What will be the lasting effects of the Tour of California’s visit to Avila Beach?

Thousands of people came to Avila Beach on Thursday, but not as many as organizers had planned for. By Owen Main

They rolled in. At a pace that mortals should not be able to ride, the best cyclists in the world sped from Santa Barbara to Avila Beach on Thursday. Crowds lined the streets through some of the mostly-rural ride, but the big crowd was expected at Avila Beach.

“Over 7,000 people” were expected, according to the California Highway Patrol, and there was much talk of shutting down access into town because of limited parking. Everyone was on full safety alert. Then a funny thing happened. Barely anyone showed up. Based on Fansmanship’s totally unscientific and uneducated estimate, there were somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 spectators in the town. I don’t know if the golf-course parking lot ever filled-up. I’m pretty sure the parking areas at PG&E and Avila Valley Barn didn’t. The Bob Jones trailhead parking lot was about half-full around 11:30, which might not be that much more than a regular Thursday and is probably less than a sunny weekend day.

Don’t get me wrong, the preparation made the fan experience fantastic. I had planned on walking to and from the event on the Bob Jones trail from the KOA campground in Avila Beach, but ended up taking a mostly-empty shuttle both ways. I kept waiting for the “big crowd” to get there. The group of cycling fans that ended up coming were loud and excited, there just weren’t that many of them. It didn’t hurt my experience, though. I had no problem finding a great vantage point to take some photos from, my photographer was able to easily get out of town after the finish, and I was able to move pretty freely from where I stood to the podium to take some photos there too.

One really cool feature was having a video screen with the ATOC commentators easily heard on the street corner. Watching the pros pedal on the roads I frequent was exciting and watching Jens Voigt make his move on a “sticky” little hill that always annoys me was nothing if not really fun.

Watching the pack make its way into Avila with a crowd was one of the most interesting and different fan experiences I’ve ever been a part of. The build-up is huge, only to watch each rider pedal by for 15 seconds. Then it’s over. The podium celebration was cool to see, but the “bang for your buck” — how much of the actual event you get to watch — is actually pretty short. Short and exhilarating.

So what will the impact of the tour’s quick stop in Avila Beach be? Some businesses like the Hula Hut and Avila La Fonda Hotel went out of their way to greet customers (the cookies at La Fonda were incredible!). The Custom House looked more full than I’ve seen it mid-day on a Thursday in May and there was obviously a higher-than-normal buzz around town.

Unfortunately for Avila Beach, a coffee shop owner who closed down for the ride may have, in the end, been the most visible business in the area. The reason — this flyer that was posted on the door of Jo Mama’s Coffee last week:

http://teroknortailor.tumblr.com/post/45334356790/philhollywood-star-trek-the-next-facepalm

Photos of the flyer went viral faster than the swine flu. I saw it on Facebook as recently as last Wednesday, saw it myself on Saturday, and by Monday a friend of mine in San Diego emailed me and asked if this place was in SLO County. It’s possible at this point that most California cycling enthusiasts who spend any time on social media have seen it by now.

I tried to contact the owner, Michael Kidd (not to be confused with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist). I left a card at the shop last Saturday — but have not received a call back.

Reaction to the flyer has varied in intensity, but it has been about as one-sided as you might imagine. Local bicycle shop owners were confused both at how a business owner wouldn’t want to take advantage of the opportunity to do more business than usual and also at the “safety” issue, cited in the article, that nobody I talked to quite understood or bought-in to.

One local bicycle shop owner called it a face-palm moment. Another called it a head-scratcher.

The crazy and even more confusing thing to me is that Michael Kidd, the owner of Jo Mama’s and presumably the author of the flyer, has had a fleet of bicycles in the past to rent to visitors to Avila Beach.

Kidd has also taken to responding on the KSBY message board on this article.

On a local cycling email group, cyclists were not impressed. Here are a few tidbits:

Joe Momma,

You may think you can hate the Amgen and court the local rides at the same time but it doesn’t work for me.  I’ll never cross the threshold of your business again.

Sincerely,

Local Spandex Bike Jerk

And another,

Joe Momma’s “locals only” attitude is so small-mindedly cliche. The urban dictionary’s “locals only” definition reads, “Locals Only – A term used by local assholes, especially at beaches, who show hostility towards anyone who is not from the specific area. Also common in coffee shops. Be prepared to receive nasty glares from the locals. You don’t have to be a tourist or from out of state to experience this, you could live in the next town over. Local elitists love to ruin your fun.” If Joe Momma’s wants a “locals only” business, I recommed that it move to a less touristy area. Maybe Taft (off the main road) would be a good location for only crusty locals?

And another…

I’m pretty disappointed at this. We are out of town visitors who frequent the SLO area on vacation throughout the year. Looks like we’ll never be going to this coffee shop.  Oh, I think I am going to share this flyer on Facebook too. The great thing about social networking is that instead of telling just a few of your friends about something you can tell hundreds….instantly.

You get the idea. In an age of social networking, cyclists from all over the state and probably the country were made aware of Jo Mamas’ anti-spandex declaration in a flash. Perhaps the “All publicity is good publicity” mantra is where he’s going with it?

I grew up in Cayucos, a town with many similarities to Avila. We live in an amazing place that is calm and peaceful the vast majority of the time. People come and visit places like Avila and Cayucos from all over California and all over the world. When people come and visit, us locals don’t always like it. We complain that the “out of towners” ruin our local scene.

Here’s the thing though — and I’ve understood this since I was in 8th grade and cleaned rooms at a Cayucos motel for some cash in the summer. Without tourists in town spending money, the options we have as locals become much more limited. If you’re going to be excited about a cool little coffee shop, know that it probably doesn’t exist without visitors. When we start limiting who these visitors can and should be (for instance, I heard Kidd talk about how Avila was for people from Santa Maria to Paso Robles to enjoy), you also start coming off as xenophobic.

In Cayucos, the Fourth of July is a big deal. Ten thousand people visit the town for the parade and/or fireworks. Hotels are booked. Beach rentals are packed for a week before and after. People, mostly from out of town, come and spend money at their favorite cookie shop and restaurants. I think the community has come to generally accept that there will be different people in town at the beginning of July. For a place that is so mellow most of the time, it can be a fun change.

Businesses in Avila Beach had the opportunity to make a good impression on Thursday. I think they did. All except one.

And in case you’re wondering, I did have my spandex.

So I guess, in the end, the Tour proved Jo Mama’s Coffee wrong. Instead of an “unsafe” throng of fans in town, there ended up being marginally more people in town than during the Friday evening farmer’s market they hold there most of the year — with significantly more security. This article said there were “no incidents to report” from the Sheriff’s office.

In the end, everyone did almost too good a job of “warning” people and not quite a good enough job of “getting people excited” about coming. What should have been behind the scenes planning was made so public that people didn’t want to go through the hassle and worry of getting out to Avila for such an unknown. Ironically, had they come they wouldn’t have had any difficulty getting in and out of town for a world-class sporting event.