Why UCI sucks

UCI (Union cyclists international) has made bike racing so much less cooler. They have put their restricting,lame, and un-rad hands all over bicyclists.

Let's start out with where UCI comes in. In order for any race to be official in any way, UCI has to approve the race, and the race vendors have to pay loads to make their race official. A UCI official must come to the race and oversee the whole event. This costs money and is a hassle.

Not only must you get UCI involved to make your race official, but you must obey "official sanctioned UCI rules". For example in California, the UCI rules state your tires cannot leave the ground during cross country practice. How restricting is that? Not only is it bad for vendors,but if racers want to race in most races they must have a UCI license, which can cost 70 bucks a year. That doesn't seem like much, but for the average rider, it can add up. The more professional you are, the more you have to pay.

Basically UCI is a mega corporate company that is out to steal every racers money and make stuff complicated. Their moto is "cycling is our passion", if they actually were passionate maybe they wouldn't be such Nazis about the basic fun of riding/racing your bike.

The best races are local,non official races where there are no limits on how fun you can make your race. UCI races doesn't involve alcohol, nudity, or huge parties on the track. And that's part of the bike scene, sanctioned or not.