An organiser near me has announced for the second time (that I’ve noticed) that the first three riders back will receive a bottle of beer each. He includes an ‘Audax is not a race’ qualifier, but am I alone in feeling rather uncomfortable about this?
I’ve heard rumours that other organisers quietly slip a beer to the first riders back, and I’m not overly bothered about that, but too announce it publicly in advance just seems wrong.
I know audaxers pretend not to race, but by overtly announcing the first three get a prize, however low value, bothers me. It removes that pretence and I feel it goes against the ethos of Audax.
I’m a mean cyclist (mean as in average, I tend to arrive about the middle of the pack), so it doesn’t make any difference to me, but I enjoy Audax because of the lack of elitism, and I feel by celebrating the ‘winners’ in such an overt way (even if it is just with a three quid ‘prize’) just isn’t in the spirit.
Is it just me? Am I wrong to be bothered? What are the thoughts of the collective?
John