The first thing I did when I went to the TABR website was to look at their route. In detail. The second thing I did was to follow a link to Bikepacking.net, a website for bicyclists using off-road routes for longer distance bicycling and camping.
What was I looking for?
- Did TABR find a route that was less dangerous (cars, trucks) than the RAAM route?
- Did TABR find a way for entrants to avoid spending tens of thousands of dollars?
- Is everybody doing TABR `white?'
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I don't have many real friends now (my choice) so I'm not risking much in this domain by addressing the `RAAM' question.
As well, I'm an easy target for those objecting to my statements because:
- I did not finish my own Race Across the West (RAW) attempt in 2010 (Not Finishing RAW),
- I was a real pain in the ass to the RAAM folks when I was a RAAM Official in 2012 (My Experience as a RAAM Official - 2012),
- as the Crew Chief for a RAAM solo racer in 2013 I pulled her out of the race after her crew vehicle was back ended by a driver who was texting (RAAM 2013: Close Call) (She ultimately - without me - reentered the race and finished.)
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- The RAAM route is meticulously researched and selected. But it has many conspicuous and oft-cited problems. I do not know why RAAM management has not accepted suggested reasonable safe alternates to current dangerous routes. Meticulous research, lacking good decision-making, results in bad outcomes. Bad outcomes, over and over again ... why?
- When I articulated my concern about route safety to one of the key RAAM executives I was accused of "undermining a sport we are trying desperately to grow." My unstated response was: "It's a profit-making BUSINESS that you are trying desperately to grow!"
- Several years ago the legal ownership of RAAM changed from that of a non-profit to a privately held for-profit entity. I think that is a real problem. The temptation to `grow' the event may lead to decisions that place the interests (safety, safety, safety) of participants at risk.
- Agreed that RAAM raises money for charity. But participating in RAAM as a racer can exceed $100,000. Less for solo racers and (much) more for teams. Why spend $70,000 to participate in RAAM only to raise $70,000 for a charity?
- So many white people! Yes, there is international representation at RAAM. And, perhaps my objection is not so much the issue of race, but that of `class.' (There was a phrase we used to point out the irony that the University of Chicago is situated and bordered on four sides by poverty, crime and ghettoes: "White and black. Shoulder to shoulder. Against the poor!")
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I have a problem. I find meaning and expression in endurance bicycling. But I'm a `road' cyclist. Sharing the roads with motorized vehicles is inherently dangerous (i.e., you can get killed a lot :) ).
I'm going to give off-road `bikepacking' type activities more study.
Great post Dan! Thanks!
ReplyDelete"I'm going to give off-road `bikepacking' type activities more study. "
ReplyDeleteI endorse this heartily. There can be lots of opportunities for this, even on a recubent, depending on one's locale. I am lucky to live near an area with two very large state forests that have hundreds of miles of gravel roads... with very little traffic.
I did a 133 mile ride yesterday with some freinds on such roads, and we saw a grand total of about 10 cars the whole 13 hour day on those gravel roads.
I'll be interested to see the results of your safety investigation of the TABR route. And really, killed "alot"? :-) It seems it's just a one and done proposition which I hope to postpone as long a possible. Secondly i don't think you can "blame" RAAM for being a "white" sport, any more than you can blame the NFL or NBA for being basically "black" sports. In fact, those NFLers and NBAers could easily affort RAAM.
ReplyDeleteDiesel
Diesel ... I'm unconvinced (more like `uncertain') about the `white' v `black' issue. Given the history in the US of racial discrimination a greater proportion of black and brown folks didn't and don't have the money to purchase expensive cycling gear, live in locations not rife with crime. That's reflected in their participation in cycling events, Taylor Madison notwithstanding. Within a generation racial and economic class issues will be turning this society on it's head. Should be interesting.
DeleteAs an entrant of the Trans Am Bike Race I can answer your questions. Yes the route is probably safer than the RAAM route. The Trans America Trail is the most widely toured route across the US. Entry is free aside from getting set up with a satellite tracker so yes, it costs significantly less than RAAM. As for white people, it's open entry is attracting folks from an international level, yet it has been very hard to break the gap between the west and east. Most of the entrants are western folk and I don't feel this is the fault of the race or and sort of privilege other than the obvious factors determining how much it costs to buy a bike and feed yourself while you race and the fact that the organizer doesn't have any connections to Asia. So hope this helps, trying to grow this race into something diverse, international, and awesome, hope to see you in Astoria!
ReplyDeleteDan,
ReplyDeleteA few quick comments:
"But participating in RAAM as a racer can exceed $100,000. Less for solo racers and (much) more for teams. Why spend $70,000 to participate in RAAM only to raise $70,000 for a charity?" There's no question that RAAM is extremely expensive, but these numbers are wildly inflated. The only way to meet these numbers is if you include all the expenses for training, racing, and riding in preparation for RAAM, and that only makes sense if you would have spent none of it except for RAAM.
"Several years ago the legal ownership of RAAM changed from that of a non-profit to a privately held for-profit entity. I think that is a real problem. The temptation to `grow' the event may lead to decisions that place the interests (safety, safety, safety) of participants at risk." Although I don't know the details, I'm not sure RAAM would have survived if it hadn't become a business. Secondly, it is in the long term interests of growing the business that the race be run safely. Third, I know of no evidence that the RAAM management have ever done anything that placed other interests over that of safety.
I don't see a significant difference between the participation of different races in RAAM versus in other areas of cycling. If you want to speculate as to the reasons for the latter, that's fine, but to single out RAAM for such speculation is unwarranted.
Finally, if the Trans Am Bike Race is really treated as a race, how safe will it be when the racers are all self-supported? Will it's route be so much safer as compared to RAAM that it will make up for being out there alone, in the middle of the night, perhaps sleep deprived, with no follow vehicle?
Dennis
Thanks for your comments, Dennis. You've competed in the Race Across America twice and I value and respect your perspective.
DeleteRe: the cost of solo RAAM. Back channel, if you want names of solo racers who spent in the late 5 figures for their RAAM I'll send them to you. As for teams you and I both know of 4 and 8 person teams that have spent easily well and deep into the 6 figure range.
As I mentioned to you in a private email there are many things that the RAAM management can do to both improve current safety issues and to assure future safety concerns. All the way from finally acting on reasonable routing changes to appointing an independent committee to oversee and improve safety. When the fox is in the chicken coop it is just a matter of time before someone finds some chickens gone missing.
Being without a follow vehicle in the middle of the night on a self-supported race is nothing new. We agree that the roads are more congested and dangerous now than in the 1980's when it was first established. Shermer, Haldeman, Notorangelo and the pioneers have stated this many times.
Hi Dan,
DeleteI should have said wildly inflated in terms of costs as related to the minimum amount that would reasonably be required to invest. Yes there are those who race RAAM on the Maserati plan, but I've also know solo American riders on the no frills plan to make it on under $20,000 (still expensive to be sure.)
There can be no doubt that traffic congestion is increasing. I personally get nervous on some of the roads RAAM includes, but things can also get dicey when riding alone on less busy roads, but ones which still have no shoulders and the occasional sleepy 18 wheeler or car with a texting teenager. Either way, I would still feel better having a follow van behind me, protecting me. I hope RAAM management will be open to course changes involving less traffic.
I am glad to see RAAM get some competition with the TABR and The Tour of British Columbia. The remoteness of much of the latter might solve some of the safety issues.
Dennis
Geez;( Safety, Class warfare, injustice, and of course the race card. You're slipping Dan. You left out environmental footprint to do RAAM or do you plan a special entry on that? Trplay.
ReplyDeleteReaders: This is one of the benefits of maintaining a blog instead of slobbering around on an `email discussion list.' You get to junk the cranks by not publishing their responses. And you get to display the anonymous whiners who crawl out from under the rocks every now and pitch piles of shit because ... well, just because they've got so much of it).
DeleteFrom what I read, safety is well in the backseat of priorities. But sadly, even if several riders end as roadkill, RAAM is far enough from the public eye no one would notice on any scale. Such a tragedy would barely warrant a blurb.
ReplyDeleteYour probably right, Cal. Sadly.
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