/DS National Champs since 2017) and from my sources I don't know if there was even ONE other legit bid on the table that met USAC requirements to host National Championships. And the Rock Creek Bid was put together at the 11th hour when no other legit bids were materializing. Neko/Rock Creek and Crew basically saved 2023 National Champs based on everything I know.
I’m assuming the reason for the XC/DH split was because the XC crowd didn’t want to race at 10k elevation. Now both the XC and DH are at 2500ft or below. 🤦♀️
So with that last sentence from Rider Mike, I'm curious to hear... Do folks actually think USAC "Pays" venues to put on national champs? It could...
So with that last sentence from Rider Mike, I'm curious to hear... Do folks actually think USAC "Pays" venues to put on national champs? It could not be more the opposite. It costs venues 10's of thousands of dollars, (maybe in the 6 figures when it was combined XC and DH) to meet USAC requirements, pay USAC officials, house all of the staff, and put on a national championships race.
On the same vein of polling the group... Does anyone know of even ONE other legit bid that was put in to USAC to host national champs in 23/24? I'm relatively in the know on these events (been announcing DH/DS National Champs since 2017) and from my sources I don't know if there was even ONE other legit bid on the table that met USAC requirements to host National Championships. And the Rock Creek Bid was put together at the 11th hour when no other legit bids were materializing. Neko/Rock Creek and Crew basically saved 2023 National Champs based on everything I know.
@Trill Will I'm well aware that venues and promoters typically lose money on Nationals. I was suggesting that if we had a strong national cycling federation, they would do what it takes (pay) to have nationals at good venues. But we don't. And we're left with places willing to possibly/probably take a loss on putting the event on. Sad state of affairs.
Sad that our DH national championships are going to be held on a <700ft vertical track that isn't lift serviced and is a 2hr drive from...
Sad that our DH national championships are going to be held on a <700ft vertical track that isn't lift serviced and is a 2hr drive from a major airport. Nothing against Rock Creek, it's just sad state of affairs when none of the western ski resort/bike parks have interest or willingness to put on a national championship race. Blame is on USAC for not paying good venues to put on national champs.
So with that last sentence from Rider Mike, I'm curious to hear... Do folks actually think USAC "Pays" venues to put on national champs? It could...
So with that last sentence from Rider Mike, I'm curious to hear... Do folks actually think USAC "Pays" venues to put on national champs? It could not be more the opposite. It costs venues 10's of thousands of dollars, (maybe in the 6 figures when it was combined XC and DH) to meet USAC requirements, pay USAC officials, house all of the staff, and put on a national championships race.
On the same vein of polling the group... Does anyone know of even ONE other legit bid that was put in to USAC to host national champs in 23/24? I'm relatively in the know on these events (been announcing DH/DS National Champs since 2017) and from my sources I don't know if there was even ONE other legit bid on the table that met USAC requirements to host National Championships. And the Rock Creek Bid was put together at the 11th hour when no other legit bids were materializing. Neko/Rock Creek and Crew basically saved 2023 National Champs based on everything I know.
I’m assuming the reason for the XC/DH split was because the XC crowd didn’t want to race at 10k elevation. Now both the XC and DH...
I’m assuming the reason for the XC/DH split was because the XC crowd didn’t want to race at 10k elevation. Now both the XC and DH are at 2500ft or below. 🤦♀️
My take on the split is two potential reasons:
Reason 1 - USAC decided to try something different based on year after year struggles with cramming so many races, practices, qualifying, etc. into one week with 5 disciplines across age groups (8-80) and skill levels (non -championship and true cat 1 and pro "championship races". If that was the reason to try something different, I don't really blame them because I've seen the struggle from behind the scenes with timing and official staff running from one event to the next, delays to start races, running out of light, and losing practice days with one chairlift weather hold. Not to let USCA off the hook, but it certainly wasn't running super smoothly for anyone involved.
Reason 2- No venues wanted to, or even could deliver a full 5 discipline mtb national champs. The venues that have enough staff, trail crew, medical, etc to manage multiple races happening accross the mountain for 7 days is few and few between in the US. Not to mention having the 4 top caliber tracks for pro races, in addition to an amateur track for DH.
Do I know the reason why it was split? No... but would bet it's one of the two above. Would I rather have all 5 disciplines at one National Championships? HELL YES. We are all mtb riders and the vibes when XC/STXC/DH/Slalom/Enduro are all at the same venue is pretty awesome. I'm just not confident we will see that again until maybe 2 more 2-year bid cycles at least (5 years out).
So with that last sentence from Rider Mike, I'm curious to hear... Do folks actually think USAC "Pays" venues to put on national champs? It could...
So with that last sentence from Rider Mike, I'm curious to hear... Do folks actually think USAC "Pays" venues to put on national champs? It could not be more the opposite. It costs venues 10's of thousands of dollars, (maybe in the 6 figures when it was combined XC and DH) to meet USAC requirements, pay USAC officials, house all of the staff, and put on a national championships race.
On the same vein of polling the group... Does anyone know of even ONE other legit bid that was put in to USAC to host national champs in 23/24? I'm relatively in the know on these events (been announcing DH/DS National Champs since 2017) and from my sources I don't know if there was even ONE other legit bid on the table that met USAC requirements to host National Championships. And the Rock Creek Bid was put together at the 11th hour when no other legit bids were materializing. Neko/Rock Creek and Crew basically saved 2023 National Champs based on everything I know.
@Trill Will I'm well aware that venues and promoters typically lose money on Nationals. I was suggesting that if we had a strong national cycling federation...
@Trill Will I'm well aware that venues and promoters typically lose money on Nationals. I was suggesting that if we had a strong national cycling federation, they would do what it takes (pay) to have nationals at good venues. But we don't. And we're left with places willing to possibly/probably take a loss on putting the event on. Sad state of affairs.
True that... No surplus money being put into mtb national champs from USAC... But somehow there is a $60,000 prize purse at the inaugural USAC Gravel National Championships .
My prediction... Now that XC/STXC are separated from gravity events, USAC/outside sponsors will pour more money into the endurance championships. The joys of having the other half of mtb be an Olympic sport...
Bear creek is a tiny resort. They have a pretty fantastic xc race loop. But very little for dh or enduro. They don’t even hold a mass enduro anymore as the organizer seemed to get tired from a bunch of dudes showing up to an event paying a pretty small amount of money and saying very little other than complaints about the course. Personally I always had fun racing there since the non local races are usually too far for me to participate in with most of my job’s responsibilities being on weekends.
it’s sweet that two small venues have the passion to take on these events. I’m quite sure bear creek will profit 10x more from hosting a few weddings (my sister got married there) than they will from hosting xc nats. And Neko and his partner doesn’t need host nats to get any attention what so ever to the trails at rock creek.
hope now that he’s hosting events for them neko will be able to build on that relationship gravity mtb needs to build with usac to get better results. It’s not like the uci made wc dh great. The venues and Red Bull did.
hoping I can get off work to spectate xc nats. Plus that pool at bear creek can occasionally be a proper party on a hot day.
Rumor is USAC was at Rock Creek over the weekend checking things out...Maybe a DH National at Rock Creek and Enduro at Kanuga???
That's what I am hearing as well...certainly a possibility.
Where is Rock Creek?
Neko's Place in North Carolina
https://riderockcreek.com/
Looks like Nationals down at Neko's place is confirmed....
I read it as they had to move the July date at Creek for DHSE because Nats will be at Creek.
Side bar. Rock Creek is awesome and nearish to Asheville, but the surrounding infrastructure is limited. Plus, no lift to the top. Just a U-Haul and trailer. But I could be wrong, as I would be skeptical about running to Nationals races at the same place. Creek is just more accessible and has lifts, hotels and more within 15 minutes.
Just a friendly reminder that both venues end in the word "Creek," so when you refer to "Creek" I don't know if you're referring to Creek or Creek.
Sorry. I've always heard Mtn Creek referred to as "Creek". Rock Creek is just Rock Creek.
Okay, now I have another thought! They said enduro and downhill would be separate. Enduro at Rock Creek, Downhill at Mountain Creek?
national champs at ride rock creek july 12-16 - full PR here
https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/2023-usa-cycling-gravity-mtb-nation…
Doesn't seem like Rock Creek has nearly enough infrastructure for a National unless they change some stuff. Soggy field to park in and a hike up the gravel road to get to the shop and shuttle pick up area. Probably a few hotels in Brevard 25 min away.
Either way im excited and will check it out since its about an hour from me.
In all honesty, I'll be curious to see what the numbers look like for Gravity Nationals. In Winter Park, at least, it felt like the XC crowd made up the large majority of the participants and spectators, dwarfing the gravity crowd. Even when the DS was packed with spectators, it was a lot of XC folks coming to view.
Sad that our DH national championships are going to be held on a <700ft vertical track that isn't lift serviced and is a 2hr drive from a major airport. Nothing against Rock Creek, it's just sad state of affairs when none of the western ski resort/bike parks have interest or willingness to put on a national championship race. Blame is on USAC for not paying good venues to put on national champs.
Who's stoked for a 2:0X winning run?
If Nationals had to be out east for the sake of variety, why wasn't it at least at Snowshoe. You know... the place that recently hosted World Cups?
Could be to encourage more people to race, or to show the potential for these smaller setups and to then increase the number of them that pop up around the nation. If people see that a National Championship can take place at a 700ft mountain, then we might start to see more bike parks pop up because Nats also means $$$ to the local community. Either way, this will be cool and hopefully start to give more opportunity for growth of the sport with a different spotlight.
So with that last sentence from Rider Mike, I'm curious to hear... Do folks actually think USAC "Pays" venues to put on national champs? It could not be more the opposite. It costs venues 10's of thousands of dollars, (maybe in the 6 figures when it was combined XC and DH) to meet USAC requirements, pay USAC officials, house all of the staff, and put on a national championships race.
On the same vein of polling the group... Does anyone know of even ONE other legit bid that was put in to USAC to host national champs in 23/24? I'm relatively in the know on these events (been announcing DH/DS National Champs since 2017) and from my sources I don't know if there was even ONE other legit bid on the table that met USAC requirements to host National Championships. And the Rock Creek Bid was put together at the 11th hour when no other legit bids were materializing. Neko/Rock Creek and Crew basically saved 2023 National Champs based on everything I know.
I’m assuming the reason for the XC/DH split was because the XC crowd didn’t want to race at 10k elevation. Now both the XC and DH are at 2500ft or below. 🤦♀️
@Trill Will I'm well aware that venues and promoters typically lose money on Nationals. I was suggesting that if we had a strong national cycling federation, they would do what it takes (pay) to have nationals at good venues. But we don't. And we're left with places willing to possibly/probably take a loss on putting the event on. Sad state of affairs.
My take on the split is two potential reasons:
Reason 1 - USAC decided to try something different based on year after year struggles with cramming so many races, practices, qualifying, etc. into one week with 5 disciplines across age groups (8-80) and skill levels (non -championship and true cat 1 and pro "championship races". If that was the reason to try something different, I don't really blame them because I've seen the struggle from behind the scenes with timing and official staff running from one event to the next, delays to start races, running out of light, and losing practice days with one chairlift weather hold. Not to let USCA off the hook, but it certainly wasn't running super smoothly for anyone involved.
Reason 2- No venues wanted to, or even could deliver a full 5 discipline mtb national champs. The venues that have enough staff, trail crew, medical, etc to manage multiple races happening accross the mountain for 7 days is few and few between in the US. Not to mention having the 4 top caliber tracks for pro races, in addition to an amateur track for DH.
Do I know the reason why it was split? No... but would bet it's one of the two above. Would I rather have all 5 disciplines at one National Championships? HELL YES. We are all mtb riders and the vibes when XC/STXC/DH/Slalom/Enduro are all at the same venue is pretty awesome. I'm just not confident we will see that again until maybe 2 more 2-year bid cycles at least (5 years out).
True that... No surplus money being put into mtb national champs from USAC... But somehow there is a $60,000 prize purse at the inaugural USAC Gravel National Championships
.
My prediction... Now that XC/STXC are separated from gravity events, USAC/outside sponsors will pour more money into the endurance championships. The joys of having the other half of mtb be an Olympic sport...
Bear creek is a tiny resort. They have a pretty fantastic xc race loop. But very little for dh or enduro. They don’t even hold a mass enduro anymore as the organizer seemed to get tired from a bunch of dudes showing up to an event paying a pretty small amount of money and saying very little other than complaints about the course. Personally I always had fun racing there since the non local races are usually too far for me to participate in with most of my job’s responsibilities being on weekends.
it’s sweet that two small venues have the passion to take on these events. I’m quite sure bear creek will profit 10x more from hosting a few weddings (my sister got married there) than they will from hosting xc nats. And Neko and his partner doesn’t need host nats to get any attention what so ever to the trails at rock creek.
hope now that he’s hosting events for them neko will be able to build on that relationship gravity mtb needs to build with usac to get better results. It’s not like the uci made wc dh great. The venues and Red Bull did.
hoping I can get off work to spectate xc nats. Plus that pool at bear creek can occasionally be a proper party on a hot day.
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