{"id":2457556,"date":"2020-04-22T22:32:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T04:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-cycling-club-to-delay-start-of-season-hopes-for-busy-finish\/"},"modified":"2020-04-22T22:32:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T04:32:00","slug":"aspen-cycling-club-to-delay-start-of-season-until-at-least-june-hopes-for-busy-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-cycling-club-to-delay-start-of-season-until-at-least-june-hopes-for-busy-finish\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen Cycling Club to delay start of season until at least June, hopes for busy finish"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.5067750677507\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-324788-159\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled gallery-container\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/cycling-atd-042320-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/cycling-atd-042320-1-1024x732.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Racers take part in a past Aspen Cycling Club event. The 2020 season start will be delayed because of coronavirus concerns.\" class=\"swift-gallery-slide h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Racers take part in a past Aspen Cycling Club event. The 2020 season start will be delayed because of coronavirus concerns.<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/cycling-atd-042320-1-1024x732.jpg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/cycling-atd-042320-1-1024x732.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Racers take part in a past Aspen Cycling Club event. The 2020 season start will be delayed because of coronavirus concerns.\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/cycling-atd-042320-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/cycling-atd-042320-1-1-1024x768.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Aspen Cycling Club President Andy Ralston\" class=\"swift-gallery-slide h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Aspen Cycling Club President Andy Ralston<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/cycling-atd-042320-1-1-1024x768.jpg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/cycling-atd-042320-1-1-1024x768.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Aspen Cycling Club President Andy Ralston\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/cycling-atd-042320-1-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/cycling-atd-042320-1-2-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times | Aspen Cycling Club holds a skills clinic on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Woody Creek.\" class=\"swift-gallery-slide h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Aspen Cycling Club holds a skills clinic on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Woody Creek.<\/strong><br \/>Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/cycling-atd-042320-1-2-1024x683.jpg\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/cycling-atd-042320-1-2-1024x683.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Aspen Cycling Club holds a skills clinic on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Woody Creek.\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-cycling-club-to-delay-start-of-season-hopes-for-busy-finish\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-cycling-club-to-delay-start-of-season-hopes-for-busy-finish\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">While cycling season may be here, competition season will have to keep its distance. Only a few weeks away from its original start date, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aspencyclingclub.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aspen Cycling Club<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i> said it\u2019ll have to wait a bit longer to put on its first events of 2020 because of social distancing and the new coronavirus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe are staying optimistic,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-cycling-club-gearing-up-for-new-season\/\">second-year club president Andy Ralston<\/a> said. \u201cThis is all contingent on the state and the federal government and our local public health agency allowing gatherings of more than five people at that point in time, which is totally up in the air at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Aspen Cycling Club is a local nonprofit that hosts weekly road and mountain bike races throughout the Roaring Fork Valley during the summer months. The first races typically happen in early May, but Ralston said the target date for a first race is now early June, and this is more of a guess than anything.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While Gov. Jared Polis has announced an easing of current stay-at-home orders in the coming weeks, officials have also said basic social distancing practices and the limiting of large groups will likely remain in place for months.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/at-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe are trying to balance between being smart and sensitive and being good members of our local community from a health perspective and not potentially straining the local medical system,\u201d Ralston said. \u201cBalancing on the other side is that we are a valued part of the community and people are itching to get outside and do stuff and have fun and ride bikes. It\u2019s certainly a balancing act between being conservative and erring on the side of caution and also recognizing the value of our events.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Should the club get racing underway in June \u2014 effectively canceling a quarter of its season \u2014 it plans to start with a series of time trials, which are usually less attended and require natural social distancing through their one-at-a-time approach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The more popular races would then be saved for later in the summer when the situation has hopefully improved surrounding COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Ralston did say the club is looking at an operating budget that is 10% to 15% less than in recent years due to sponsorship losses. Sponsorships and other charitable donations make up the bulk of the club\u2019s budget, with the rest coming primarily from membership and race fees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe are up against the loss of some sponsor revenue at this point in time. Not a serious loss,\u201d Ralston said. \u201cScheduling fewer events means saving on some costs, but also bringing in less race revenue. We are doing a lot of different budget scenarios here just to see what we can sustainability and realistically offer this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Still, the greatest hurdle will remain the coronavirus, which leaves the club and its racers with nothing more than a best guess on when they can kick the competition season into a higher gear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cUltimately we will err on the side of caution because that\u2019s the necessary thing to do,\u201d Ralston said. \u201cThe good thing about our organization is we are able to be pretty flexible. We have really cooperative and understanding organizations that do our permits. People seem to be willing to be flexible with us, so we are able to adjust on the fly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:acolbert@aspentimes.com\">acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/sports\/aspen-cycling-club-to-delay-start-of-season-hopes-for-busy-finish\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Racers take part in a past Aspen Cycling Club event. The 2020 season start will be delayed because of coronavirus concerns.Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times Aspen Cycling Club President Andy RalstonAustin Colbert\/The Aspen Times Aspen Cycling Club holds a skills clinic on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, in Woody Creek.Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times Show CaptionsHide Captions While [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2457556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 00:46:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2457556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2457556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2457556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2457556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}