DALLAS MAVERICKS

This was sent to me with a request to post this on the cycling blog. These are the views of Chris Phelan relating to the things he has seen here in DFW and how he feels they are represented. Thanks Chris for taking the time to put this together for us. Please pick up the Phast Times News free newsletter for more from Chris.

STRIKE THREE!

By Chris Phelan

Let’s cover the first two strikes.

Strike One. How can ALL local media ignore an event that covers more square miles of the city than a bomb exploding, more city streets than any one bus line, and more people than fits into Cowboy Stadium? The TOUR DALLAS went off all across Dallas (no easy feat), from top to bottom, east to west, passed neighborhoods, entertainment, retail, and the downtown business areas, and yet was given scant coverage. Let me correct myself: NO coverage. How’s that even possible? You’d think just the traffic tie ups alone would warrant attention.

Strike Two. OK, let’s just suppose the above event was TOO local and not…professional enough for the media to cover. Just suppose. The same day as the Tour Dallas, while there was pro golf, NASCAR, and pro basketball on other main TV channels, a professional bike race took place from Williamsburg, VA to Richmond on NBC. A professional event, a unique one at that, being shown on a major TV network, should warrant some attention. “Ah, but it’s a bike race. Who can see them going so fast around and around in loops? Boring.” The exact same thing can accurately be said for NASCAR, except you can’t see the drivers, going around and around in circles. Though the golf tournament, the basketball game, and the NASCAR race was prominently featured on the TV news, in the local newspaper, and on the radio, the bike race was never mentioned. “Ah, but they’re all Europeans with funny names.” The cyclist who led the last third of the race, and ultimately finished second overall, was PAT MCCARTY, 24, of Allen, TX. It was the inaugural race and we had a local boy doing well. Again, how is it possible that this could be skipped over?

Strike Three. One of the subjects of one of the biggest athletic stories of last year was in town visiting. His visit was publicized more than the Rangers game opener. Yet, there was no mention of him. FLOYD LANDIS’ visit to Richardson Bike Mart on April 17 was open to the public, encouraging people to ask for autographs and take photos. Pardon me if I’m wrong but when did the Cowboys ever do that? And, again, zero coverage in ANY of the media. How is this possible?

That’s three strikes. Who loses? We do.

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Categories: Bumps and Bruises,

So when will cyclist take up there own causes and fix their own problems? As a commuter, mountain biker, and just plan cyclist I have had a lot opportunities to be in the presence of many cyclist. At every occasion I hear complaining about something to do with cycling issues. Yet every time I attend a meeting that may help fix an issue, or see a request for help with a cycling issue I see few cyclists actually willing to do something about it. Recently several meetings were announced directly dealing with cycling issues in North Texas, hundreds if not thousands of cyclist had plenty of notice about the meetings via message boards, e-mail, and direct contact, yet less than 10 cyclist made it to any of the meetings, and it was the same cyclist at each meeting. BikeDFW made plans to take at least 1 bus, and more if necessary, to Austin to lobby for a safe passage bill. Notices were posted all over message boards, e-mail, and letters went out. Again probably thousands of cyclists saw the notifications, yet fewer than 30 people went to Austin, in a ½ full bus.

The DFW area is blessed with hundreds of miles of volunteer maintained mountain bike trails. Each trail has “work days” announced throughout the year via message board, signs posted at trail heads, and word of mouth. There are again thousands who enjoy the trails and know of the necessary work needed, yet not many over 100 of those mountain bikers ever come to a work day, or volunteer to work on the trail when they have time. Many of those trails require a thousand hours of time each year to keep them rideable and open, some have over 20 miles of trail, or are in a high maintenance area, yet a very small percentage of people do a large percentage of the work. But again at any trail head, or on any message board, you will hear riders complaining of trail conditions, trail style, or the lack of more trail availability.

If cyclist spent at least 12 hours a year, 1 hour a month here in North Texas volunteering to take up their own cause, think of the difference it would make. One hour a month per cyclist, actually doing active work on cycling issues, we could have representatives listening, safer roads, miles of paved routes, more mountain bike trail, and a satisfaction that most cyclist have never known. Think about what you could do to help, get out from behind the keyboard and do it. Give it a try and let’s see what happens. What have you got to lose?

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