Tag: Cycling

Sports Gadgets – Cyclists Can Check Vital Feedback Safely

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Have you ever been jogging or biking and glanced at your watch to check your pace and crashed and burned? Reportedly that’s what happened to Ian Andes.

For those who don’t know Mr. Andes, he is the inventor of Sportiiiis. He has a story that every athlete can relate to, a brand name that is clever, and a product that sounds rather ingenuous.

In simplistic terms, Sport-iiiis might be called a sports version of Google Goggles. The product is a device that is attached to a person’s sunglasses. For bicyclists, the device use audible prompts and visual colored-LED displays to present performance data from an ANT+ cycling computer attached to the bicycle. This allows cyclists to safely receive vital feedback and plan their output (cadence, speed, or heart rate) when they are going down a hill at 60 mph, scaling Independence Pass, or passing a pack of other racers.

The manufacturers tout both the safety aspects of the glasses and the ability to monitor performance as obvious reasons for their use.

Gimmick or godsend?

For more information check it out at http://4iiii.com/.

 

Participant Sports in a Community – Boulder Cycling Study

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Thursday January 26 was a slow news day in Boulder.

The headlines on page 1 of the Daily Camera read, “A BIKE BIZ HUB – Survey finds $52 million impact from Boulder’s cycling-related sector”. Underneath the headline article was, “JFK hearse arrives in Longmont.” The other articles were of similar significance. Truly a slow day at the Camera.

The value of this article is that it illustrates the role of sporting activities in the economy. More importantly it shows that there are many different occupations and each makes a different contribution to our lifestyle and economic well-being. Every job is important, particularly in a down economy.

As well as being a great sport, cycling has a positive impact on the health of cyclists, unless they end up on the wrong end of a confrontation with citizens who don’t appreciate spandex wearing two-wheelers. In addition, the sport is part of Boulder’s outdoor recreation and life-style clusters.

Forty-one companies, 330 employees, and $52 million in sales. Based on its sales, the Boulder bike-biz hub is equivalent about 20 Hooters restaurants or one medium sized small business. Based on the survey results, the industry accounts for about 0.2% of the county’s employment and about 0.3% of the county’s Real GDP.

The stated impact of $52M is questionable. Sales and impact, or economic activity, measure different things. In some cases, the sales figures appear to be inflated.
• 214 rental repair employees generate $24.4 million in sales or $114,019 per worker. (This is reasonable).
• 13 manufacturing workers generate $10.4 million in sales or $800,000 per employee. (Either employment is understated or sales are overstated).
• 48 education and advocacy employees generated $7.9 million in sales or $164,583 per person. (It is surprising that education and advocacy groups would generate that amount in revenue).
• 55 miscellaneous workers brought in $9.5 million in sales or $172,727 per employee. (Without knowing the types of businesses, this seems high).
The average revenue generated per person was $158,182. Based on the above comment this seems high.

Economic activity is typically measured by wages, local purchases, and the multiplier effect. Most of the jobs associated with the cluster are lower than the average annual wages for the county. If average annual wages are $40,000 then the total is about $13 million.

Local purchases would be a subset of the sales total. If local purchases are about 1/4 of total sales then they would be about $13 million. The impact of the multiplier effect would be negligible.

This quick and dirty analysis estimates that the economic activity, or impact, of the bike-biz hub is in the range of $25-$30 million or about half of what the article stated.

The real message of the study is not in the numbers. Boulder would be an ideal hub for the cycling industry. It would be great to see more clothing, equipment, and accessory manufacturers headquartered in the county. As well, cycling events might have a positive economic impact if they attracted visitors from out of town to stay in hotels, eat in local restaurants, and buy from local stores.

If a fiscal impact analysis of the cycling industry was conducted it would likely uncover results that do not favor the sport. Sales tax revenues attributable to the cluster probably would be less than the expenses associated with the cyclist’s share of the cost to build the roads, sidewalks, and bike paths that they ride on.

Impact studies are not easy – even the best ones are subject to scrutiny. Hats off to the biz-bike hub folks for giving it their best shot. Weaknesses in the report distract from the good news in this story. Unfortunately, the report is not front page news, not even on a slow day.

 

Colorado Pro Cycling Race’s Economic Impact – $84 Million

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On October 19, 2001 the Denver Business Journal published a report stating “The inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge brought an $83.5 million economic impact to Colorado.  By comparison, the National Western Stock Show generates over $100 million of economic activity with about 700,000 visitors. They are similar events in that visitor spending is the major source of economic activity.

The DBJ went on to say:
• $67.4 million in direct spending on lodging, food, transportation and entertainment by more than 1 million visitors who watched the race in Colorado.
• 22.9% of race visitors came from out of state, with 71.6 percent of them saying the race was their specific reason for visiting Colorado.
• 20.8% of visitors came from in-state and traveled more than 50 miles to see the race.
• The average party size for visitors from out of state or at least 50 miles away was five people.
• The average household income of spectators was $113,918.
• 94.2% of the spectators said they were likely or very likely to attend next year.
• The event received up to 25 hours of global television coverage (NBC and Versus) in 161 countries. This is an intangible benefit.

Clearly, the Challenge had positive economic impact, but the brief summary raises questions about the size of the impact.
• Colorado’s median household income is about $56,000 and the US median household income is about $51,000. It is difficult to understand how the average household income for all spectators could be $113,918 if almost 770,000 spectators were from Colorado.
• One million visitors had direct spending of $67.4 million on lodging, food, transportation, and entertainment. That equates to $67.40 for each visitor. A case can be made that the average household income of $113,918 would support a higher daily average.  The spending data doesn’t seem to reconcile.

While it is appropriate to conduct analyses that only look at economic activity, at some point, the cities who host the events will be forced to ask the question, “Do local tax revenues exceed local costs?”

To that point the DBJ indicated that The Aspen Times reported Oct. 7 that city expenses associated with the race in exceeded tax revenues from visitors by nearly $16,000. How many other host cities experienced race related expenses greater than associated tax revenues?

It is evident that the USA Pro Cycling Challenge is an ideal match with the Colorado life style. Moving forward it will be necessary to have a better accounting of its economic and fiscal impacts on the state and the communities if it is to be an event that has a long-term future in the state. Challenge officials market the event as a Colorado event, not an event to promote the communities. If that continues to be the case, it may be necessary for the state to do more to cover a portion of expenses associated with future races.