GamJams.net: Where Mid-Atlantic bike racers roll: The Quick and the Deadsilver

The sun set on the Quicksilver Winter Solstice training race yesterday before it even started. According to race promoter Eric Marshall, the official explanation was:

We're sorry to have canceled today's event and send all you racers away wanting, but the Loudoun Country Sheriff's Office decided that today was the day to second-guess our 8 years worth of VDOT permits required to run the event and declared that our current permit didn't properly describe the event. The event that's been there for 8 years. The good news is that the deputy repeatedly assured us that this was all done for the safety of you racers. Apparently *another* near disaster has been averted.

I'm not sure exactly what that means, but what it says is that they didn't have the right permit for the race. I spoke with a race official on-site and was told the same thing: the permit called for a one-lane closure, and two lanes were required for the race.

Obviously, there was a lot of speculation about what happened, and I heard much of it in the parking lot yesterday morning. Jared Neiter (perpetually willing to give me someone to link to), posits:

As I am always willing to speculate and accuse, it is my guess that the police showed up because of a phone call by the raving redneck who rode his motorcycle without a helmet and yelled at two innocent bystanders last weekend about how the race was going to ruin his business.

A vigilant citizen journalist armed with a cell phone camera, Jared also has some pics and narration on his blog, worth checking out.

Here's what struck me: nobody got mad. I mean, people were annoyed and a little frustrated, but mostly bemoaned the loss of a perfect day of racing, not the inconvenience of a wasted trip or even a lost workout. Eric's and Jared's perspectives were largely echoed: blame the over-zealous cops or the bike-hating locals. But somehow the blame for not having the right permits - uneqivocally the fault of the organizers - slid off organizers like they were made of teflon. 8 years of getting away with it notwithstanding - they erred here, and we couldn't race as a result.

How come? It's easy really - we love racing. We appreciate the effort that goes into promoting a race and we're quick to side with our own, and against anyone else who is a convenient target for blame. Eric Marshall does more than he ought to (the chicken soup and hot chocolate in the heated community tent are gestures obviously not lost on the racing community), and he gets a by this round. I'm glad for it. I would much rather see a show of empathy and forgiveness instead of vitriol and vengeance. I've seen it before at races but, in truth, never road races. The 'stuff happens, dude' attitude that characterised yesterday's reaction is pretty common at mountain bike races, but we're roadies after all. When did we get so mellow?

I don't doubt the folks at Quicksilver will get it sorted out, and I'm equally confident nobody will hold a grudge. That says a lot to me about the strength of the racing community out here. Like we're one big train leading out the sport itself.