Gravel Road Resources: Questions Of Control And Profits

NOTE: Large doses of "my opinion" will be handed out in gloppy dollops today. You've been forewarned..... 

When it comes to the gravel riding scene, there is one thing- a resource- that is central to the activities on bicycles we carry out in the genre'. That being the gravel and dirt roads themselves. 

Obviously, this whole scene: the entire bicycle industry niche that profits on the scene, and all of us that participate in the gravel scene, is not possible without those rustic byways. 

When gravel riding first got underway, no one cared about the ramifications of basing businesses and careers off of those public roads because that sort of thing wasn't happening. Gravel and dirt roads existed for farmers, miners, loggers, and the like. The existence of those roads satisfied the effecting of the tenets of the Northwest Ordinance of 1785 and its subsequent laws and statutes which were based upon that ancient pact. "The Grid",as Iowa's gravel roads are sometimes referred to by, is a direct result of those laws and ordinances. They existed to make the domination of the land by European settlers, for the most part, easier and more effective for governance. 

No one was thinking that these humble paths would ever be used to base successful business plans off of that otherwise would be impossible without the roads themselves. In fact, the roads, as I have stated, are the essential resource for these businesses and careers. 

Before the gravel scene got to that point, gravel and dirt roads 'didn't belong to anyone'. That is to say, no one in particular. They are public domain roads. You can ride on them, at your own risk - of course - at any time. But now certain routes and competitions based on those routes have been established for which business entities charge, in many cases, triple digit entry fees for, and gain a profit from it off a resource that they do not own, nor pay a red cent to use. 

This is an important point.

Last weekend, N.Y. Roll and I had a text exchange which branched off in a couple of directions. The conversation centered around riders in gravel events. Specifically- Would there be, or are there already, riders willing to ride a publicized gravel route for an event the day before the event, or- even more cheeky- the day of an event? We theorized that due to gravel events popularity, due to some event's expensive fees, and in combination with lotteries to get into some events, that people would now be motivated to 'poach' a route to get in on elements of these events for free, or at what would be a reduced cost to themselves. 

Gravel and dirt roads are free to ride, but what about during an event?

N.Y. Roll took to his blog with his thoughts on the matter. I took the thoughts we had to Twitter and got several responses. But before I get into dissecting all of that, I should provide a little more context.

This entire conversation was spurred on by my seeing an Instagram post on the Mid-South's feed which showed what looked to be nearly a hundred riders pre-riding the course for last Saturday's event there. The Mid-South, like many gravel events, publishes their route well ahead of the event proper, allowing for the opportunity for racers registered in the event to recon the route for race day. 

But what if you just wanted to ride the route, hang out the night before and day-of, for the camaraderie  and social functions, and then go home? (No entry fee required) Secondly, what if you fancied competing, but didn't care about having your name on the roster at the finish? Those were the basic questions which arose from N.Y. Roll's and my texting. 

First we have to go back to the basics: The roads are public roads, (for the most part- There are instances of private roads in some events), and so anyone can avail themselves of those roads at anytime unless they are closed officially. So, go ride that route the day before if that tickles your fancy. No one can really say no to that, not lawfully. 

But when it comes to the day of the event? During the event? That's a sticky wicket. First of all, who would do such a thing? Well, as I suspected, I found individuals on social media willing to say that either they had done this, or they were aware that others had done this.

The threat of having 'rogue riders' in Trans Iowa was a possibility. Image of T.I.v12 by Wally Kilburg

I used to get threats from people who would tell me that they were going to 'just show up and ride' Trans Iowa with the rest of the registered riders. My way of dissuading that would be to tell those folks, who had been silly enough to actually try this ruse on me, that I would DQ any official riders seen riding with them, and would they want to have that on their conscious? To my knowledge, no one pushed their luck in this way.

But Trans Iowa was small. Almost always under 100 riders, and we had eyes on the course to spy out any odd happenings. Many events are far too large for that sort of strategy, and hiding within the group of officially registered riders would be easier at some of these larger events. So, I can totally see how it could happen. And to be honest, many events I've been a part of have zero "official race director presence" on course. No volunteers. Nothing to prevent such things, if they even are interested to do that, which it seems to me that they are not. 

And while I cannot speak for other races, in my experience, I would think that the possibilities for interference from 'rogue riders' would be of great concern. First from an insurance/legality standpoint. Secondly, what if someone riding along with your racers interferes with the competition? By merely being there, I'd say that is falling foul of that right there. 

And if you are not policing your route? (Is it really your route though?) How do you know this is not happening? Answer: You don't. 

RAGBRAI often has riders not registered who avail themselves of support.

While RAGBRAI is not a gravel event, (although the event has been sticking gravel sections into their event for the last five years or so), it is a great example of an event that is 'poached' by unregistered riders. While it may seem like riders poaching a gravel event is far too unrealistic to you, RAGBRAI is a perfect example of the practice and how many people have zero qualms about doing such a thing. the roads are public, so.....

RAGBRAI doesn't really care about non-registered riders in their event because it brings in more revenue to the towns and vendors, (and by way of RAGBRAI's "tax", more for Gannet who owns the event), so it is overlooked by the officials of that event. But in the case of gravel events, things are not quite the same. In fact, riders interfering with Pro caliber riders who are often in the same field as the 'average' citizen racers, have started to cause issues. Pros complain about riders not in their category getting in the way. Some Pro riders have started to grumble about "aid" from other riders as well. 

Many gravel events have clauses where riders can aid other riders. Registered riders, that is. But if that quirk of gravel racing is ticking off some Pro riders, who are trying to carve out a living and an image in the sport with their racing, I cannot imagine having unregistered riders in the field possibly affecting the outcome of an event being welcomed. And even if you are not being affected as a Pro rider- let's say these rogue riders are in the mid-pack or further back- they are possibly availing themselves of resources meant for the registered riders. That's also not cool. 

But who owns those roads and are the routes 'private', only available for a fee? Not generally speaking they are not, but these events are making coin off a resource which is in the public domain, and that is kind of weird. The pressure from Pro riders to have separate fields may end up 'closing courses', and when and if that happens, well then you have to bring in the overseers of those public resources, and that's when things will get really complicated. Go see what happened to Pro road racing for a reference.

I don't think event promoters like Life Time want that to happen, but if Pro racing gets a big foothold on the scene, and the prize money gets big, there is going to be even more pressure put on these events to weed out the public and whittle this down to what will amount to road racing on gravel. Then you'll have to have an 'open event' one day and closed course, Pro racing on another day, and that won't play well with how gravel events have grown up to this point. 

And once you get the governments directly involved, there will be fees and licenses to pay for. That's going to be a huge burden on entry fees, which in many cases are already 100 to 200 dollars or more for these bigger events. With inflationary pressures and higher gas prices affecting travel and lodging, I think that these big events have to walk a fine line between wanting the prestige of Pro athletes attending, with their concerns, the local authorities, who will be eying these big events and their take of money from 'free' resources of roads under their jurisdictions, and the foundation of the gravel scene, the riders. I don't envy those organizations in that struggle one bit.

And, of course, this is really a minor issue, relegated to that handful of events that are trying to be elite and prestigious. Which, if you think about it, is the antithesis of "gravel racing" in the first place. Smaller, grassroots gravel events have little to worry about, unless the big events stir up the attention of government, which at that point, the effects may be of concern to everyone in the gravel scene. 

But for now? Ride those free resources while you can. Be thankful.  Be respectful. Do it for the love of riding. 

Thanks for reading!