NOTE: Large doses of "my opinion" will be handed out in gloppy dollops today. You've been forewarned.....
A little over a week ago I wrote a "part one" on the subject of riders misbehaving at events and how that has affected events and their organizers negatively. A comment by N.Y Roll left on that post motivated me to dig up a story from 2015. Not that the year is significant. In my opinion, this subject seems to be timeless, but many people choose to look away, or are completely ignorant of the source of the problems.
N.Y. Roll put it succinctly when he commented "Recurring theme is people are people."
This got me to consider how events end up in these pickles, and yes- the common denominator is people and their behavior. But I think there is something else to it. I mentioned what I thought during our last podcast, but in case you missed that, what I feel is that certain event promoters have some unrealistic visions and beliefs concerning people and their behavior.
Not that I am faulting anyone specifically here. We're often brought up to believe that "people are - at their core - basically good". That's certainly debatable, but the point is, many people feel this way unconsciously or consciously. It is at the root of a lot of people's actions. The troubling thing that I found out by putting on events was that, often, that maxim about the goodness of people is often not true.
And let me be perfectly clear - I don't think people are inherently evil either. It is a lot muddier than any "black-or-white" statement can make it out to be. The point here is that, as an event director, you have to prepare for the worst case scenarios and game plan around that. The reality is most event directors don't do that. And it shows.
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| Events and large groups tend to bring out the best - and the worst - in us. (Image by Wally Kilburg) |
Back to that story I dug up from 2015. It was a story about a bikepacking event called the Oregon Outback. On its maiden run in 2014 it wasn't all that well attended but it garnered a ton of buzz and social media attention. The following year the "race" was attended much more heavily. A few folks decided to do some things that were, in my opinion, pretty outlandish. The result was that the event director shut down the event for good. (You can read the 2015 take on the events surrounding the Oregon Outback HERE.)
The main theme there was the bad behavior of some affected the whole. Why would the event have to be shut down? Why couldn't rules and more education be applied to make riders understand the consequences of bad behavior? As a former event director myself, I can tell you why that might not work. Enforcement - that's why.
How would you effect enforcement of rules and regulations across hundreds of miles of trail? Would you enforce rules and regulations even if you could monitor that amount of terrain? Those two things could be monumental obstacles for any event director or organization to overcome. Especially if the event is a heavily attended, self-supported, and if the roads are remote. And furthermore; you have to have the mentality of a judge and a counselor to be able to effect these kinds of rules and regulations. Not every event director is cut out of such cloth. Diplomacy and stern and resolute decision making qualities are a premium requirement for event directing, in my opinion.
But at the least, as an event organizer, you should try. Sometimes just the threat of enforcement for a thing is all you need to have communicated. Finding ways to cover your course with "eyeballs" doesn't hurt either, and it can be done effectively. I managed to do a decent job covering 300+ miles with volunteer efforts and hardly any money backing me up. So - I mean - If I can figure it out......
So yes- people cause issues, but as event directors plan out events, they should be game planning for the worst case scenarios and be thinking about every way a person could cheat in the event and address those concerns. History can advise event RD's what to look for, and - of course - you don't have to "reinvent the wheel". Just ask around if you are struggling. Lots of event directors would be eager to help out with ideas.
5 comments:
Alternate titles for you posting today.
The Tragedy of the Commons, Gravel Edition.
or
Why we can't have nice events.
My maxim is that people are generally selfish. They will do what is easy, best, most beneficial to themselves before taking into account the wider impact of their actions on everyone around them.
Parts of the Oregon Outback route are both very remote and thinly populated, meaning enforcing anything would have been extremely difficult. Putting volunteers out there for the event's duration would have been a big logistical undertaking, said volunteers would need heavy duty 4x4s and self-contained camping set ups for 2-3 days. I've ridden stretches of it (albeit not the whole thing) and can attest to this, in the wrong conditions even having volunteers there could be dangerous if they weren't adequately prepared. Not that it couldn't be done, it just would have required extensive resources--meaning money--and the Oregon Outback was run totally unsupported similar to the Tour Divide.
The solution for routes like this no "Grand Departs" or organized event formats. Post the route and let people tour it or ride for FKTs individually, which people certainly have done. My observation is, whenever an "event" is created people take more license to do whatever they want because they feel "the event" or "the group" gives them cover. The route is now very popular and the vast majority of riders conduct themselves appropriately. The Oregon Outback race getting canceled was actually the best thing for the Oregon Outback itself.
@Owen - This comment you made, "My observation is, whenever an "event" is created people take more license to do whatever they want because they feel "the event" or "the group" gives them cover." , is the most spot-on comment regarding the Oregon Outback, or any large gravel event and problems with what people do, that I've seen.
But again, this is not news either, and that situations like what we saw happening with SBT GRVL, Oregon Outback, or any number of bigger gravel events is kind of inexcusable when it comes to the responsibilities of the organizations/RD's. We should all "know better" in that these behaviors are more than likely to occur when larger groups of competitive cyclists gather. If that is true, then preventative actions, not reactions, make more sense and should be the norm.
But we aren't there yet, apparently. That's disappointing, in my opinion.
Thanks GT, I'd just add that an event doesn't have to be "competitive" for the bad behavior to happen. I've seen it on semi-organized rides that are just supposed to be social, so unfortunately all that's really needed these days is a large group. On a more positive note, I enjoyed Part 1, and HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!
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