Road Bike Racing - Sturbridge/Palmer, MA Road Races.....gone for 2009??

So I was talking to a co-worker of mine who races, and from what I understand there is a new police chief in the area who is putting the kibosh on these two races.....

Being that they seem to be pretty popular road races, I would imagine there's going to be a lot of unhappy people about this. If I were Mike Norton, I'd be *****ing up a storm. Anyway, next April is still a long way off, so HOPEFULLY something can get ironed out. But in the meantime, from what I've heard.....they're all done.

You really have to appreciate stupidity sometimes.

This is true. There was an article in the Worcester (MA) Telegram a week or so ago. Seems the residents were complaining about excess trash scattered about. And supposedly the police chief couldn't pass the pack on the road. I don't know if that means there were flagrant yellow line violations or perhaps being new, he thought it was like a time trial where riders would be strung out single file. Newspaper reporters and editors rarely understand the nuances of bike racing. I've never seen the race before, I'm usually just a spectator at the Fitchburg race. But your post did jog my memory about the article in the paper.

I am not glad to hear this...

I was thinking of taking a stab at road racing next year (currently just a hill climber) and these were two of the three races I was thinking of starting with (in addition to Battenkill Roubaix)...

Maybe this is karma and I should just stick with hill climbing...

Friday, May 30, 2008
Warren to cancel bike races

Officials say riders messy, spent little

By J.P. Ellery CORRESPONDENT


WARREN— The annual two-day bicycle races featuring hundreds of riders and sanctioned by the U.S. Cycling Federation will no longer be supported by this town.

Begun here in 2002, the 15-mile and 20-mile races were held April 26 and 27 this year, starting at Quaboag Regional Middle/High School on Old West Brookfield Road.

“There were numerous complaints from residents about congestion in downtown and on Southbridge Road,” Police Chief Bruce D. Spiewakowski told selectmen Tuesday.


“It would be my recommendation to the board that we discontinue our sponsorship,” the chief said.

He said bike riders were discourteous to police, bikes were on both sides of the road, the bike route was not clearly marked, the event appears to be of no economic benefit to the town and there was litter at the high school.

He said he tried to pass the continuous line of bikes on Southbridge Road near Breezelands Orchards and could not. They were traveling about 40 mph, Chief Spiewakowski said.

“The bike racers seem to think the roads are theirs,” Selectman Robert W. Souza Jr. said.

“I have no problem supporting the chief’s recommendation,” he said.

Selectmen Robert K. Downing and David A. Delanski agreed.

Mr. Delanski said he, too, had a lot of complaints from residents about traffic problems.

“Send a letter to the organization that Warren is no longer intending on supporting the event,” he said.

Race organizer Michael A. Norton of Monson, involved in bicycle racing for 20 years, said yesterday there were about 550 bike riders this year compared with as many as 800 at past events.

He asked why town officials had not contacted him to discuss their complaints.

“I haven’t heard from the chief or anybody,” he said. “Usually, if there’s something that happens like that the chief will call me and we’d try to work things out and figure out what happened.”

There were other events at the high school, Mr. Norton said, and he does not understand the complaint about litter.

“I made sure. We walked around and we cleaned the venues of where we went and where the finish lines were,” he said.

Regarding the route, he said, it was the riders’ responsibility to know that and they all received maps months in advance. At most of the turns, there were signs.

At the beginning of the race everyone is together, so it is easy to follow the routes. Sometimes, though, there are stragglers.

“We try to do everything for the riders to make sure they’re aware of what the races are,” Mr. Norton said.

“To get it sanctioned (by the USCF),” he said, “I have to bring officials out and they have to go around the course to make sure the course is safe, that it’s marked properly and everything else.”

Palmer Public Library has been using the race as a fundraiser for about 10 years, Mr. Norton said. In a follow-up conversation, Police Chief Spiewakowski, who has been chief here for less than six months, said he was not aware of that and had no idea why the race did not begin in Palmer instead of Warren.

Mr. Norton said a part of the race route is in Palmer. The area takes in portions of Routes 19, 20 and 67 along with Brookfield Road and Southbridge Road, but there is no appropriate place available in Palmer to start the race that is near the race route.

He said that years ago, the bike race began at Tantasqua Regional High School on Route 148 in Sturbridge, but town officials there also had problems. Sturbridge set up strict restrictions on the conduct of the race, he said, and eventually race organizers opted to come to Warren.

A recent survey of Warren stores, Chief Spiewakowski said, revealed that local merchants found little or no increase in sales as a result of the race, which attracts very few spectators.

However, Mr. Norton countered that a lot of riders had breakfast at a restaurant in West Warren and many of the race participants, who come from long distances, gassed up their cars in town.

He said he will contact Chief Spiewakowski and selectmen to see if a meeting can be arranged to iron out the difficulties. Mr. Norton said he would like to continue holding the races in Warren.

“The bike racers seem to think the roads are theirs,” Selectman Robert W. Souza Jr. said.


What a jackass comment. Is the road only yours if you are in a car?


A recent survey of Warren stores, Chief Spiewakowski said, revealed that local merchants found little or no increase in sales as a result of the race, which attracts very few spectators.


I would love to see that "recent survey".

I'm not involved with the race at all and I don't race them, but there's something all the racers seem to forget.

Almost all the problems come from the racers (!). Litter, trash, peeing in public, one finger gestures (or worse), etc etc etc.

Okay, the new police chief is different, because one of our races got shut down by such a chief. But the rest of the problems Norton has been having have been there consistently from the first day he held the races. A real pity.

cdr

I've raced both of those in recent years. It's hard to believe some of this stuff -- IIRC the race flier was very explicit about not relieving yourself in public (immediate disqualification) and both venues had indoor facilities and good numbers of porta-johns. We were also clearly instructed not to throw trash, IIRC, and I think Norton drives the course and picks up just in case. At least that's my recollection. I don't think my race came across more than 5-6 cars during our race. These are not exactly booming metropolises.

Very disappointing....

Seems there is a big dose of miscommunication here...First, that the town / polic chief were not aware of what was coming, and then that their concerns didn't get relayed to Mike Norton in a more timely fashion.

I agree with others, having done the "Sturbridge" race this year, that the directions were very explicit about littering etc....I drove round the course after to retrieve a bottle that was catapulted out of its cage over some road work. As CDR points out, we as cyclists really must do a little extra to show respect for the people and towns that put on the races....

I'm hoping Mike Norton, who in my brief experience seems a very straight-forward guy, can clear this up by next year.

He said he tried to pass the continuous line of bikes on Southbridge Road near Breezelands Orchards and could not. They were traveling about 40 mph, Chief Spiewakowski said.



The chief was probably pi$$ed off because he couldn't do 80 on his way to the donut shop.

I didn't notice any litter at Palmer last year, and didn't see anyone peeing in public, and other than the peloton which takes up the entire ****ing road anyway, the "stragglers" were off to the side like a normal cyclist would ride. I was in a chase group with 12 riders, and at no time did we impede traffic, nor did the other people that we caught. Can't speak for any other races, but I'm sure it was much of the same.

As usual, I really dislike "people".

I didn't do Palmer, but I did Sterling, and I'll do Monson on Saturday. (I'm a 57 yo newbie). Isn't there an organization that can help advocate for racing? I'm not surprised that a few citizens get ticked off, but I find it hard to believe that it's really much more than a minor inconvenience. Is the existence of a race really that fragile?

I didn't do Palmer, but I did Sterling, and I'll do Monson on Saturday. (I'm a 57 yo newbie). Isn't there an organization that can help advocate for racing? I'm not surprised that a few citizens get ticked off, but I find it hard to believe that it's really much more than a minor inconvenience. Is the existence of a race really that fragile?

Apparently.

I realized that the racers may not be responsible for the litter that the town notices. I got the same complaints after the Bethel races, and having shoveled and swept the whole course, I was pretty familiar with all the litter out there. I saw a LOT of "town" trash - beer cans, alcohol bottles, cigarettes, and all sorts of other things. I asked the town about something and they mentioned something back about "the litter we left". I think I got a bit defensive but I pointed out that racers that litter will dump bottles and food packaging, but they don't drink beer and stuff. I told them I'd pick up all the bike stuff and anything in the street but I couldn't clean up (except for sweeping the road) after the people who party in the area at other times.

Still though the litter etc just gives the race's opponents more ammo. Norton has to communicate as best as possible and set expectations. Then the racers have to live up to his promises.

For racing's sake, I hope that the road races keep going. We even schedule our races to try not to conflict with them (we've moved our races up 2-3 weeks in order to keep out of his April races).

cdr

Does anyone know if these races were replaced with Quabbin Reservoir RR this year? I don't recall ever hearing about this race.
I don't know about the roads, but it looks like it could be a fun race.
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=7455

Edit: I just realized Monson is on April 25th, Quabbin on the 26th. Wish they could've split them up over 2 weekends.

I'd like to say that both of those races were easily my least favorite road races of the season (boring and slow...a bad combination), so I'm rather excited for the new set.

PS Barry they've always held those races on the same weekend.