The schedule of events for SBT GRVL this summer is a bit lighter now after Routt County Commissioners amended its permit to reduce the number of so-called “Shake Out Rides” in the days leading up to the main event.

On June 4, Routt County Commissioners approved a permit for the entire 2024 SBT GRVL event. The multi-day event is scheduled for Aug. 14-18, featuring a main ride on Sunday with an additional 11 “Shake Out Rides” in the days prior.

However, commissioners’ approval came with a caveat that they would revisit their approval for the Shake Out Rides when they met again June 18.

The Shake Out Rides would see anywhere from 75 to as many as 800 riders navigating a set of various routes in the lead-up to the main race — leaving many in the community concerned about the impact of a race set to draw 3,000 participants to the area’s rural county roads.

SBT GRVL race director Micah Rice told commissioners last week that event organizers were prepared “to reduce our Shake Out Rides significantly.”

The proposal from SBT GRVL offered to limit the additional rides to only two on Friday — one in Hayden and one aiming to include junior-level riders in Steamboat Springs. Both rides would limit their use of roads outside of the municipalities’ limits.

“A lot of the feedback we got during our listening sessions … was that the event was getting very long when we started getting shakeout rides on Wednesdays and it went through the weekend, and so listening to that feedback and understanding the concerns, we’d like to do an alternate proposal,” Rice said.

Commissioners agreed to the reduction in the rides, voting 3-0 to approve the amendment and eliminate most of the Shake Out Rides outside of the two still planned for Friday.

Beyond the amendment, commissioners also asked race organizers to have a hotline for residents to report issues with the race that will be operated from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. over the course of the event, and for staff to log and register those calls and their nature for further review.

County officials also committed to holding a post-event debriefing to review those calls and other issues, and to include public comment ahead of future discussions to permit the SBT GRVL event for 2025.

Commissioners also asked that bibs be issued for the remaining Shake Out Rides and that event organizers track the number of participants in each event.

Race organizers said they would respond to the requests. They also added that the remaining rides scheduled outside of the Sunday event would include “ride monitors” to help organize the participants, who would be spoken to before departing with reminders over the rules of the road.

Despite the changes to the permit and the commitments from SBT GRVL, Rice noted organizers cannot control individuals who choose to ride county roads on the week of the event — whether they are associated with the Shake Out Rides or otherwise.

“I think that probably we ran into this a couple of years ago when we heard back that there were some GRVL riders doing something and it turned out that they weren’t even a part of our event and they were locals and we got blamed for it,” Rice said. “We realize that is one of those liabilities that we hold.”