Who do these guys think they are making clothing mandatory? All their events are like this. Talk about off putting.
THE JERSEY: All riders receive the official GFNY Rockford race jersey, which is mandatory attire at the race. The jersey is designed in NYC and Made in Italy.
Not my bag, but if they can sell enough $232 tickets then more power to them.
Iāve noticed it. Itās kind of weird. Iād want to wear my club jersey.
Iād never do this event because of this. And I live 45 mins away and want to do itā¦ Stupid.
Those guys have been full of themselves for years, IMOā¦.no way I would wear a mandatory jersey.
$250 to ride around Rockford IL isnāt off putting?
The cohesive look of everyone in the event is part of their event. It made some sense in NYC where youād see everyone weaving through the city on the way to the start, then the scene on the bridge with everyone dressed alikeā¦ā¦ but not for every other time.
Itās just meant to justify the $250 to ride around Rockford Il. I assume theyāre doing Rockford because they didnāt want to pony up any money to close down roads around Lake Geneva Wi, Madison, or along the Fox River- places that are scenic
Iād wear it inside-out or back-to-front.
Or maybe as a baselayer.
I did GFNY in 2022. The route was nice enough, but the organization and price were jokes. I wonāt do another of their events.
And yes, they ārequireā you to wear their jersey. Their jersey is also made of trash materials with equivalent design. FIts their overall event really.
Damn, Iām cranky. Sorry. Not my favorite event.
Personally, Iām just not going to regularly do any $200+ rides unless they are offering a boat load of percs (none that Iāve seen do).
I was considering BWR last year because I was living a couple hours away. Pay $200+ to rub elbows with some of the pro gravel bros plus get a few aid stations along the way? No nice dinner, no jersey, not worth $200 at all. I could go to Ashville any weekend for some riding on the exact same public forest trails.
Good point but was just bringing up one of their events so people could see
Sureā¦ I was just pointing out that (and no shade on Rockford, IL), but it is on generic flat Illinois country roads. $250 for the cheapest event they could have put on. They want you to register by ā10/31ā no refunds for an Aug 6 2023 event. Then they have a āGrand Fondo World Championshipā thing on their pages 
Again, they could have thrown this an hour west on the Mississippi river with the same cost structure and the event would have have some appeal. (Hell, this would be better if they made it a āgravel-lite allroadā event).
I get charging more for a primer event, charging more and working a jersey into the fee, hosting some ācelebsā/VIPs and adding that cost to the event,ā¦ I mean their $350 NYC event seems like something you might get on an airplane to attend. I find this packaging
But yeah, jersey saying something about New York for a northern Illinois event mandatory.
FWIW ā¦ they planned to do this event this year, but apparently canceled. Iām not 100% sure why, but my guess it low registration numbers. Nobody I knew had it on their radar.
Iād do any proper road race in any sort of decent proximity to me, because they are so rare in the States these days. But this is a pretty off-putting stipulation.
Interesting, almost all the fondos in my country kind of require you to wear the jersey the give you, and every single one gives you a jersey.
