Building A Casket.
The other day the Fairbanks Cycle Club March newsletter popped up in my FaceSpace feed. In particular, this caught my eye:
My second thought was, "no more Tour of Fairbanks."
That may sound a bit harsh, but this is coming from someone who really likes racing the ToF. They have the roads to really put on the best stage race in the state, and the last edition showed they were really on the right track, juggling all of the various constraints to make a good race that was sustainable. Even though I wrecked within the first few minutes of the first stage, I still had a really good time. Maybe I just like applying Tegaderm.
Putting on a stage race takes experience and connections. You have to understand the logistics and bureaucracy hurdles, and that doesn't come overnight. Organizing these races gets easier with experience, but it's never easy. It's a lot of work. To put on the same quality event as they did back in 2016, it takes a whole lot of work.
A large amount of that falls on the race director, behind the scenes, herding the various cats into formation so a bunch of us overgrown kids can ride our bikes in our underwear. It takes the right sort of person with the right sort of temperament to pull this off (in other words, not people like me). When you find that person, you hold onto them for dear life and ply them with any number of fruit baskets to keep them coming back. If you find two of them, you double the fruit order and thank your lucky stars you hit the jackpot. Eventually even the most dedicated race directors move on (for any number of reasons), so you better have a good backup plan for when that happens.
The Fairbanks Cycle Club, for whatever reason, decided to sever ties with their paid ToF race director last year, in hopes that a volunteer would spring forth from the hordes of roadies chomping at the bit for the chance to spend many, many hours organizing a stage race (and thus forfeiting their chance to race in it themselves). For some inexplicable reason, nobody rose to the bait. Perhaps they were all waiting for the other guy to take the unpaid position, so they could counter with an offer to pay for the opportunity. We will never know what could have been, because nothing happened. There was no 2017 edition of the race.
They may still pull it off this year. Somebody might step up.
However, the longer they go without a no-kidding race announcement and publication of a race bible, the greater the chance I'll skip it. A lot of the Anchorage racers feel that way, because it's not a small investment to go race up there. Between gas, lodging, food, and whatever else I end up spending between $400-$600 on the stage race, and that doesn't take into account time away from work. To put that into context, if I fly down to Oregon or Washington using airline miles or on an airfare deal, I can probably do a USAC or OBRA-sanctioned race for about the same amount of money.
The Arctic Bike Club returned the favor last year by offering up a weak-sauce Tour of Anchorage (jam-packed with fewer and shorter stages) and pushing the Spring Stage Race out further into the work week (requiring more days off from work for the Fairbanks racers). As a result, they stayed away in droves. In all fairness, I was injured for the Tour of Anchorage, so my absence could have also contributed to the lower Fairbanks turnout. They love me up there.
I keep hearing road racing is dead. I tend to disagree, but people keep shoveling dirt onto its face while its still breathing. You repeat something enough times, it becomes the "truth". It's hard to find a race director that is willing to put in the hours required to hold a respectable race series when turnout is depressed by perceptions or mismanagement. When you don't have good opportunities to race, those that may have been interested just find something else to do. Active people will find a way to be active, and the number of activities out there competing for their time is bigly. It's a chicken-egg kind of thing, and I don't know all the answers. What I do know is that it's hard to make new racers when you don't have races.
We'll see what happens with Fairbanks. I have my fingers crossed something good will happen, but I'm not holding my breath.
We have had a lot of inquiries about the 2018 Tour of Fairbanks 5 Stage Race. The FCC Board has set tentative dates in June; however, we have yet to secure a race director for this event. Without a race director, the event will be cancelled for a second year.
How can you help?
Spread the word that we are still recruiting. FCC is offering a $2,000 stipend for a person or team willing to coordinate all 5 stages. This includes determining the courses for a Prologue, 2 Road Races, a Criterium, and a Time Trial; acquiring permitting, promotion, and updating existing race information. Specific terms are available in the TOF Contract, which you can download here.
Time commitments vary through out the process. Early in the process it may take only a few hours per week, with more hours required as race day approaches. Much of this depends on the efficiency of the race director.
Additional questions can be emailed to Rachael Kvapil, FCC Prez, at prez@fairbankscycleclub.org
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So, my first thought was, "no Tour of Fairbanks this year."My second thought was, "no more Tour of Fairbanks."
That may sound a bit harsh, but this is coming from someone who really likes racing the ToF. They have the roads to really put on the best stage race in the state, and the last edition showed they were really on the right track, juggling all of the various constraints to make a good race that was sustainable. Even though I wrecked within the first few minutes of the first stage, I still had a really good time. Maybe I just like applying Tegaderm.
Putting on a stage race takes experience and connections. You have to understand the logistics and bureaucracy hurdles, and that doesn't come overnight. Organizing these races gets easier with experience, but it's never easy. It's a lot of work. To put on the same quality event as they did back in 2016, it takes a whole lot of work.
A large amount of that falls on the race director, behind the scenes, herding the various cats into formation so a bunch of us overgrown kids can ride our bikes in our underwear. It takes the right sort of person with the right sort of temperament to pull this off (in other words, not people like me). When you find that person, you hold onto them for dear life and ply them with any number of fruit baskets to keep them coming back. If you find two of them, you double the fruit order and thank your lucky stars you hit the jackpot. Eventually even the most dedicated race directors move on (for any number of reasons), so you better have a good backup plan for when that happens.
The Fairbanks Cycle Club, for whatever reason, decided to sever ties with their paid ToF race director last year, in hopes that a volunteer would spring forth from the hordes of roadies chomping at the bit for the chance to spend many, many hours organizing a stage race (and thus forfeiting their chance to race in it themselves). For some inexplicable reason, nobody rose to the bait. Perhaps they were all waiting for the other guy to take the unpaid position, so they could counter with an offer to pay for the opportunity. We will never know what could have been, because nothing happened. There was no 2017 edition of the race.
They may still pull it off this year. Somebody might step up.
However, the longer they go without a no-kidding race announcement and publication of a race bible, the greater the chance I'll skip it. A lot of the Anchorage racers feel that way, because it's not a small investment to go race up there. Between gas, lodging, food, and whatever else I end up spending between $400-$600 on the stage race, and that doesn't take into account time away from work. To put that into context, if I fly down to Oregon or Washington using airline miles or on an airfare deal, I can probably do a USAC or OBRA-sanctioned race for about the same amount of money.
The Arctic Bike Club returned the favor last year by offering up a weak-sauce Tour of Anchorage (jam-packed with fewer and shorter stages) and pushing the Spring Stage Race out further into the work week (requiring more days off from work for the Fairbanks racers). As a result, they stayed away in droves. In all fairness, I was injured for the Tour of Anchorage, so my absence could have also contributed to the lower Fairbanks turnout. They love me up there.
I keep hearing road racing is dead. I tend to disagree, but people keep shoveling dirt onto its face while its still breathing. You repeat something enough times, it becomes the "truth". It's hard to find a race director that is willing to put in the hours required to hold a respectable race series when turnout is depressed by perceptions or mismanagement. When you don't have good opportunities to race, those that may have been interested just find something else to do. Active people will find a way to be active, and the number of activities out there competing for their time is bigly. It's a chicken-egg kind of thing, and I don't know all the answers. What I do know is that it's hard to make new racers when you don't have races.
We'll see what happens with Fairbanks. I have my fingers crossed something good will happen, but I'm not holding my breath.
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