Did anybody else at Boulder 70.3 this weekend disagree with the bike shuttle situation? A lot of people waiting for the shuttle ride back to the old IBM plant were complaining about the bike handling situation. Many either opted for an Uber or, me included, rode their bikes back to the IBM parking lot after seeing the way the bikes were handled and “thrown” into a box truck (maybe it was just a particular individual, I didn’t witness everyone working the bike shuttle trucks).
I was wondering if this is common practice in this situation, I thought it was a little shady to leave the bike there, let a guy throw it in a rental box truck and hope that your bike doesn’t get damaged in the process. Just as we were waiting, one of the bikes in the rack got knockout by one of the buses driving by and we ended reporting it. Probably we were just being overprotective, but it didn’t seem like the process was thought through.
I saw the long line and the bikes being put into box trucks. Between hearing of a couple that had been in line for over an hour (their words), and the storm incoming, I went for the ride back to IBM lot. It wasn’t terrible, and knocked out my ez spin for recovery
I wasn’t too keen on my bike being thrown onto a bus or truck. I suspect they didn’t think the shuttle situation through. I heard about people waiting for hours to get their bikes, etc. on a shuttle back to IBM. Myself and several others just rode our bikes on a portion of run course, cut down a gravel road to 63rd and then back to IBM. It was easier than dealing with the shuttles…and a nice recovery spin.
So the shuttle thing wasn’t a totally new concept for Boulder - they had to do it to move bikes from the Rez to Boulder High School for several years. (and it honestly wasn’t that well done and bikes were damaged).
For the 70.3, parking has historically been a clusterfuck. Like it took so long for people to park that they had to delay the start of the race. The shuttle is really the only way to alleviate the parking pressure and ensure the race starts on time. But yeah, the bike part of it was not excellent. I saw the huge line, left my bike under a tree, hopped on the passenger shuttle, got my SUV and came back for my bike.
I think the shuttle thing is going to stick around, but agree that they could definitely benefit from some better organization.
I did a similar thing for Day 1 of Rebecca’s Private Idaho gravel race. No venue parking, had to take a shuttle with our bikes to and from the host hotel to the venue. Bikes were loaded up SUPER quick (and safely!) without any lines. I think I stood in line with my bike for maybe 10 minutes. Granted, there were MANY less participants, but the concept was similar.
Ya, I think it could have worked well if they had correctly anticipated how many people (and when). I took an early shuttle (before noon) back with my bike and it got to ride on the bus with me otherwise I would have been riding it.
When I came back for awards (which should have been cancelled earlier, but I digress) that line was a disaster and they were having to call additional drivers in. Apparently they only had 2 busses scheduled to be around from 2-6 which makes no sense seeing as that is when virtually everyone (2000 athletes plus ~4000 spectators) would be wanting to go back to the lot. Also, there have been better examples of handling bikes in box trucks besides just throwing them in.
The idea isn’t terrible, and likely necessary for this race. But the implementation was poor at best.
