Originally Posted by
Pratt
Are there more or fewer touring cyclists today vs fifty years ago?
Fewer would support he headwinds theory; more would argue that the problems are self inflicted.
The good news about the latter is that the solution is within the grasp of the organization.
I think I gave this example in the thread that is now locked….
In June I was again on a portion of their Trans Am route in MT. It was my fourth time on that section dating back to 2011. Same time of year each time. I usually encountered lots of people doing the route. One year I camped with around a dozen others one night alone. This year I think I encountered around 6 people. The sign in books at the Twin Bridges and Darby bike camps suggested relatively few visitors.
Forgot to add that what I did encounter were two groups of people who were driving to locations to do day rides. One was staying indoors in Jackson. The other was clearly on a commercial tour. (Couldn’t make out the name on the one van I saw.). I’ll bet they were staying indoors as well.
Consider this: ACA has no Cycle Montana road tour on its 2026 calendar. It didn’t have one last year either. That tour was popular when I crossed paths with it in 2014 and 2016.