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Originally Posted by prototoast
I can't comment on this particular event, but over a range of cycling events I've done, some have lots of portapotties, some have a few, and others have none.
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SBT GRVL had aid stations about every 24 miles, and the waiting lines for port-a-potties were typical of other organized events I've done.
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But even in events with generally sufficient coverage, sometimes things happen. Think of Tom Dumoulin in the Giro. One time while doing an organized century, I was beset by a similar urge. The organizers were great, and had rest stops with porta potties every 20 mi or so, which seem to more than reasonable to me. But, there I was, about halfway between rest stops, and I knew I wasn't going to make it to the next one. I was lucky, and that I knew the roads and knew I only had to hold it in about 2 miles and I would get to a public park where there was a bathroom. But if I had been on unfamiliar roads, with no other options around, I could have been one of those people.
With 3,000 people in an event, odds are good that somebody's going to have a bad day.
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Yep, it's going to happen.
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Litter is often similar. I always try to collect all my trash in my pockets while I'm riding, but sometimes I get home from a ride and have fewer wrappers in my pocket than I started the day with. I feel bad about it, but at that point there's nothing I can do. Again, even if everybody is trying just as diligently as I am, you put 3,000 people in an event and there's going to be some litter.
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Yes, sometimes stuff falls out of your pocket no matter how careful you are.
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This is where a little bit of effort by the ride organizers to clean up after the riders can go a long way.
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On the SBT GRVL route, it would be a huge undertaking for organizers to clean up after the riders. I think the riders are going to have to take care of this themselves.
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As for the question of traffic, no doubt gravel races do a bad job of observing centerline rules, but that's mostly at the front of the race, and the front goes by pretty quickly. Beyond that, things tend to spread out a lot, and it shouldn't be too hard for a vehicles to pass. It may slow them down a little bit, but if I want to drive into San Francisco right now, it's also going to be a lot slower than if the roads were empty, because lots of other people want to use them. That's the nature of public roads. If they want to implement congestion pricing, by all means go ahead, but that means the ranchers have to pay up like everybody else.
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Even though riders get spread out, riders were still using most of the road at SBT GRVL. The gravel roads aren't very wide, and farm and ranch equipment are often pretty big, so passing bikes can be a problem.