The announcement that east-west Highway 99 crossings throughout Squamish will be closed Sept. 10 for the much-lauded RBC GranFondo Whistler will most likely create some ripples in the Squamish pond. Personally, Im excited about the event Im going to be in it. I volunteered to do the 120-kilometre road ride from Vancouver to Whistler as part of the Glacier Media Team. To date, Ive borrowed the gear I need off friends, won a road helmet at the schwag giveaway at the warm-up event by Corsa Cycles, and clocked more kilometres practicing in a few weeks than I normally manage over months. In short, Im already having a great time and the event is still weeks away. However, I am somewhat of a community-minded individual naturally disposed to looking at civic needs and interests, and I find myself questioning what the race organizers ate for breakfast the morning they decided to break the news of their new n improved traffic strategy.
Understandably, they must be heady with excitement at planning a group road ride for 7,000 cyclists in one of the most spectacular places to live on earth the Sea to Sky Corridor. Jaw-dropping ocean views, magnificent mountain vistas plus all the clean air a set of lungs can manage. The event was already an overwhelming success in its first year and, this year, it seems to be returning even bigger and better than before. But an important part of the planning has been overlooked and for the sake and safety of cyclists all over our wonderful little town, I hope its not too late.
What race organizers may not know is that the exchange between local riders and drivers in these here parts is already heated enough as it is. If the ongoing mud slinging generated by a letter to the editor from over a month ago is any indication, the two sides are having a hard time meeting in the middle complaints abound from both warring camps and this could simply add fuel to an already hot fire.
The value of a world-class event like the GranFondo rolling through town once a year is only too well understood. Squamishs international reputation as a premium adventure destination is only growing and this bodes well for current as well as future generations, in ways too numerous to list, but even an avid cyclist like myself is surprised by a bold move that will leave several neighbourhoods cut off from the highway for several hours on a Saturday summer morning. I wonder at the lack of community engagement and short notice (20-week training programs for cyclists are available on the GranFondo website). As far as I understand it, the focus of the GranFondo is not competition its mass participation. Apart from a small percentage of elite and competitive riders for whom a 1-hour closure is definitely necessary the majority will be out for a good time, leisurely stopping at the aid stations en route anyway. Surely some short scheduled delays to allow traffic flow for a busy community is a small price to pay when the Gran prize is so much more?
Nicole Trigg
