Gorge Roubaix Race for Sale!

Team Tomato

2017-12-04

Combining this with the Echo Red2Red and having one on Saturday and the other on Sunday might be one possibility. The Red2Rec is too early imho, and as we saw this year it ended up falling on the GR race date which in turn created some ruckus since a lot of members do both.

Chad, thanks for all your efforts at doing the GR, it was a blast and worth every penny of gas and hotel money to travel down from BC for this, you rock.


Brad Petersen

2017-12-04

Chad,

Although I never raced the Roubaix itself your passion for putting on these events was obvious from racing the Gravel Series last year. So glad to see that series will be back and although it sucks to lose GR and Mt Hood, moving both races to April can hopefully keep attendance/interest higher. Count me as a believer (admitter?) that Gran Fondo style events are the future of racing until something major changes in modern cycling culture. That said, huge thank you for keeping the grinder series alive for another year and experimenting with what makes these races feasible. I know I built a bike this fall with it in mind and hope I'm not alone in planning to actively annoy anyone I know that rides casually to ride it this year. Any plans for this years series to be "OBRA Sanctioned", if that's the right term?


Chad Sperry

2017-12-04

Dear OBRA Memebers,

I have an amazing offer for one hearty soul looking to get into the race
promotions business. I am willing to give you the Gorge Roubaix Bike Race
for free! That is right you can have the whole event at no charge!!! I
will turn over the naming rights, all permitting information, branding, as
well as assist you through the permitting process and help you make the
necessary local contacts.

Now for the fine print. You must be prepared to lose money on the event.
You must have at least $3000 in reserve in order to cover any losses the
event may incur. You must be prepared to receive and answer back dozens of
very negative emails and possibly even some personal attacks. You must be
willing to donate at least 100 hours of your time preparing for the event,
executing the event, and then post race cleanup.

If you meet all these criteria and are excited to enter the very NOT
lucrative industry of bike racing promotion please contact me and we can
work out a contract for transfer of the event to you. Otherwise there is
no Gorge Roubaix this year.

Rest of you out there who are looking at this offer and saying no way in
hell, please do one thing this coming year. Be nice to the promoters. It
is amazing every year the super negative emails and posts I have to
receive. That is one of the reasons why I am officially out of the bike
racing industry after nearly 20 year and over 100 races run. That and we
need new blood and energy. We have seen a huge drop in the number of folks
that are still willing to put on events and donate their time and resources
so lets show them some love. There is really no money made at the average
bike race so be nice and respectful to each an every one of these promoters
that sacrifice their time and resources. If you have a gripe send it in a
positive manner instead of a personal attack. Without them there is no
opportunities to race your bike. Most importantly remember that we are all
racing our bikes for fun! So lets keep it that way!

Seriously though if anyone wants to take over the Gorge Roubaix Race please
give me a shout and please note that the terms listed above are real that
was not sarcasm. If after reading those terms you still have a passion and
want it the event it is yours!

Sincerely,
Chad Sperry
Breakaway Promotions