No More Beer Tents
The following blog entry (from Australia of all places... the only civilized country without a cyclocross scene...well, they understand their drinking anyhow) explains things pretty well:
"There's been an outbreak of wowserism in Belgium, where cycling bosses have banned the tradition of having bike races pass through beer tents.
The Belgians love their beer and love their cycling, and the habit of routing cyclocross races through the bar seemed to combine the two nicely.
But now the UCI says it's not on and cites comments made by 'cross champion Richard Groenendaal last year about the dangers of being hit by flying beer glasses.
Isn't that why they wear helmets?
To his credit, Groenendaal has said his comments were misunderstood, but that hasn't stopped the safety police from cracking down.
On the other hand, cyclocross may be dangerous enough without the addition of flying glassware.
The off-road races take place in the dead of the European winter and see riders on road-style bikes tackling deep mud, ice, hills and fallen trees.
I don't think there are any cyclocross events in Australia, but if you know differently please email the Desk."
What's next... no dresses in DFL races?
posted by Dave Carr at 8:31 PM
8 Comments:
Anyone who has done a race with a beer garden might disagree(Starcross). It brings spectator fever to a new level. Heck, why not run courses through mosh pits at a punker show.
Are the guys wearing dresses in DFL races really wearing costumes? It is SF you know!
When the beer tent is also the sausage tent, it's a different experience: a strong wiff of frying sausage at a race I did in Frankfurt was making me more and more nauseated with every lap, but the crowds are absolutely amazing in the tents!
Lauren C
Here's an idea - why not hold some non UCI santioned races with a barrier section thru the beer tent and see how well it goes.
We can keep the tents out of the UCI races.
What a brilliant concept. This is cross after all. The problem will probably be getting around municipal codes in a lot of the venues where the races are held, ie Soquel HS. Plastic cups would handle the safety issue. I don't know about you, but on the last lap, if I was pack fodder, if somebody handed me a cup of Sierra Nevada I'd grab it.
This article was not released by UCI - Van den Abeele later corrected the false impression. Beer tents with the course running inside are not banned by UCI - it's individual promoters making their own decisions. And Reeshard G. has had issues racing amongst the Belgian fans since the turn of the century, beer glasses or not - and since racing in Belgium is a huge part of his livlihood - he just deals with it. I think the huge change in heat/humidity/atmosphere from outside tent-inside tent also can be a problem with fogging up glasses (excuse me - EYEwear)
well I guess that settles that....
right,
back to work !!
Was that a beer tent @ SFGP? More like a beer tunnel! Regardless, I approve.
Rob E
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