SBT GRVL Runs Afoul of Local Ranchers & Residents in Colorado

[gravelreformist]

I happen to be working in Colorado now and driving on many of these ranch roads every day. I'd actually read this article prior to seeing it posted here.

While there are absolutely some valid complaints the overall tone the ranchers strike is that article is of the ultimate entitled NIMBY'er. They are worried that a large cycling event doesn't align with the county's 'agrarian values' which I find to hold exactly zero water. Times and places change. The ranchers are on land that was stolen from people who had lived on that land for generations before them. The gravel roads are public and people have the right to use them. (The private roads in this race do not appear to be part of the complaints - the landowner is extensively quoted in the article).

An all-day road closure impacts people who live on it pretty much equally whether they live in a large city, small town, or mountain canyon. The fact that there are plenty of other roads in the area doesn't help much if YOUR road is closed all day. So again, I find that argument entirely pointless.

As someone who lives in a rural area I think it's pretty much cultural that many of those people simply don't want the area to change in any way - from the way that they have experienced it. They are largely incapable of having the kind of introspection necessary to realize that their experience only exists because they pushed someone else out.

[spoonrobot]

Originally Posted by gravelreformist

I happen to be working in Colorado now and driving on many of these ranch roads every day. I'd actually read this article prior to seeing it posted here.

What do you estimate the common road width for these ranch roads? In rural Georgia the majority of unpaved roads are 1.5 lanes wide or less (figure around 15 feet wide) with a great many barely 10 feet. This precludes two way bicycle traffic for most gravel events. Other than the bathroom issue the two way sections of the SBT event seemed the most objectionable.

[gravelreformist]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

What do you estimate the common road width for these ranch roads? In rural Georgia the majority of unpaved roads are 1.5 lanes wide or less (figure around 15 feet wide) with a great many barely 10 feet. This precludes two way bicycle traffic for most gravel events. Other than the bathroom issue the two way sections of the SBT event seemed the most objectionable.

Mostly the width of a normal two lane western road without a shoulder. I'd say they are generally wider than a typical eastern paved back-road without lane markings. Certainly wider than most of our eastern gravel roads.

Two-way traffic is almost always a bad idea in large bike races or events though. They should do away with that.

[phishrabbi]

Originally Posted by spoonrobot

What do you estimate the common road width for these ranch roads? In rural Georgia the majority of unpaved roads are 1.5 lanes wide or less (figure around 15 feet wide) with a great many barely 10 feet. This precludes two way bicycle traffic for most gravel events. Other than the bathroom issue the two way sections of the SBT event seemed the most objectionable.

I rode a bunch of these roads last summer about a week before the race, most of them are legitimately wide enough for two cars to pass one another. Much of the little traffic there is out there is farm equipment, and thus much wider.

the gravel roads around Steamboat are the nicest I've ever ridden, like this

[thumper88]

Originally Posted by gravelreformist

I happen to be working in Colorado now and driving on many of these ranch roads every day. I'd actually read this article prior to seeing it posted here.

While there are absolutely some valid complaints the overall tone the ranchers strike is that article is of the ultimate entitled NIMBY'er. They are worried that a large cycling event doesn't align with the county's 'agrarian values' which I find to hold exactly zero water. Times and places change. The ranchers are on land that was stolen from people who had lived on that land for generations before them. The gravel roads are public and people have the right to use them. (The private roads in this race do not appear to be part of the complaints - the landowner is extensively quoted in the article).

An all-day road closure impacts people who live on it pretty much equally whether they live in a large city, small town, or mountain canyon. The fact that there are plenty of other roads in the area doesn't help much if YOUR road is closed all day. So again, I find that argument entirely pointless.

As someone who lives in a rural area I think it's pretty much cultural that many of those people simply don't want the area to change in any way - from the way that they have experienced it. They are largely incapable of having the kind of introspection necessary to realize that their experience only exists because they pushed someone else out.

Precisely. Almost none of the complaints hold water. There were no “all day road closures." Roads weren’t closed at all.
People reading the stories think "my god, 3000 cyclists in a mass filling ranch roads!"
First, the riders are broken up into different starts, more or less at the crack of dawn.
For the first couple of miles of gravel road the individual packs move through in a few minutes, so anyone near town -- where most of the homes on these roads are -- isn’t seriously impacted, let alone barred from using their roads. Mind you, this is around breakfast time.

Then within three miles the packs are shredded into smaller groups and by mile 40 or so there are few groups larger than 20. And they split onto various courses. These small groups are easy to pass for what little traffic there is and spread over what, 200 miles of road?

Now let’s get real. NO driver is impeded for any serious amount of time. It’s not mathematically possible.
The racers are on segments of gravel road that are I dunno, 3 or 4 miles long on average. And I have never, not once, seen anyone driving along struck behind a group they could not pass. But let’s be generous and say it happened, and it was a slow group. So worst case they do 15 mph instead of 30 mph for a couple of miles.
They were impeded for three or four extra minutes on the way to the county fair and that ... threatens their culture?
The impact on drivers that is claimed is just hogwash.
And on these isolated dirt roads -- some of which I have never seen a vehicle on and which don’t have residents at all -- I see maybe 10 vehicles total for the 7-8 hours or so I’m racing.

And it’s simply not possible a course marshal said they wouldn’t move from someone’s driveway, and not possible that someone was told they couldn’t use their road. That’s not how the event works, or the type of people who are marshals.

I have also never seen cows spooked on the course or in a position where that was likely, never seen serious trash, only seen cowbells in a couple of places that were away from houses and wielded by cheerful, pleasant folks I guarantee would stop or move if someone just asked. Only seen a couple of places -- on or right off of paved roads -- where spectators were allowed, and it was a hundred or so total and on right of way, or at one ranch invited onto the property by the rancher.

The private roads the course used were also at the invitation of the rancher who owns them.

I have seen people urinate, discreetly, in isolated areas. Pretty much where the ranchers themselves have surely taken a whiz or two and where their cows piss all day, thousands of gallons worth.
But the race organizer is taking care of that now apparently with tougher rules and is apparently rerouting the course to avoid the one long section of two-way traffic that has I dunno, a ranch per mile on it for 6-8 miles.

This whole thing though is notice to race organizers everywhere they need to go the extra mile with community relations even when the issues presented aren’t real by any reasonable standard. Every gravel race out there is vulnerable to some version of this.