Page Valley Road Race Promoter Shows Local Businesses the Money

The town where I went to college banned the Grateful Dead from ever returning.

Bicycle racers aren't pariahs quite to the same degree, but we've lost more than a few venues over the past few years, largely for appearing to be more trouble than we're worth.

Christopher Gould, co-owner of Hawksbill Bicycles in Luray, VA, and promoter of the Page Valley Road Race, aimed to improve the perception local businesses have of racers coming to town, using data collected from the racers themselves to quantify the economic impact of a few hundred lycra-clad, underfed pain-brokers descending on the town.

The story he told is a powerful one, demonstrating that racers spent about $30K in the host county during the race weekend alone, and that 90% of them plan to return to the area for the non-racing attractions to spend even more money.

His story wasn't picked up in the Washington Post or VeloNews. No, Chris hit a bullseye when the local ABC affiliate, WHSV Channel 3 ran the story. See the write-up and watch the video clip here.

Chris' money quote: "Next time you see a guy on a bike on the road, that's part of your pocketbook. That's part of the economy."

Let's make sure nobody's pocketbook pees on anybody's lawn, m'kay?

Comments

[cs]

I happily contributed to the local economy spending a whopping 450 bucks in lodging, dinners, and drinks :)
Oh yeah, it was a great race too.