‘It’s a huge bummer.’ Merced bike race canceled due to storm, flood impacts on gravel route

The Hincapie Gran Fondo gravel bike race scheduled for March in Merced has been postponed until 2024, according to organizers.

The recent storms and floods that have hit Merced County has made the course unsafe for participants.

“During a recent planning visit to Merced, we determined the gravel route designed for our March 18th event will not be ride-ready due to the recent storms in the area,” Hincapie posted on its website.

“It is our responsibility to ensure the safety of not just our riders but our supporting emergency service personnel and volunteers who help make our events possible. We stand with Merced and the surrounding affected communities as they work to rebuild and recover.”

Longtime MERCO Cycling Classic director Doug Fluetsch had worked hard to bring another big cycling race to Merced.

The Hincapie Gran Fondo was going to be a two-day event with a big festival-like atmosphere on Friday night and the actual race taking place on Saturday.

“It’s a huge bummer,” said race organizer Doug Fleutsch. “There’s just no way around it.”

The event has been postponed until March 16, 2024.

Fleutsch said he recently drove the course with Hincapie representatives. Fleutsch said there’s a section of Cotton Creek where there was no water months ago and last week there was 3 feet of water.

“There are sections of the course where the dirt has eroded from the road and it’s literally just left boulders,” Fleutsch said. “It was passable in a 4x4 truck, but an ambulance wouldn’t be able to get by and a biker would have to get off his bike and walk it.”

“That’s not what we want,” Fleutsch added. “We want people to enjoy the experience. Hiking with your bike is not fun for anyone.”

One silver lining of the postponement is it gives organizers time to plan an even bigger event for the inaugural race in 2024.

“It does give us some time for additions to the event that we didn’t have time to plan for this year,” Fleutsch said. “Now we have time to do it. We could possibly add a downtown race.”