To paraphrase the title of an old movie, suppose they held a bike race and nobody came?
That's exactly what happened today when Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) hosted the first-ever Tour de Troy bike races. However, aside from students cheering on other students or taking pictures for the school newspaper, the streets were deserted. As I walked through downtown this afternoon during the main event, a men's 5K race, I didn't see anyone lining the streets to watch the race. Some curious observers sat at a table at Dunkin Donuts, but that was about it.
So, then, what was the problem? Well, for one thing, not everyone reads the newspaper anymore, so there were more than a few irate commuters upset over bus reroutes that would last longer than they would for the Flag Day Parade in June. By the time the streets would be cleared after the last race, the buses, save for the #22 Albany-Troy via Watervliet line, would be off the roads for the rest of the day. For another, not enough advance notice was given about the races.
Granted, the cold weather might have kept some people away, and I'm not exactly sure when RPI had their Spring Break, but if you give downtown businesses 6-8 weeks advance notice instead of 1 week, or even 2 days, you might get some civic support. Didn't happen in this case, and as the kids these days say, it's an epic fail. Because of such poor planning and lacking appropriate publicity, the organizing staff at RPI gets a supply of dunce caps for blowing a golden opportunity to create what could be an annual event that allows the college community to bond with the citizenry. We'll see if they've learned their lesson if there is a Tour in 2012.....
Bike races don't get much love in the US of A anyway, save for big events such as the Tour of California. Americans love their sports with sticks and balls. Bike races? Pft.
ReplyDeleteCombine the fact that it was not a world-class event with frigid temperatures... I'm not surprised people didn't show.
Instead of ranting and raving to nobody in particular over poor PR work on the part of the RPI kids, why don't you contact one of the club officers and tell them yourself.
Apparently, the movie, "Breaking Away", did nothing for American cycling after all, eh?
ReplyDeleteI did note the cold weather, but the issue is with the lack of advance publicity. I get that RPI was more abuzz over the hockey team making the NCAA's, which turned the Tour into an afterthought, which was not their intention.
Also, this is not a case of ranting & raving, Zack. Rather, it is a simple observation, and expressing disappointment that the potential to make this something the city can share with RPI was not fully realized. If I knew who to talk to at RPI, I would. I'm hoping someone there reads the blog, and does what you did, Zack, and reply. Thanks for writing.