Negative Nancy post incoming: I'm sad the ride is going away, but not surprised. I had a few issues with this ride. The routes awesome, but is only going to appeal to cycling nuts like us. It seems to me that rides are becoming more and more consolidated and commercialized like most things. The era of a small local charity ride is gone. It's not worth the effort and risk to put on a ride for 50ish people that's going to generate less than $1000 dollars for the charity. People will spend hundreds of dollars to go do a shitty 200 mile gravel ride in the middle of nowhere, but they won't spend $50 dollars to do a local ride that benefits a local charity.
Now in the case of Beautiful Southern, the even organizers didn't really do a good job promoting the ride and turning it into an experience which is key to a rides success.
Great point Matt. In order for a ride to survive now, it has to be an "experience" or put on by a person/community that has many connections to keep it going. Nostalgia jus doesn't cut it anymore. Many of us "cycling nuts" ride these very roads every single week, and the beauty/freshness of them go away. Therefore, these rides have to rely on non-locals to survive. I'll use the Superman ride down in metropolis as an example, same route every year, and last year there was only about 5 of us in the front group maybe only 50 total. The first year I did it, it was so big, well over double these numbers. It becomes: compare things like the Dirty South Roubaix to beautiful southern/spokes for strokes/superman.
I don't think it's the competitive nature of DSR, there's more to it. To prevent sounding like a complete douche, it's the culture. The perception of a lot of road cycling culture isn't positive, see most "new rider friendly" videos. "We know road cycling typically makes you think of an elitist culture...blah...blah...blah". Mountain biking, especially in this area (see the folks that don't want you riding in "their favorite spot, because other riders will find it"), was for the hardcore folks who would risk physical damage (bruises, bumps on the head, and broken bones) to prevent riding on the roads with the cars (this is a whole other issue that should be addressed in other ways, IMO). Gravel, from the beginning up until a few years ago, was all about vibes. Chill out, you don't have to kill yourself on the hills, and you can relax on the descents. Stop enjoy the view, eat a sandwich, drink a beer (or 3 or 6). Lots of people like that casual vibe that you don't get in the other forms of riding.
Does this mean I want road rides to go away? If you know me, you know the answer is H*** NO, i love road riding. As a matter of fact, I'm only racing other things because the amount of road rides are diminishing. Just I think the road rides NEED that "come out, challenge yourself on the ride and have a beer or 3 afterward". No pressure to be bar to bar and chopping off trying to set the FKT, just have a good time.
Ultimately, the problem is multifaceted. 1) Organizers need to inventivize fun/making it an experience. 2) Local riders MUST show up and support as they are the lifeblood of the local cycling community. 3) We need to not gatekeep cycling and help get new riders into the sport.
