Thank you to everyone who came and made it a fun day. King's Place invited us back for next year already! I hope everyone had a fun ride, found a little new scenery and got a good warmup for the Mammoth, Almanzo, Dickie Scramble or whatever your next event is. Even though I didn't get to ride my own event, I had a lot of fun bopping around the course taking pictures. I apologize if I didn't get your picture in the album. I tried to grab as many as possible, but I recognize that there are more of the leaders than the back end.
We had a pretty good turnout, especially considering the conditions. I counted 70-72 riders, which isn't bad on a 100 rider registration. I discussed this some after the ride, and there does seem to be a bout a 30-40% 'no show' rate on free races. I'd assumed without dollars committed, the social contract would be less firm, and I think that is the case. Some thought needs to go into this aspect of gravel riding and the 'free' ethos.
I was pretty irritated to see someone riding without a helmet. I'll say it again, and I hate to be blunt, but - if you come to an event that I put on, wear your helmet. If you have an issue with wearing helmets, please don't bother coming to my events. This is a huge safety item, and regardless of how you feel about it, *I* view it as a safety issue, and important enough that I'm willing to risk your negative feelings about *my* event rather than have you participate. Enough said.
While I was out touring around, taking some side roads and short cuts, I did find a couple of really nice roads that I hadn't ridden on before, and I've already toyed with how to incorporate them without adding a bunch of distance. Trust me - next year will be more of the same and yet with a few improvements!
So we move on and enjoy some other events. Thanks again to everybody who came out and made it a memorable event!
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