How to get more cyclists at Road races?

[ACE Cycles]

8 minutes ago, Frosty said:

I proposed inter-club racing on the Central Gauteng club WhatsApp group; not a single response, from the clubs represented on the group, other than the two that I spoke to in person. Makes me wonder if the right people are engaging with their members, because a number of members say they weren't told about it (or they weren't paying attention to the flood of information being sent out). 

There's a WhatsApp group for Central Gauteng Clubs? I only get emails from race organizers that I forward on in our members WhatsApp group.

[Frosty]

47 minutes ago, ACE Cycles said:

There's a WhatsApp group for Central Gauteng Clubs? I only get emails from race organizers that I forward on in our members WhatsApp group.

I can’t “invite” you, but I can send you the contact details for Admin.

[Headshot]

1 hour ago, DieselnDust said:

Just read that article. Its very on point. but I think the horse has bolted. Stage races have had their peak. The only way to reinvigorate the genre is to innovate and I don;t see a lot of that happening.

Rumour has it the Cape Epic will be re-inventing itself after the 2023 edition....

This should then spark a plethora of lower cost copycats that will still be more expensive than current stage events

I find the whole Epic Series quite amusing - all these wannabe clones of THE EPIC around the world - just a bit cheaper and with hardly any people. I think the industry has slowly been killing itself with crazy pricing and a focus on high end appeal rather than grass roots cycling. This is also why I'd rather support local enduro and dh events than big money making stage events.

The pre internet world of MTB in SA was very different to the rest of the world where crazy free ride and bike parks with big jumps became the norm. And its all ages - not just the 25-30's. Ebikes have also helped kill stage races I suspect. Now people can get up the mountain easily and because the bike works so much better than a marathon bike on the way down,  they are actually enjoying descending and maye getting some skills training along the way. 

 

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, Headshot said:

.... Ebikes have also helped kill stage races I suspect. Now people can get up the mountain easily and because the bike works so much better than a marathon bike on the way down,  they are actually enjoying descending and maye getting some skills training along the way. 

 

 

Uhm jaaaa ..... 😏

 

Various stage races now welcome ebikes.  Providing charge stations, even transporting spare batteries to water points, etc.

 

So if anything, ebikes are helping to boost the numbers and profitability of stage races.

 

 

At the Trans Augrabies event a number of couples were riding, one on the ebike and another on an analogue bike ..... even a well known local racer that was idling along on his ebike with his better half on a normal bike, him just enjoying the event.

[Bub Marley]

6 hours ago, Zeffer said:

We are not alone......

https://www.treadmtb.co.za/the-challenge-faced-by-south-african-stage-races/
 

 

 

This article is a bit strange. Firstly this is not even anywhere near comparable to the actual subject of the group which is road events. Multi day events are just insanely expensive. How do you expect the younger crowd to actually afford that? 

 

I’m sure we’d all love to try and have an epic under our names. But for me personally as a millennial, id rather take that money and take my family on a lekker holiday somewhere. I would just find it extremely selfish to spend that sort of money on myself when I already spend so much every year on bikes and other nonsense.

[Headshot]

9 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Uhm jaaaa ..... 😏

 

Various stage races now welcome ebikes.  Providing charge stations, even transporting spare batteries to water points, etc.

 

So if anything, ebikes are helping to boost the numbers and profitability of stage races.

 

 

At the Trans Augrabies event a number of couples were riding, one on the ebike and another on an analogue bike ..... even a well known local racer that was idling along on his ebike with his better half on a normal bike, him just enjoying the event.

I'm sure eBikers are doing stage events but it doesn't seem to be helping the numbers by the sound of it. 

[Jewbacca]

Isn't stage racing one of those weird phenomenons that was only really popular in South Africa?

Seriously, most other countries have had a hand full of options at most. It was only here that had one pop up every other weekend and saturate the market. 

It is no wonder it is imploding. No way was that sort of volume sustainable for a long period of time.  

[Skubarra]

32 minutes ago, Bub Marley said:

This article is a bit strange. Firstly this is not even anywhere near comparable to the actual subject of the group which is road events. Multi day events are just insanely expensive. How do you expect the younger crowd to actually afford that? 

 

I’m sure we’d all love to try and have an epic under our names. But for me personally as a millennial, id rather take that money and take my family on a lekker holiday somewhere. I would just find it extremely selfish to spend that sort of money on myself when I already spend so much every year on bikes and other nonsense.

I think it speaks to the fact that participation in cycling is evolving, its not only road cycling events that are having struggles attracting entrants?

And good point on the insane expenses, 15 years ago something like the Epic was actually affordable (even though it was never cheap) to the average mtb'er. That younger generations can't do it now has probably far more to do with affordability than "generational preferences"

[Shebeen]

7 hours ago, Zeffer said:

We are not alone......

https://www.treadmtb.co.za/the-challenge-faced-by-south-african-stage-races/
 

 

 

The trail running scene is also way down on pre covid demand (or so i am told). Not exactly related to road racing (neither was this article), but the driving factors are probably similiar.

 

 

[Carla Gianchino]

Going  back on topic, I think organizers need to consider doing smaller events more frequently, the bubble of  super mass participation has burst.

Smaller local racers, organized by clubs or interclub competition may be an answer to having more road cyclists participating. 

Oh and plowing some money back into the sport itself, not using racing events as fundraisers may also assist in nurturing competition. 

I am a fan of the criterium format, but that may not be everybody's cup of tea. However crits are short, fast and family friendly events. Not every race needs to be an "awesome" experience, sometimes it is just showing up and racing, like any other league racing basically. 

I get the feeling that these events lately do feel like league racing, since it is the same racers each weekend anyway. 

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by Carla Gianchino

[Jewbacca]

47 minutes ago, Carla Gianchino said:

Going  back on topic, I think organizers need to consider doing smaller events more frequently, the bubble of  super mass participation has burst.

Smaller local racers, organized by clubs or interclub competition may be an answer to having more road cyclists participating. 

Oh and plowing some money back into the sport itself, not using racing events as fundraisers may also assist in nurturing competition. 

I am a fan of the criterium format, but that may not be everybody's cup of tea. However crits are short, fast and family friendly events. Not every race needs to be an "awesome" experience, sometimes it is just showing up and racing, like any other league racing basically. 

I get the feeling that these events lately do feel like league racing, since it is the same racers each weekend anyway. 

 

The issue with this is the fees the government/organising bodies charge to host events on their roads/spaces.

This model in theory is great, but you will run at a massive loss and no one wants to put in a  million hours of super hard work just to lose money. 

One needs numbers in order to make events viable these days.

[ChrisF]

3 hours ago, Headshot said:

I'm sure eBikers are doing stage events but it doesn't seem to be helping the numbers by the sound of it. 

 

EDIT - As Bub Marley said .... going off topic here, so self deleted my reply

Edited October 31, 2022 by ChrisF

[PH]

This is total shot in the dark, but wouldn't an event that starts with a roadrace, eg. 70km and then a transition into a 30km mtb race with proper elevation onto some of the surrounding trails, attract some interest..  

[Hairy]

Longer distance events ...... 150km - 200km

100km is just a fun loop.

[Skubarra]

5 hours ago, PH said:

This is total shot in the dark, but wouldn't an event that starts with a roadrace, eg. 70km and then a transition into a 30km mtb race with proper elevation onto some of the surrounding trails, attract some interest..  

Cape Duo Challenge - event survived about 2 years

[NotSoBigBen]

11 hours ago, PH said:

This is total shot in the dark, but wouldn't an event that starts with a roadrace, eg. 70km and then a transition into a 30km mtb race with proper elevation onto some of the surrounding trails, attract some interest..  

 

5 hours ago, Skubarra said:

Cape Duo Challenge - event survived about 2 years

Quite some years ago there was an event called the 'winter challenge' here in Howteng, as I recall organised by CycleLab as a way to keep cyclists motivated during the colder months ... if memory serves me right only happened 1 year not sure what the reasons were for it not continuing. 

My son, brother and I did it ... was loads of fun!