Cyclez

I'm getting back into cycling in earnest this year. I used to be a fairly consistent recreational cyclist pre-COVID. I rode a fair bit in my local area and did a couple of regional event rides each year. I remember those event rides offering pretty good bang for the buck. Your registration included ride bib, rest stops, good routing, checkpoint volunteers, sag service (if needed), and after-ride meal/festivities. They also made commemorative jerseys which you could purchase for an additional fee. That was pre-COVID. What I'm seeing post-COVID is higher costs for less amenities, and no commemorative jerseys. A couple of reasons I've heard for this is less willingness of the local municipalities to work with the ride organizers and fewer people willing to serve as volunteers for the event rides. One event ride organizer in my state opted to entirely change their event location due to difficulty in dealing with the previous municipality where they had been holding the event for a number of years.

Has anyone else been seeing things like this with organized Event rides (centuries, metric centuries, etc.)?

LarrySellerz

The response to Covid degraded society in many ways, this is just one example.

rsbob 

We are far from post-COVID. If you stay abreast of the news we are currently in another spike.

Iride01 

Yes. Volunteers seem to be fewer and fewer every year to help out at rest stops. I don't necessarily attribute this to COVID. I think fewer volunteers for such was happening in the years before COVID.

I think costs have gone up a lot for the organizers. Getting appropriate sanctioning probably cost more and the rules for sanctioning are more strictly being enforced as the sanctioning authorities are scrutinizing rides more closely. Some of the rides in the past and pre-COVID, a few groups of people tried to turn them into their own personal races and some where injured badly in crashes

Maybe not, I don't really know what goes on for the organizers. These are just things I've come up with as possibilities and ponder about since I have noted changes. Maybe some others that actually get involved with ride organization and/or volunteer to help out actually have some knowledge of the reasons.

skidder

The best similar situation is probably the (now historical) Tour of California bicycle race. The European organizers who got it going commented on all the extra safety and security protocol they had to deal with compared to the big European races, plus a lot of businesses in the areas they routed the course through would not give breaks (or even full comps) on hotels/lodging and meals for the riders/staff like European towns/cities do. In short it became too expensive and it wasn't profitable to keep it going, even with major sponsors. Any municipality can be held responsible if something goes wrong with an event they let happen on public property they oversee. I'll bet what you probably experienced was this situation, or organizers are simply keeping costs down as they see how the event is received as they restart it in the post-pandemic era.

indyfabz

I definitely think that lack of volunteers and increased costs are having their effects. Years ago, a large local club scrapped one of its two event rides because it became the same relatively small group of people doing the overwhelming majority of the work, and they just couldn't take it anymore. This year was the last for Cycle Oregon's week ride, where you typically move from place to place. It had been held annually for over 35 years. (I did the 15th anniversary week back in 2002.) I am sure it was due, at least in part, to the cost of supporting such a road show and finding people willing to give up a week+ of their time to volunteer and sleep in tents at night.

There is also greater us vs. them mentality these days, whether due to COVID or not. Example: The second largest MS 150 ride in the country is in NJ. It finishes in a shore town. For years, it has entered the town via a certain route, which goes through an exclusive area of the town. A few years ago, acting on complaints from residents of said exclusive area of town, the mayor forced the ride to change its route. Here is an event that not only brings thousands of people to town, but also many family members who come for the days to drive home participants riding only one way. (It's estimated that, these days, fewer than 50% of participants ride back the next day.) The money the event generates for the town is not a drop in the bucket, especially since the event occurs outside of the main season (i.e., a couple of weeks after Labor Day). Is there some inconvenience to the locals. Sure. A lot? No, especially after COVID cut participation by thousands. Yet you have a small group of people lashing out at anything that disturbs their perfect existence.

wheelreason

Oh absolutely that is a thing. There are several reasons for it, but it mostly has to do with inertia and momemtum.

Atlas Shrugged

Yes, there has been a post-COVID change. People have become more insular and independent and found they have the ability within themselves to take on challenging rides. Technology has become more familiar for route creation and following with GPS-enabled devices negating the organized ride advantage. Lastly, the bureaucracy has gotten out of control, driving costs to a point where people are unwilling to pay. Events used to be seen as a revenue generator for a community and were encouraged. Now, the bureaucracy sees them as a problem they have no interest in solving. Rather than being seen as a community event, good events are now seen as a revenue generator for the public sector machine. Effectively, we have lived through a peak event time, and there will be fewer and fewer mass-organized events. I am glad I was able to participate in the bucket list rides when I could, but sad for future cyclists.

indyfabz

A chief reason the Philly bike club moved the start of its annual club event outside the city was the expense of PITA of dealing with the city. Great example: Coffee was served at the start. To power the percolator, we plugged it into an outlet on the side of a city recreation hall where the registration tables were set up. When the city found out, we had to pay a city electrician to be on site. The ride now starts at a charter school not far from the city line than has plenty of free parking.

mstateglfr 

Yeah, its a thing and is well documented. Sucks, but its reality.

Koyote

I think many of these observations are true of very large events that revolve around more urban areas. But out here in rural American, there are still many smaller grassroots events that are inexpensive, well-run, and perhaps even more fun given that you're not sharing the roads with thousands of other riders.

mstateglfr 

Good lord- did you understand the actual point and question or did the OP's comment about 'pre vs post' COVID totally befuddle you and leave you unable to answer until the correction is accepted and implemented?

Biden said in Sept '22 - “The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. It’s – but the pandemic is over.”
The Federal COVID19 Public Health Emergency declaration ended on May 11 '23.

Even if you set Biden's clearly stated comments aside and even if you set the PHE declaration aside, you should still be able to understand what someone is saying in regular conversation when they compare/contrast something in 'precovid' and 'postcovid' terms. It is clearly comparing something from how it was before 2020 to how it is now/recently.

You are welcome in advance for clarifying something I am confident you already understood but couldnt bring yourself to practice in conversation.

mstateglfr 

This for sure- smaller gravel races around me are still well supported, just like they were before 2020. And there has even been a growth in a gravel race series that takes place in multiple locations around the state thru the spring, summer, and early fall.

But I have noticed large fundraiser/charity rides are not nearly as popular or supported as they were, and some simply dont even exist now.
I know RAGBRAI has struggled hard to maintain the level of infrastructure support it had in the 2015-2019 years. And based on ride reports from various pay to ride road events in WI, the support isnt how it was and the swag isnt what it was.

Jicafold

Relax. It's an important distinction. That's how misinformation occurs. Covid is rising again and may never, ever, go away. "The U.S. is experiencing another uptick in COVID infections after the holidays, with hospitalizations rising for the eighth week in a row. A new dominant variant, JN.1, has quickly spread to account for more than 60 percent of cases."

And speaking of Covid, it is a leading cause of inflation which may very well lead to the higher cost of cycling events as the OP pointed out.

mstateglfr 

Again, 'pre vs post' Covid is an incredibly common way to compare and contrast a bunch of things in our society and economy. It may not be epidemiologically accurate in some instances, but it is absolutely a common and well accepted delineation point.

- 'Pre vs Post Covid' can be and is sometimes used as a way to describe how something was before Covid19 was discovered and compare that to how it is after Covid19 was discovered. When used in this way, Covid19 can continue to exist, yet the person is not incorrect in their phrasing.
- 'Pre vs Post Covid' can be and is sometimes used as a way to describe how something was before Covid19 was discovered and compare that to how it is after the pandemic ended. As for if the pandemic has ended, the WHO announced on May 5 '23 that the pandemic ended(Global Health Emergency is over). That was just prior to the US ending its PHE, and 7 months after Biden declared the pandemic was over. When used in this way, Covid19 can continue to exist, yet the person is not incorrect in their phrasing.
- 'Pre vs Post Covid' can be and is rarely used as a way to describe something before Covid19 existed and compare that to how it is after Covid19 ended. That would be an incorrect way to phrase things since Covid19 still exists. Again though, it is uncommon for anyone to actually declare Covid19 is not in existence now.


The OP clearly uses 'post Covid' to describe how something is now that states are fully opened up, distance mandates are not in effect, society is largely back to being in enclosed spaces like schools/stores/stadiums, and Government Health organizations no longer view Covid19 as a Public Health Emergency.
There is no actual misinformation here- its just common conversation and how something was phrased triggered you and another poster. So far, nobody is claiming Covid isnt real, or vaccines make spoons stick to you, or any of the other 5,393 crazy conspiracies people have made.

Jicafold

Triggered? That's an awfully long you post you have not to consider yourself triggered. Relax.. Lets stay on topic . You are not doing this thread any favors.

indyfabz

One of my favorite weeklong events was CANDISC in ND way back in 2006. Well run and only a couple of hundred people, if that many. Lots of local involvement. (The first rest stop on the first day was in a church. “Church ladies” made and sold all sort of goodies.) No waiting in long lines for things like meals and showers. Plenty of space to pitch tents. Good, local “cuisine.” And I got to see the bed Lawrence Welk was birthed in. I also got to sing with the entertainment one night.

cb400bill

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