This Cyclist Became Disillusioned With Racing—So He Created His Own Event
Five years ago as a new transplant to New York City, I spent every summer weekend traveling and racing bikes. I chased upgrade points, getting mediocre results at races all over the Mid-Atlantic. As I stopped wanting to risk crashing out at sketchy crits, I became more interested in bikepacking and touring, but also that meant seeing my bike racing friends less and less.
Inspired by popular events like the Rapha Prestige and Dave Trimble’s legendary Neversink Road Race, I wanted to create an experience that combined my all of my passions-riding fast, hanging with friends, seeing new places, and camping-but without any sponsors, waivers, or support.
So last summer, I invited a large group of friends-some racers, some not-to come ride a loop in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Though it was open invitation, I was very explicit about the difficulty of the route-a certain level of fitness and familiarity with this type of riding was required. But I called it a “race” so people would still ride hard-attacking one another, riding sketchy dirt roads, drafting cars, and chasing KOMs.
I found a great spot on Airbnb-a farm owned by hippies who didn’t balk at the idea of a bunch of tents on their property. I urged everyone to arrive the day before we were set to ride so we could relax a bit. (I was adamant about an early morning rollout at 9 a.m. the next day.)
On “race day,” we rode several of the Catskills’ best roads and steepest climbs, totaling 65 miles with 5,000 feet of elevation. We finished sunburned and exhausted, but ready to hit the trails again the next day for a coffee ride-a “chill” 30 miles with the purpose of getting even more scenic miles in and finishing with caffeine.
Many attendees told me that was their favorite weekend of the summer, so this year when people started asking about it again, I wanted it to be even bigger.
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I called it the TFTInvitational (TFTI standing for “Thanks for the Invite”), which speaks to the confluence of cycling and socializing. I guilt-tripped all of my racer friends to skip that weekend of racing, as I’ve come to learn that racing your friends up a steep climb without a moto or bib number makes you dig even deeper and go even harder.
TFTInvitational is about friendship, camaraderie, and not taking yourself too seriously-there’s always a real race next weekend.
More than 30 people showed up for the 65-mile loop on July 6. Somehow, this year was even harder than last, and it was an all-out fight to the finish. And while last year’s coffee ride unintentionally turned into “ride your bike in a T-shirt instead of lycra,” this year’s into New Paltz, New York, became a fashion ride with a five-person podium for best dressed.
Want to create your own epic weekend adventure event? Here are a few things to consider:
Community: You want to do this with your friends, and probably a few of their friends for good measure-the more the merrier. (But keep in mind how much space you have to camp.) Creating a group event via Facebook works well for inviting everyone.
Location: Remote, rural country roads work best for unsanctioned and unsupported riding. Getting city dwellers out into nature to camp and explore new roads is a big part of the appeal of this type of weekend getaway. Airbnb is a good resource-we were looking for a farm with a large field for our group to spread out at and managed to find the perfect spot.
Planning: We had ridden the roads we planned the route around extensively, so we knew the limitations of planning a “race” around the area. My goals were to keep finishing times at or around four hours, which in the mountainous Catskills region kept us to a manageable 65-mile loop-just hard enough to crack even the toughest racers riding at their limit, but fun enough for riders of all levels to come out and still have a blast.
Camping: Your site should be far enough away from the city to feel remote and quiet, but not so far to discourage people from driving up the morning of if they can’t spend the night. We used tents, hammocks, and yurts for sleeping. Camping really makes an event like this feel special-everyone hanging out together, cooking and drinking and waxing poetic about bikes and life in general.
Bryan Banducci is a photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. He carries a camera everyday. He also likes racing bicycles, skateboarding, backpacking and camping, eating burritos, and exploring new landscapes.
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