I missed a couple of things while I recovered from the narcotic stupor following my prostate surgery. One was coverage of the Interbike 2007 trade show. Another was George Hincapie's announcement that he was joining T-Mobile cycling team.
I also missed the unveiling of the 2008 Tour of America — a Tour de France-style cross-country bicycle race from New York to San Francisco.
Overall, it sounds like a cool idea for a coast-to-coast stage bike race. Dammit, if the French can do it, why not the Americans? But some of the details are just mind-boggling. And after reading some coverage from VeloNews (Friday's Foaming Rant “Detour of America) and Bicycling (The Boulder Report “Tour Day What?“), I wondered if we'll ever see such a race.
The tour
The official Tour of America website draws parallels with the Tour de France, and mentions the popularity of the Tour of Georgia and the Tour of California. It estimates the financial boon to all the communities along the route could total $500 million.
The entire East-West bike race can be knocked out in a prologue and 26 stages, according to a proposed route schedule spanning 4,700 miles. That's 174 miles a day, with several 260- and 250-mile days sprinkled in.
Management consultant Frank Arokiasamy, who is unknown to the cycling world, made a presentation to the press last week. They asked a lot of questions that he couldn't answer, or answered inadequately.
No answers
Joe Lindsey at the Boulder Report repeats some of those revelations from the press conference:
Arokiasamy said “top tier” teams would compete, but didn't mention which ones or how they would compete if the event weren't sanctioned by the UCI;
Some of the host cities had been contacted, but there were no firm commitments;
There will be no title sponsor, but 27 individual sponsors that will pitch in enough to cover the $30 million budget. How can so many sponsors get their moment in the sun to make the investment worth their while?
Race Across America
There's already a transcontinental bike race. The Race Across America is an endurance biking event for individuals and small teams. Except for its start in Oceanside, California, and finish in Atlantic City, New Jersey, there are no host towns. In most cases, the point is to just keep pedaling.
There's no $30 million budget either. But it's been going since 1982 and already has a rich history of competitors like Americans Lon Haldeman and Pete Penseyres, and Slovenia's Jure Robic.
It has athletes, who mostly train on their own, fighting off fatigue, sleep deprivation and mechanical problems to finish the transcontinental race. If we're looking for a big US race to get behind, how about RAAM?
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