Can I Slap You Now?

***UPDATE*** 2-11-09. This situation has been amicably resolved. All is right with the world.


I will try to contain myself…I will try not to write something that will upset my own sponsors…I will not use specific names…but I have some beef with another team in the area…a team with some prominent riders.

$20. That’s how much the registration fee was for this weekends Charlotte Sport Cycling Winter Training ride. Team Giordana – Clif Bar provided lots and lots of food for the riders, rest stops, SAG support, and Jeremiah Bishop, US National Short Track & Marathon Mountain Bike Champion.

Apparently, $20 is too much for some people; some people who ride for a prominent team out of Greenville, SC; some people we all race with and ride with. It appears only one rider on that team paid their registration fee. The rest of the team rode circles outside of the park where the ride started and joined the group after the start.

To that team, I say this: We are all a part of the same cycling community. You know who we are and we know who you are. What you did by dodging the $20 registration fee is slap us all in the face. It demonstrated a total lack of class, community and respect. I certainly doubt you would put up with riders participating in your Spring Training Races without paying their entry fee. I, also, certainly doubt that the professional rider whose namesake garners your jersey would put up with those kinds of actions either. As much as he does to promote and support cycling of all levels in his hometown, I can only hope that he would be as appalled at your actions as I am.

If you don’t want to pay $20 to ride, then fine, ride elsewhere that day. But don’t try to sneak in under the radar and hope nobody notices. Where are your morals?