Ironman: GO TO HELL

Triathlon Forum
1

Saw this in the news this morning about Ironman Boulder 70.3:
http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-ironman-events/ci_31201721/go-hell-longmont-business-blasts-ironman-70-3

‘Go to hell:’ Longmont business blasts Ironman 70.3 via roadside sign

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site21/2017/0807/20170807__08DCAIRONw~1.jpg

Raul Bustamante is the co-owner of United Wood Products Inc. along the Diagonal Highway between Airport Road and Niwot Road. Bustamante grew frustrated last year when use of the highway for the Ironman 70.3 half-triathlon made access to his business appear nearly impossible.

This year, Bustamante reached out to local law enforcement asking whether a sign could be put out letting passersby know local businesses along the road would still be open during the race. After chatting with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office and Colorado State Patrol, Bustamante felt reassured that this would be a simple fix.

But when he called to double check with Ironman race organizers that everything was set, his frustrations ballooned.

“She told me she was too busy and that she couldn’t do that,” Bustamante said of an Ironman representative. “She told me I needed to call somebody else, but she wouldn’t give their phone number. How am I supposed to contact them to make sure everything is OK?”

2

That’s one way not to win friends and influence people.

3

Sounds like his beef should be with the law enforcement people who told him they’d make it happen. Besides, the guy sells logs - how much drive-by business could he have lost in one day? But that sign is hilarious.

4

I sympathize with that business owner. I wouldn’t myself make the sign he did as a photo now can bite you in the rear at a critical juncture down the road, but his gripe is legitimate and it’s unfortunate that it went unresolved despite his requests.

5

How hard wood it have been for ironman to put up some signage indicating businesses are still open. Seems like and easy thing to do to get along. Then we wonder why communities don’t want to host us. To most people we are a bunch of weirdos who exercise too much.

6

What’s funny is he wanted somebody to put up a sign saying “businesses open during the race”

He bothered to make his own sign and “posted” it

And the idiot forgot to add, “BUSINESSES OPEN DURING THE RACE”

So, he vented, lost business, and possibly hurt the PR of other businesses while he was at it.

He wins the turkey award

7

How hard wood it have been for ironman to put up some signage indicating businesses are still open. Seems like and easy thing to do to get along. Then we wonder why communities don’t want to host us. To most people we are a bunch of weirdos who exercise too much.

I see what you did there…

8

this is boulder… most of the population are weirdos that exercise too much

9

How hard wood it have been for ironman to put up some signage indicating businesses are still open. Seems like and easy thing to do to get along. Then we wonder why communities don’t want to host us. To most people we are a bunch of weirdos who exercise too much.

Not sure adding vehicle traffic to a bike course is exactly in an RD’s best interest.

It’s one weekend day a year–people can live with it.

10

How hard wood it have been for ironman to put up some signage indicating businesses are still open. Seems like and easy thing to do to get along. Then we wonder why communities don’t want to host us. To most people we are a bunch of weirdos who exercise too much.

Not sure adding vehicle traffic to a bike course is exactly in an RD’s best interest.

It’s one weekend day a year–people can live with it.

Exactly, adding more traffic to the road isn’t the solution. Sounds like they need to find another road for the bike course if there is business traffic during the race.

11

Last year at Augusta I took the kids to get Ice Cream at the shop in town. They were melting in the heat that day while I raced. The owner said they didn’t have any because Ironman closed the roads down and truck couldn’t deliver. I felt bad for her and my kids lost their minds hearing, No Ice cream. Seems they could do little better sometimes.

12

I understand the complaint, but really don’t have much sympathy. It is frustrating that the streets are closed, but Augusta has been going on since 2009. You should know as an owner whether or not you can take deliveries that day an plan appropriately.

13

How hard wood it have been for ironman to put up some signage indicating businesses are still open. Seems like and easy thing to do to get along. Then we wonder why communities don’t want to host us. To most people we are a bunch of weirdos who exercise too much.

Not sure adding vehicle traffic to a bike course is exactly in an RD’s best interest.

It’s one weekend day a year–people can live with it.

Exactly, adding more traffic to the road isn’t the solution. Sounds like they need to find another road for the bike course if there is business traffic during the race.

I saw this during the race and it wasn’t that surprising to me. I’ve even bought fire wood from them before.

What you may not all know is that his place is one of the very few commercial places along Diagonal that could have possibly been impacted directly. Their driveway into their business is literally directly off the highway. Not many other business like that on the course. Also, for those that have no idea, the business in question is located at about Mile 12 or so of the bike course.

There are always people and businesses impacted when a race uses public roads, when there is road work going on, etc. And even if they created some course in a fake world that did not impact any people or businesses, there would still be people who would complain.

Yeah did some people maybe have to come back at a different time to pick up wood? Maybe. But maybe that’s part of the risk he takes when he relies on public roads that are open to other people besides him and his customers? Great prices on wood, though.

14

Sounds like his beef should be with the law enforcement people who told him they’d make it happen. Besides, the guy sells logs - how much drive-by business could he have lost in one day? But that sign is hilarious.

In August no less. Plus, the race is fairly early in the morning on a weekend. Also, I know that particular wood lot or whatever you want to call it. Guy probably has 100-200 cyclists a day (conservatively) ride by his business on the shoulder of Diagonal Highway and double that on any given weekend. Strikes me as a grouch.

15

Last year at Augusta I took the kids to get Ice Cream at the shop in town. They were melting in the heat that day while I raced. The owner said they didn’t have any because Ironman closed the roads down and truck couldn’t deliver. I felt bad for her and my kids lost their minds hearing, No Ice cream. Seems they could do little better sometimes.

So the owner didn’t know there was a race that day ? I thought they do a pretty good job of getting the word out to locals and businesses ? Any chance this particular case was poor inventory management plus increased sales due to the race…

16

As his is the only business there it would have been really easy for the race to cone the bikes into the left lane only from airport road to his driveway then let his customers use the right lane with a sign that said access to business only. Customers could use the right lane as a two way extended driveway. I get his frustration more because this was so easy to fix and it just seems they could not be bothered. This is a business that has been around forever vs. the new underpass that allows this race routing which is what 3 years old?

And honestly did they design that underpass for this race- because it’s really weird that it doesn’t go under the entire road. It is an annoying commuting route with multiple road crossings and not even a very clear east bound route. I could never figure out the design until I saw the race using it.

I had to drive to Boulder during the peak of loop one and was surprised at how well the routing worked for cars and bikes. It was pretty fun being right in the middle of it. It added about 7 minutes to Longmont to Valmont Bike Park drive for me. Which seemed totally reasonable.

17

What’s funny is he wanted somebody to put up a sign saying “businesses open during the race”

He bothered to make his own sign and “posted” it

And the idiot forgot to add, “BUSINESSES OPEN DURING THE RACE”

So, he vented, lost business, and possibly hurt the PR of other businesses while he was at it.

He wins the turkey award
This.

All the time and energy he spent on his vendetta could have been better spent on taking care of his business. A lot of small business owners, especially in small towns, are like this. They will yell at a customer asking for one extra coffee refill, in front of everyone, rather than give them the damn 10c refill.

18

I was on the IM Louisville bike course in years past when I passed a “NO IRONMAN” comment spray painted on the road. Reports were also that several early riders ran over thumbtacks in the road. That stretch is a relatively remote road, by no means a thoroughfare, so I didn’t understand the anger. Certainly the town of LaGrange gets lots of business, because it’s part of a two-loop course, and lots of spectators gather there.

I was relatively relaxed about getting to the notorious swim start, so there were plenty of people riding ahead of me who swept up the tacks. I feel badly for those who had their races ruined by flats because of some upset country folk.

19

Piss off enough of these local business folks, however inconsequential the impact to their businesses may seem and petty their grievances, and you end up losing your bike permit. This is exactly the type of person who ends up in local township government.

20

Interesting from so many angles.
Yeah, it would have made sense to at least include “we are still open”…but if I’m honest and wasn’t a triathloner, I probably would have reacted identically. Maybe worse. Not towards the athletes. But I would have made more noise than a sign.

As a triathloner, I’d probably try to figure out a way to shake Ironman down a little…like try to make it a win-win…where I win a little bit more. Like…“hey,I’ll get the permit and setup a bonfire with a free s’mores station in a spectator area for the morning or evening, if you’ll let me put up a sign for my business and pay for the logs. That’ll be $200, please.”

I want to say most races could do better at this stuff…but the reality of the shear volume of linear footage of a 140.6 makes that a Herculean task and somewhere, someone is likely to get screwed. Frankly, I’m a little impressed that more stories of grumbly residents, reticent Chambers of Commerce, and grumpy business owners aren’t more prevalent. Maybe they are and we just tend not to share them with each other?

I’d think if I were impacted by it and not a triathloner, I would be demanding of the relevant city/county/state provide the same thing they would if they were doing ‘roadwork’. A sign/alternate entrance/entrance accommodation?

Yes, it’s our road, too. But, that “too” is the key word. It’s theirs too. At the very least offer the guy a free t-shirt and gift card for lunch. Invite him to the pre-race dinner if they have one? Sometimes (maybe not in this guy’s case)…a little marginal expenditure can go a long way.

And while you can’t expect a race producer to proactively catch everything, they can work retroactively and try to win someone over. Yes, it’s a hard call to make.

“Hello, Mr. Wood. My name is Trini Racer, with the company that produces Ironman Boulder. I understand we caused major inconvenience. I’d like to see if we could maybe meet for dinner at Decent Restaurant X and see if we can’t find a way to disrupt your business a little less.”

At which point you either have a chance to win 'em over. Or, well…you just get your ear chewed out. Sure, you might poke them a little harder, but I think it’s generally worth the risk. I used to work for a data provider. I made a TON of those calls. Half the time, a free t-shirt or tickets to an arena football game from the salesperks pool was enough to win them over.