Crank Cycling

If there are not at least 30 women at the Red Trolley this year, there will be no women’s race in 2012.   Last year, after the 7th annual Red Trolley Classic, I wrote about how  it costs $10,000 to put on a simple industrial park criterium.    When you break that down, we are looking at a costs of $1,000 dollars an hour.   We’ve already written about how the SDSU cycling team and I lose money all morning during the collegiate categories, as they have a lower entry fee and relatively small fields.       While these fields are small, they are still larger than the Womens’ 1-3 field.  When you have 10 riders paying an average of $27 a piece, the revenue coming in is less than $300.  That means we are running at a loss of $700 that hour, and that is after losing money all morning with the collegiate races.   I would love to support women’s racing, but neither I, nor the SDSU team can  afford to do it with money directly out of our own pockets.    The profit margins are very slim at this event, and the risk of losing money is very real.    That is why we have made the decision that of there are not at least 30 women at this years race, we have no sane choice other than to cancel the  women’s race in 2012.   So women… encourage your fellow racers to come out  and race.  We  really want to see you  again in 2012.