Barry-Roubaix is coming! Are you getting ready? I’ve gone out a couple times now. Whenever we get our melts I try to grab a bit of pedal time.
I’m still just awed by the turnout. Where do they come from?
…3,000 entries for likely nasty weather and conditions on a brutal course for which few will be prepared. We only have about 100 regular racers in each outdoor sport! …MTB, CX, road, XC ski, 10k, tri. Add em all up and you don’t get 3k.
When Iceman started in the first few years a couple hundred would show up. It was about like how many would turn out for a regular MTB race, only maybe a bit less because it was nutty and AFTER the season. (Even so, riders still had a bit of vestigal summer fitness remaining.) Now that Iceman is up to 5,000 riders the question remains: Who are they? A regular local high-quality MTB race still only gets 100+ entries. Yet here we have another event that *doesn’t fit* and WHAM.
I suppose the idea is that the PEOPLE ARE OUT THERE. But most aren’t part of a regular race scene. Yet they’ll do something special. …But which they’re not ready for? I guess the key is that PARTY is involved. It’s hilarious how a March race gets a party rep — but same is true for a November event! It’s FUN to stand around bonfires in freezing sleet!
On the flipside, a sensible event like DALMAC is fading a bit. People treat DALMAC as the *culmination* of a summer’s riding, the *fruit* of their labor. When a regular Joe is peaking here’s a wonderful week to enjoy all the *best* roads, bars, and beaches! At a volunteer-run bargain rate. DALMAC had peak years, decades, of near-frenzy participation, with instantly full registration for all ages. Lately? Not so much. (It’s still a big wonderful thing! DO IT! It’s the big last hurrah for the Michigan summer! It fits!)
The final nuttiness is that I’ve done weird-season extreme things my whole life by myself or with a few pals. The final final funny thing is that I *STILL* don’t see anyone out there playing or training but me and a few pals. Yet, day-of-race there they are! WHAM! They must come from a thousand miles. Hundreds of miles wouldn’t do it. Or maybe they’re just hiding. Is our indie outdoor culture really just plain hidden? Could be!
I’m reminded of Kaye Krapohl’s Women’s Ski Tour: “build it (right) and they will come.” Few women were attending ski events. So she hosts a fun-music-food-dance ski party weekend and within a couple years THOUSANDS of ladies are showing up to ski!
It’s really something. …And it’ll be here in a couple weeks!
