Young Colorado cyclists shine

Here's a little more on the junior development of cycling in Colorado. Just this past weekend at the North Boulder Park Crit several young racers proved that development in this state is still cranking along despite the fact that there is very little quality junior racing. Here's a story published by cyclingnews.com:

Young racers shine in Boulder
By Bruce Hildenbrand
A bit of history met the next generation at the Excel Sports Boulder North Boulder Park Criterium held Sunday May 18th. Back in the 1970s and 1980s the Red Zinger and Coors Classic used the North Boulder Park venue to showcase and launch the careers of such racing icons as Davis Phinney, Andy Hampsten and Steve Bauer. While Ian MacGregor (unattached) and Gina Grain Webcor Builders) won the pro events, it was the youngsters who stole the show at the 2009 edition of the race.

13-year old Michael Dessau of Jonathan Vaughters' Team 5280 development squad was clearly the class of the field in the Men's Category 4 event grabbing a number of primes and ultimately outsprinting riders over twice his age to take the victory. Not to be outdone, 15-year old Yannick Eckmann (Team 5280) soloed off the front halfway into the 60-minute Men's Category 3 race and held off the entire field for a very convincing win. Yannick's 17-year old brother, Robin (also with Team 5280), finished 6th in the Senior 1/2/Pro race.
On the women's side, 16-year-old Maddie Godby (Rocky Mounts/Izze Racing) won the Category 4 race. Her 14-year old brother, Zane (Team 5280), was third in the Men's Category 4 race behind Dessau.

Boulder and the Colorado Front Range has had a long history of producing 'Senior Slayers'. Current phenomena Taylor Phinney, Peter Stetina and Danny Summerhill have all recently distinguished themselves on the world and national stage. It appears the supply chain is well-stocked with a fresh crop of riders to keep the flow of talent going strong.

This just in: Taylor Phinney has won the prologue of the Fleche du Sud in France, a top stage race for U23s and it was Phinney's first win in the new colors of the Trek/Livestrong team.

Here's the thing about Colorado junior cycling, it's all about family. Many junior riders attend races that their Dads or Moms or both are doing. The juniors in turn get to ride some smaller races and when they're big enough (not old enough), they're thrown to the wolves, in this case, the Cat 4s and 3s. If these kids can prove themselves against aggresive racers sometimes twice their age or more, well, they're ready.

Contrast this to junior cross country ski development where the junior coaches are virtually afraid to have their fragile little juniors racing against seniors ever. With juniors in skiing it's all about fun, it has to be because the coaches and parents have to virtually bribe their kids to go into skiing. See, in skiing it's all about participation and having a good time. That's there in cycling also, but for sure the emphasis is much more on winning, winning at any and all levels.

The proof is in the results. Junior cross country skiing development- Peer driven, major money spent on a nation wide development and competition program that doesn't work(JOs), millions of dollars spent with no tangible accountability or results, all of the top juniors showed themselves more at Senior Nationals than at Junior Olympics. Junior cycling development - Family driven, conservative money spent on training and racing opportunities against tougher competition that produces top international racers year after year with tangible results multiple times a month.

We as cross-country skiers are constantly whining about the cost for juniors and their families to participate, well, how bout we start spending less money and start training more. That's right, I said the junior skiers aren't training, that's because the sport is driven by the social aspects, the kids care much more about their friends and going to Junior Olympic Prom than they care about training and racing well. Time for a revolution in U.S. Nordic skiing, dump the JOs down the drain and let's focus our junior development regionally. This needs to be the main focus, less travel, more training. A state championship costs way less and is just as inspiring, how do you think running is successful?