"More" Is Not Always A Good Idea

Courtesy of Marley Blonski's Threads acct.

Friday I came across a post on Marley Blonski's Threads account which showed the image here and stated that she was seeing many signs like this on the SBT GRVL course for this past weekend. 

This situation stems from a conflict with local ranchers and what happened last year at SBT GRVL. I wrote about this back in January HERE. 

SBT GRVL held its inaugural event in 2018 sending 1,500 riders down previously quiet ranch roads. Troubles with interference with rancher's normal daily activities and cyclists, public urination and defecation, and lack of any relationship between the locals and the event came to a head last year. 

The event boasts a reported worth of $4.5 million to the Boulder economy and now plays host to up to 3,000 athletes. These riders are not only out on these remote roads on the event day, but several days prior as well, since the riders want to become acclimated to the altitude and to scout out the course. A good primer on the current efforts to smooth things over by the event organizers and the locals concerns can be read HERE. 

The SBT GRVL is but one example of the undercurrents in several locales which points to a conflict between gravel events which have thousands of participants and locals who expect their rural way of life not to be interrupted by sometimes rude and ignorant cyclists. To be fair, most cyclists are probably not causing issues. However; it only takes a few to make the scene look bad and irritate locals whose home we are invading as gravel cyclists. 

Cyclists await the start at the 2017 Gravel Worlds event.

It was interesting reading the comments section on the thread started by Marley Blonski on Threads, a newer social media app which is similar to Twitter/X. People were commenting that the ranchers and other locals were just being stuck up and being typical "NIMBY's". (Not In My Back Yard) 

However; if the tables were turned, and you could not get out of your apartment or home because thousands of - let's say runners - were running by your home unexpectedly, how would you react? I'm guessing being late to work, or not making an appointment might cause an issue? Yeah.... Perhaps. 

In the realm of events, and gravel events in particular, it has been my observation that many events - certainly not all events - have decided that "growth" equals "more". More participants is what that usually entails. Then you have everything else to accommodate that. Somehow, the accolades and success for gravel events are tied to this thought of "growth" being "more" and without that, you are not successful. 

This skewed way of describing success in event production is where the problem is at. Let's take SBT GRVL as an example. They started with 1,500 folks and quickly doubled that amount of people. Reports from the 2019 event stated that a "steady stream of riders" was noted on a ranch road the day before the event. Things have only intensified in this regard, not only in Colorado, but at Unbound, and other "big" gravel events that release course routes and data via GPS ahead of their events. 

This issue is not at all "new" or unique to current marquee gravel events. Issues arose early on at events like the legendary Almanzo 100, early Gravel Worlds, and other even smaller events where littering, public urination, and other issues rankled some local residents. While some may think,  "you will always have a few complainers", these issues were simply forerunners to larger issues which are notable today. All have a common thread: Events that "grew" and became "successful" by the commonly held metrics which many use to define success. 

Image by Jon Duke

Perhaps unique to larger events, the DK200 was carefully curated into a much larger event than it was by its directors, particularly Jim Cummings, who was pro-actively reaching out to Kansan ranchers to get a read on what their concerns were. Also unique to this event were the efforts to clean the roads after the event took place which was an event called "Kleen Kanza". It was not unheard of for this effort to not only pick up all the discarded food/gel packets and jettisoned water bottles, but to clean pre-existing litter and junk from the ditches as well, which furthered the good will between the event and the locals. 

This stands in contrast to how many events do business now with an assumption that "open roads/public roads" gives an organizer carte blanche with regard to filling these spaces with cyclists who are not there to enhance the quality of life of the local farmers and ranchers. I would be surprised if many organizers sending 1,500+ riders into any rural area has done any sort of impact study/research on how that might affect the local populace, much less give any thought at all to mitigating possible conflicts. 

One notable event that is making a push to mitigate issues is Gravel Worlds. It is interesting that Gravel Worlds is using their social media and email to send a message to riders in that event ahead of their riding in that contest to be aware of several issues regarding traffic in rural areas. They have even gone as far as partnering with local law enforcement and State police to help in identifying offenders of Gravel Worlds policies. More gravel events should take note of this self-governance. 

But what might be the most revolutionary act an event might consider is this: Right-sizing their event to the local area. This may mean actual reductions in rider fields, a focus on rider experience for every rider, and a willingness to shrink field sizes to accommodate both the riders and the locals. Making pro-active efforts to consider the event's neighbors and what they might want or perceive as issues would be another good initiative. These sorts of ideas work a lot better than reacting to issues which have already caused harm, concerns, or grief for riders or the local residents. As I have said before, if gravel events do not self-police themselves, someone else will, and that is going to mark the decline of gravel as we know it today.