The Demise of the Bear Creek Lake Park Time Trial

From COBRAS

bike bearWe tried. Really hard.

The COBRAS have been planning for over a year to bring back the Bear Creek Lake Park Time Trial (BCLPTT). Last year we realized it was more than we could manage with just having taken over the KHMTT and we wanted to do it right, so it was decided to wait until this season.

Soon after we started organizing the KHMTT this year, we started on planning the BCLPTT. The obvious first step was to obtain the park. Working with a cyclist who has a relationship with the BCLP management, we set up a meeting with the park officials, the COBRAS and BRAC.

At that meeting, park officials related to us the issues they have seen in previous years during the BCLPTT and other cycling events. Over the years, BCLP has become very popular with campers and other users, and the roads are narrow, with no or very limited shoulders.

Cyclists when approaching a slower vehicle (RV or a vehicle towing a boat) would attempt to pass by crossing the center line or worse, try to pass on the right where there is little or no room. This created very dangerous situations.

Park officials’ primary consideration is the safety of all park users, cyclists as well as vehicles.

The COBRAS, working with BRAC established a set of rules to help mitigate the park’s concerns, including:

No warmups on park roads during the race
Ability for a racer to perform a restart if hampered by a slower vehicle that cannot be passed safely
Providing two motor officials to monitor racers
Any racer receiving a DQ would be DQed for the remainder of the series

The COBRAS and BRAC put together a proposal for park officials and presented that proposal the week of March 7th for their consideration. (You can read the proposal by clicking here).

BCLP officials have now informed us that our request to use the park for the time trial was denied.

This unfortunate for Colorado cyclists. We are losing venues where we can hold time trials. More and more park entities are either concerned about safety or receive complaints from other users and local residents. Their concern and complaints are often well founded, unfortunately.

The vast majority of cyclists and racers act in a safe and responsible manner. But it only takes one or two that are more interested in shaving a few seconds from their time than safety or acting in a sportsman like manner. And it’s the cyclist that put speed and time before safety that park officials remember.

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