Photos throughout by Scott Rettino (@wheresscott)

I've had this feeling all season that the amateur bike racing/promoting scene is becoming a winner-take-all marketplace, where the cumulative advantage of the big, well-funded race weekends steals all the energy and attention from the smaller, grassroots events.

If I'm right, in a few years, all we'll be left with are big-deal events like Rasputitsa, Charm City, Elmhurst, and Radsport, and the small events will run at a loss if they're able to stay alive at all. This might be controversial, but I'll say it anyway: I love the big events; they're big events because they are transcendent experiences that have been fussed-over by teams of motivated folks; they deserve their place atop the food chain.