When do you think racing will resume & will you race?

I think I’d rather wait until next year to race for 2 reasons: i) greatly reduced (hopefully) chance of infection/greatly increased (hopefully) chance of vaccination, and ii) I don’t want to do a race with questionable/shitty organization that was thrown together in a rushed last-minute way just so a race can take place/revenue can be salvaged.

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The races could do a number of things; these are just a few ideas:
Cancel expos
Don’t provide food after the race
Put tape down and require 6 feet distance during race check in
Put down tape or paint on start grids like cyclocross to create “lanes” in the start rows to increase distance
Require gloves at aid stations for volunteers
Utilize a clothesline concept with clothespins to attach shots or waffles to so riders don’t have to grab them from a box at aid stations

Regarding USAC; it’s more about their risk tolerance. My thought would be that they are a much bigger target for potential lawsuits by the public than a small organizer that is able to work with the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) over the race. The smaller, and/or, non-sanctioned races have one less entity involved to work with to ensure the race is done in a manner that is safe as reasonable. I think local event permitting agencies are going to require plans from the event on how they will promote social distancing.

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This.

The cold, hard reality is that any mass gathering will have to be avoided until there is a vaccine. Period. Otherwise, you are just asking for the virus to rebound and we start this whole process over.

My guess is that Stay at Home orders will be lifted in June in some (most?) areas, but social distancing recommendations will be in place for the next year at least (or until a vaccine is widely distributed).

Participating in a race or sporting event where people are breathing heavy, coughing, spitting and blowing snot rockets is just simply irresponsible, IMO.

ETA - @Pasque basically said the same thing above. Need to remember to read the whole thread before hitting “reply”. :rofl:

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Gotcha! Thanks for the response.

I am trying to hold out hope for cross season. My two local summer triathlons haven’t been canceled yet, but I’m assuming they will be.

If cross season happens, I’m expecting to see a lot of roadie/MTB folks out there.

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I’ve started training properly for cx season. If that doesn’t happen I’ll pause for a week or two then start training for the next xc season.
Keeping looking forward.
I’m not worrying about catching covid of any of the other myriad of diseases out there. I’m trying to live as healthily as possible and will just extract as much from life as possible until my time is up. I’m obeying all government directives as it’s my duty to do that as part of society, but I’m finding workarounds such as turboing in the garden to keep my passion burning.

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Give it 9-12 months. I dont see a lot of hope until vaccine or better treatment occurs.

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Not until after the summer (july-august here in the states). That’s best case scenario. Most likely, much later than that. Personally I’m thinking that cyclocross is in the chopping block at the moment unless some real headway is made against this virus soon. I think its going to be a decent amount of time before any responsible governments will relax the social distancing rules enough to where we can have mass start cycling events. Word on the street + my expectations lead me to believe that my “A” event, Tulsa Tough, isn’t going to happen.

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Just an another point…In Ontario Canada the health officials gave a time frame for this virus of 18-24 months. Not very reassuring

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You guys are exploding. Be safe!

Out on the other coast, after a rapid start, we are (hopefully!!) starting to slow down.

But all this is for a different thread.

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Based on this, I expect that US non-USAC races will start running some time in the beginning of July or early August: https://covid19.healthdata.org/

My assumption is that most offices will re-open “end of social distancing” + 30 days, which I would expect to match USAC policy since they have a reasonable amount of medical insurance for participating.

Not sure if catching COVID at a race would be covered though…

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Any race organizer who holds an event before governing bodies give the green light deserve to be sued into the ground. I’d actually be surprised if any organizer could get insurance in this current environment for an event to be honest.

There is a race organizer that continues to claim “we take our riders health seriously…” and at the same time says “if the town festival goes ahead we’ll go ahead USAC sanctioned or not”

What is more worrying about all of this, and its something no one has yet turned their mind to; with the massive recession that will occur because of isolation requirements, what companies/organizations are going to have the wherewithal to put up the funds to hold races. That is what concerns me the most once this pandemic is over. Bike shops have been hit at the absolute worst time of the year, they’ve paid for and taken delivery of 2020 stock that they now are going to struggle to sell. And any other race sponsor is likely to be far behind their 2020 revenue targets, so any non-essential spending (ie. sponsorships) are likely to be axed right away.

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Our banks in Aus have already deferred mortgage repayments for the next 6 months and I’m not allowed to kick my tenants out if they can’t pay the rent.

Racing? 6 to 12 months minimum if you ask me. 18 months or more might be on the cards if you’re talking international competition.
That’s if you can still afford to race by then.

PS. And yes. I will definitely race when things come good again.
PPS. If the TR boys and girls make the group workout function competitive? That could be fun in the meantime.

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It will definitely be AFTER Easter… :wink:

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After Easter 2021

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This pretty much sums it up…

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I entered Port to Port that was scheduled for May. It got postponed and rescheduled for September, but I had the option to transfer my entry to May 2021, so I did. Can’t see racing happening again until mass gatherings are allowed, and I can’t see that being possible until there’s a vaccine.

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That’s interesting about P2P. I was looking forward to heading down to the in-laws place at Port Stephens with the family for that one.
2021 it is then.

Thanks for all the thoughtful and insightful reply’s. I asked, in part, because I work for a US airline and we (flight crews) feel like virtually nothing is being done to even think about our protection and therefore the further spreading of the virus.

Capacity is down 70 and will be down 90% by May for us. However, training and flights continue as if nothing has happened. I realize our industry is in a huge corner, but damn, why not test the living crap out of us to get some data? No testing or screening of any kind has happened or being discussed to my knowledge. Not faulting the airline…more our crony capitalist healthcare system. We are putting many people at risk. I just don’t get it. Frustrated.

I cant see WT starting again until 2021 - there will definitely be athletes that have been training, and those than haven’t. And then no one has races kms. Discounting Zwift, FulGaz etc. Amateur racing, may start again this year, in Australia towards Nov/Dec summer months. (Why start in Winter when numbers are down anyway). we might see the first race of the WT for men and women being Tour Down Under.

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