The cycling and endurance sports world is costantly facing myriad complex, systemic crises. We have WorldTour races getting hijacked by commuter trains. We have hookless carbon rims exploding under pressure. We have an ongoing, desperate battle to figure out how to safely route 150 cyclists through medieval European farming villages without half of them ending up in a ditch.
Those are important, but so is a one-inch polluter terrorizing our streets. The humble metal safety pin.
This week, BibBoards announced the launch of their Sustainable Racing Program, an initiative designed to eradicate single-use safety pins from running and cycling events.
BibBoards assures us that the situation is dire. They claim to have already helped eliminate 25 million safety pins from races across the country, saving us all from a dystopian future where our local 5K routes are buried under mountains of rusted stationary supplies.
According to founder Brian Goodell, event directors are currently deploying “20 to 25 volunteers just to walk the streets” to pick up discarded pins after a big race. We invented CourseControl to help race directors and volunteers work better together, so we understand how important a struggle this is. Picture an army of unpaid volunteers is wandering the asphalt like post-apocalyptic scavengers, desperately hunting for tiny pieces of bent wire before they enter the local water table.
Goodell also noted the psychological toll of race preparation, stating that “it takes days to string together four safety pins for 5,000 runners.” That is 20,000 safety pins. That is time that could be better spent on making races safer or sending gift cards to the random girls who message you on WhatsApp from Nigerian phone numbers.
Not to bury the lede, but the solution is obviously the brand’s own product. BibBoards’ proprietary snap-lock bib fasteners eliminate the need to puncture your $120 aerodynamic jersey to pin a piece of Tyvek to your chest.
At a time when the cycling industry is trying to invent $7,000 wheel-truing robots and hub-integrated tire pressure systems, there is something deeply comforting about a company dedicating its existence to destroying the safety pin. It is incredibly niche. It is borderline pedantic. And frankly, we completely support it. We’re going to go fuck up a safety pin in solidarity.
You can save on your BibBoards order by adding the code CYCLRY at checkout. But it might not be active yet. Type it in and see.
