Looks like nearly half the entrants at Golden Nugget Stage Race are from southern California. Maybe the Juniors can help settle the north versus south debate. :?

I raced in S.Cal for a year (out of Santa Barbara). Let me tell you its really tough. I mean the races are plenty fast, but it's hard to keep fitness down there. All the partying, and women in Santa Barbara, LA, San Diego, all the beaches... man, most guys are racing on a slight hangover, and a full night of no rest from the 2 girls in the "industry" they met while out on a Friday night....

For example, the Manhattan Beach GP last year. I crashed the night before in a hotel with a bunch of girls I drove down with from Santa Barbara, they went out that night to party..I stayed in...they finally got back at like 5am, just in time for me to wake up and drive from downtown LA to Manhattan Beach for the race...I race, got 3rd...drove back to downtown LA, met the girls up with the rest of the folks for a roof-top pool party at the Standard...

Racing just isn't as big a priority down there. Too many women to distract the racers.

Furthermore, I noticed most racers also do other sports too in S.Cal, such as Triathlons, duathlons, 4wheeling, kite surfing, etc. You name it. The N.Cal racers are much more focused and for the most part seem to stay with one sport. (just what I've seen).

Another thing is that there really aren't many technical crits or road races down there. Almost all the crits are big wide 4 corner crits. With all the traffic and the large area, often the races are too far apart, so you just end up racing a lot less.

That being said, watch out for the track racers down there. There are a lot of Cat 1 Track racers that rarely touch the road and are Cat 3/4's on the road. Sometimes they show up at crits, just to hide in the back and lay down a Cat 1 track racer pace for the last 2 laps.

For endurance and hilly RR I'd say N.Cal for sure. For sprints and wide open crits... definitely S.Cal. I know D. Holloway is fast, but he might have some trouble with some of the UCI regulars that show up at ADT. Last time I was down there Taylor Phinney was in the P/1/2/3 omnium!

Look at the placings for track nationals from last year. You'll see a lot of S.Cal guys in the there.

It would be nice if there was an organized RR event to end all the talking though. It's silly to see so many "CA State Champion" kits up here and down south.

just my $0.02.

CPhipps wrote:What do we know about this Sisquoc Road Race?
Does it have any big hills?
http://www.2450mhz.com/jfg/pdf/SisquocRR.pdf (CW loop)

Also, http://scnca.com/2008%20Race%20Flyers/sisquoc.pdf

Yeah, I think Tony Cruz would defect too. He raced for one of my favorite Vietnamese Restraunts in Oakland back in the day, Le Cheval.

That's what I am talking about...some grade a sh*t talking. Actually that's really not sh*t talking, just the facts. I mean we are just talking about how good we are, not that their bad at all. I mean, you got to give it to So Cal, they try reaaaally hard and put in a great effort to be competitive. ;)

I think Holloway would be a key representative for the sprint to contest Bahati. He could also help us in the track for sure.

(When are we going to get a So Cal lurker on this thread anyhow???)

I think an Nor-So-Cal Omnium would be good to organize for District competition, though with all the NCNCA/NRC/Championship Races it's hard to get something to work. Or we could just leave it to talking smack, which saves me time traveling in a car to SLO.

Here are some Mid State races:
Sept 20-21 Mt Everest Challenge (Climbers)
July 19th-20th) The Sisquoc Road Race / Crit

We need some track???
This one's tricky... (2 events)
Jun 20, 2008 Hellyer American Velodrome Challenge
Aug 16-17 Encino Velodrome Championships

Time Trial you just need to leave to the National Championships.

Oh, but wait, Christian. If we start talking about fielding pro's, then So Cal might get tempted to as well. That means we'd have to deal with ... uh ...

Floyd Landis used to live down there, right? Would he be eligible? Oh, he'd probably fit in.

I guess there were also some guys who used to race on the track ...

We could be at a disadvantage, though, depending upon timing. I mean, so many of our homeys could be over in Europe. Sure, you mentioned Freddi, Levi and the Jacques-Maynes (both), but lets' not forget Steve Cozza and Lucas Euser of Slipstream/Chipotle, and most of the American racers on BMC -- Jackson, Nydam, Tolleson, Nathan Miller, and Sayers! Frankly, the Cal Giant train could lead any of three strawberry sprinters I could name to beat any combo they've got in So Cal.
I think Tony Cruz would probably defect to join the Army of the North.

Shall we limit the contest to 45+ masters then? Oops ... Larry. Or ..... Bubba.

Or ... collegiates? Okay. I wonder how Stanford and UC Davis would fare against ... uh ... Did any So Cal teams even GO to collegiate nationals this year?

I still think we should just airdrop Holloway in, like Rambo on carbon wheels.

Lets make it fair, Christian. How about if we extend the SoCal/Nevada region out to Colorado? Then we might have a fair match-up.

But 'til then, who needs the smog headaches and the hospital bills? Lets' keep it safe, fun and competitive, and just keep it in the (NorCal) family.

Well Levi and Freddy won't be doing the TdF this year. Maybe we can get them out too for this event too. Bobby Julich might not be available. Ben Jacque Maynes either. Yeah, might be a little slower without those guys, but will make do. ;)

It would be very very difficult to discover who started a SoCal bashing campaign. We've been bashing them so very very long in soooooooo many righteous ways.

I certainly remember contributing to that cacophany of strident Southland hatred in a billious discussion thread about the McLane Pacific crash-fest last year. I swear, when I see a jersey in a crit representing any geography south of Ventura/Ojai, I CRINGE IN TERROR!!!

I love the idea of our best and fastest matched against theirs, but the cost in human suffering would be too high. Christian's quotation from Gettysburg was right on - it would be genocidal carnage lining up against that many SoCal hackers.

How 'bout if we just send Dan Holloway as our kick-they-Dizzyland-asses emissary?

The name is Z-E-B-R-A-M-A-N, Low Cal. I'll see you at Churchill Downs and Superweek!

Who cares what the Jersey says. Nevada is part of the package and the riders from Southern Nevada are part of the Southern California "state" just like the riders in Northern NV are part of the Northern California "state". Guess I'll need to point this error out to the promoter.

The jersey says California, So Cal and Nor Cal riders are eligible.
Nevada riders count as No Cal. They are just playing along.

-R

What do we know about this Sisquoc Road Race?
Does it have any big hills?

Now Everest Challenge, that sounds interesting! Ron I think I'll join you for that one.

Mad Axeman wrote:Oh yes there is a State Championship.

It's called Everest Challenge.

Let's hit that with a gaggle of Mountain Goats from Nor Cal and make it a matter of overall best placing by the most riders.

Ron

No Everest is not a state championship since it is a championship for California and Nevada. The last time I looked both CA and NV are separate states but at Everest there aren't separate championships for CA and NV riders.

nice to know that c_kearney has taken the liberty to enter into this foray! With all of the posts on this forum and the SoCal forum he is sure to get quite an army!
The South is working up a free entry and free bus ride to the coliseum...what can you muster up?
hehehe.

Oh yes there is a State Championship.

It's called Everest Challenge.

Let's hit that with a gaggle of Mountain Goats from Nor Cal and make it a matter of overall best placing by the most riders.

Ron

It's on....
http://www.socalcycling.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6166#6166
We need to rally the troops to Sisquoc Road Race and Crit (July 19th-20th).

*****
Four score and seven years ago our Masters riders brought forth on this state, a new state, conceived in Road Races and Criteriums, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created to cycle in or out of district!

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that state, or any state so conceived and so dedicated, can kick the other ones ass in a road race or criterium. We are met on a great battle-field of Sisquoc (July 9th). We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their last pull so that that state might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this!!!

WHo's in? I think I can field a solid ZteaM Pro 1/2 field for this. It's time for NCNCA riders and teams to lock bars together, to defeat our Southern brethren. WHO'S WITH ME???

This might solve the Problem:
Two States
http://youtube.com/watch?v=F8XrBpHxTBw

justin wrote:Casey,

Which race is technically the CA state crit championship?

http://usacycling.org/events/state.php?state=CA

Hanford? Dana Point? Bako?

Funny we have all this chest beating but half the guys I talk to from down south seem to think this is the CA state crit championship:

http://californiabicycleracing.org/

There is no such thing as a CA state championship. What we have is a Northern CA/NV "state" championship and a separate Southern CA/NV "state championship. Personally I try to avoid this type of confusion by calling the events by their old name ( ie the district championships) or I refer to them as the NCNCA Championships or the Northern CA/NV Championships. Like wise I have always tried to encourage out lower state brethren to likewise refer to their championships as the SCNCA championships or the Southern CA/NV championships. Calling the event a state championship only served to confuse people as the quoted post demonstrates.

I accepted the challenge on behalf of the North on their So Cal Forum! Got in a few jabs too.

Lets get this going? Let's do this.

The Rummmbbblllee iiiinnn Coalliinnnga!

BTW, I am a cat 5 again on the NCNCA forum! How do I upgrade, post a lot more?

Casey,

Which race is technically the CA state crit championship?

http://usacycling.org/events/state.php?state=CA

Hanford? Dana Point? Bako?

Funny we have all this chest beating but half the guys I talk to from down south seem to think this is the CA state crit championship:

http://californiabicycleracing.org/

BRING IT!!!!!

Some of them can show us their stuff Sept. 2-7.

As a rider who began his racing career in southern California (1980-1985), I understand their mindset was a little different. The opinion back then was that NoCal didn't feel the need to compete outside of its own region, since the race calendar was so full. There were riders from SoCal who rode and medaled in the 84 Olympics--Thurlow Rogers, Steve Hegg, Mark Whitehead, Dave Grylls, to name a few--and they would compete in local training races at San Diego's Fiesta Island upon occasion. Yet SCNCA riders would venture north and do well ( I rode University RR in 1981 as a cat 3--top 13 until I cramped). Look at Sea Otter today and note how many place from such a small percentage.

As far as staging a showdown between north and south, the real test should be the Nationals or Superweek, in other words against the best IN THE NATION!! I thought I was pretty good in 1983 after I won a crit in MD with a 106 riders, but then rode SuperWeek and realized I was just as good but not better than everyone else. Imagine eight staight days of racing!!! When I got back to SoCal, I was indeed faster and nearly qualified for Track Nationals that year.

The point is this. They have a point. We do often stay in NoCal and think that's all that matters. There's an ocean out there bigger than our lake, and we should want to try to see what it's like. Then the bragging can begin.

Looks like somebody is just trying to stir things up. I have not heard anything. Basically someone having a debate with himself.

"They" do not have to actually arrange anything - Road Nationals are down there this summer.

Guess they will have to find something else to do.

It was good racing down there. The crowds were cool - kinda like Cat's Hill, but even more party going on.