H appy Friday All,
I think my title today conveys a trend I am seeing or maybe I am imposing my thoughts on people. Cycling is already an expensive hobby. It use to be a Lawyer/Doctor hobby but in recent years, it has been spreading its tentacles to the middle class. Gravel has helped this along. Gravel use to be the Starving Artist genre of cycling, but I think race prices have shown it to be the other end of the spectrum. I am not sure who the starving artist genera of cycling goes to these days, but I would lean to baggers. Baggers, not bike packers, bike packers equipment generally costs more than my car.
I am often reminded of a childhood friend. We use to skateboard and push our plywood around the small town. We would dress in Alien Workshop, Plan B, and Raw Vibes attire. Then one day, my buddy came out of the house wearing GAP. We all gave him guff, and he looked at us and simply said, "These clothes were cheaper than yours." We sat back and realized he probably was right. The skater image we were sold by Transworld and other skateboarding magazines. The lesson I learned was people are always selling an image.
With inflation rising, the question I ponder is, "Is it unethical to ride a published route the day before an event?" In some cases you can save the registration fee. In other ways if you are running support for someone, you can make it a fruitful trip for you. Will this trend catch on? Or will the trend become anti-establishment people riding courses day or days prior to an event. So if you do the same exact course, are you the same as the person who did it on race day, barring little difference in weather conditions.
People do this now, they will ride legs or sections of The Divide. People also will try to find Trans Iowa routes and section ride them in Iowa. This is not new, but to do it in the same time window, is it ethical? My short answer is yes. If the route is published and is made know, then it is on the event to do a better job guarding it. The rider themself actually lessens the burden for the race. The race is clearly not responsible for the early rider. I am kind of in favor of it. The point of a race is a few things. One to drive awareness to the area. Secondly, bring in outside business to the area. Thirdly, depending on who you are, you may even advertising for the event on your social media and Strava. I will say, it is poor form to do this day of the event. Be a payee on the day of an event and not a poacher.
Do I see this trend growing? I do see this trend increasing, in fact it may already be a sub culture of people. Someone may be riding, Mid-South, SBT Gravel, Big Sugar and Unbound without registering. The roads are generally public, a race may have some private roads in it. If they do, re-route yourself around this. I found a private road in Arkansas. I re-routed myself around it, and avoided an issue of Trespassing. Plus if you do poach a route the day prior, you will be a popular person at the breakfast table the day of. You can also hang around town as the event goes on.
Cheers and Godspeed
Dave
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