Rapha Super Cross criticised as King’s Cross event abandoned on safety grounds

Nice bit of cheek from @morvelo on twitter: 

Quote:

Morning @rapha - shout if you want any tips on organising an urban 'cross race! We've done a few.

 
Burn. As the kids say.

I heard there were CX races on the same day around the country that were run by local volunteers with years and years of experience that went off ok. 

it clearly needs a rethink, but the idea of holding races somewhere that on a better day has quite a lot of passers by who might be curious as to what's going on isn't a terrible one. 

Getting art students to do anything involved in sport?  What a bunch of fools.

Who wants to cross race on stone!! I was having way more fun in the Central League http://fb.me/1ZtZKbWgh

my boy was keen to  have a go this year, after watching it a few times at Ally Pally. When I explained that it was not on grass but on hard, shiny, surface and over obstacles made by art students, he was incredulous. When he saw the weather, he outright refused and did the mountain bike racing at Hillingdon instead. He is 10, and clearly wiser than adults

it's a shame, because its vital to have new ideas, but in general you always have to keep the artists as idea people, not fabricators. They're notorious for dodgy execution. That art school in Glasgow burnt down because of a piece that had a motor inside styrofoam or something like that. Thats why Damien Hirst and that lot all have everything made by that factory in the East End somewhere, otherwise it would all fall apart/kill everyone

at least Rapha had a go though. They've good commercial reasons for doing these events, but when they go right, they're great. It's ok to have the odd fiasco now and then, shows you're human (what happened to Echo and the Bunnymen at the TdF festival), but you really don't want to be endangering people, especially when there's kids racing

you want decent quality, safe "obstacles" for an event like this?

employ experienced skatepark builders who are used to designing/building outdoor BMX and skate ramps, and then get the timber items covered with grip tape or textured grip paint to provide wet weather safety

its really not rocket science...

I drove from Oxford to race and have mixed feelings about the event (the free bar offer did not help my mood due to driving! free food would have worked ..possibly). When I arrived I was told races were 2 hours behind schedule but updates were few and far between. I applaud Rapha for trying something different and by involving the students it should have made for a very good event that engaged the local comunity. But it also proved art students are not carpenters (should have had the work checked) and I must admit the obsticals were also lacking in imagination. It rained.. it's November.. it shouldn't be a suprise to the organisers. The tanoy system came straight out of a 1970's railway station and you couldn't understand what the MC was saying most of the time which added to the confusion. As hacked off as I was, cancelling was the right decision but I think it was more to do with the shonky obsticals than the wet weather. As riders we can adapt to conditions that are forseable (wet conditions) but chuck in obsticals that are unpredicatable and falling apart then makes it impossible to ride. To Rapha I say .. You pushed the boundries and this time the boundries pushed back.. try it again in the summer with carpenters supervising the students (it'll be good for the students and a learning experience) Get the course sorted earlier and I think it'll be a brilliant event, and get back the the fritte wagon they were fantastic. But even after saying all that,  after 4 practice laps I know urban cross is not for me.. give me mud and grass.. give me Ally Pally with an added sand pit.

Fuzy Felt

Advice on Facebook during the week was to use file tread CX tyres. For me, large volume commuter tyres would be better but, in any event, as soon as it gets wet any urban surface will be an utter disaster. This is obvious. And it's hugely obvious in November. 

The crashes I saw in the men's youth/junior race and couple of laps of the women's race were mainly not down to the obstacles- it was the utterly slick granite flagstones in the rain.