The border between competition and cycle tourism is increasingly blurred, a circumstance that runs counter to our interests.
During recent years there has been a considerable increase in cycle tours or tests in our country. And in parallel, institutions are setting more and more conditions for its celebration. The confrontation and debate is served...
Cycling is a sport on the rise. More and more of us are practicing some form of this wonderful sport. And it is clear, When you have been pedaling for a while and feel how your performance improves, you want to try yourself in various types of events.. So far everything is perfect, as there is a wide calendar of pure competitions for each category, from the youngest to the Master 60.
The problem lies, for some time now, in the calls cyclists on the road that are supposed to lack competitive spirit by definition, but that in some cases the organizers provide a certain air of competition, by establishing timing with a chip at the finish line or trophies for the first finishers. Be careful, we are not saying that we think it is bad, but in that case perhaps they should change its name to 'cyclo-sports test or competition'. Otherwise, We run the risk of these tests turning into a little chaos, as has already happened in some parts of our geography, with endless platoons of thousands of cyclists, of which the first 500 are dedicated to achieving stratospheric averages and the last 500 are dedicated to finishing as best they can or, simply, enjoying the ride at a calmer pace. Both types of cyclist deserve our respect, of course. But such a diversity of cyclists, on the road, for the Civil Guard, becomes a very long multicolored snake... and very difficult to control and protect from open traffic, during hours and hours of celebration of the march, with honorable exceptions that we all know .
Then come the problems that we all know: stops in the middle of the march to regroup, intermediate cut-off times that 'dance' and leave hundreds of cyclists without protection…And cyclists, on the other hand, who believe in a competition with closed traffic and pass the traffic rules through the lining… of the windbreak. I like it. They like formulas like the Bilbao-Bilbao, without chips or trophies, but with different starting 'boxes', depending on the pace and average speed you want to go, which does not mean that you can 'tighten the screws' at any given moment, and no one is going to stop you. Or the one that other gears are using, with a mostly neutralized and controlled route at the head, but that prepare a section (generally uphill...) to be timed and establish a classification for the fastest.
In any case, everything involves a redefinition of the identity of these tests and their conditions of celebration, in order to avoid defrauded participants and facilitate the work of the security forces in charge of managing traffic. If we manage to reach that point of understanding and know what we are sticking to, we will ensure that these types of events continue to grow, yes, but in an orderly, sustainable and beneficial way for all parties.Author: Víctor Marcos – Communication and RRSS Bikefriendly
