Build it and they will come

“Build it and they will come” is a bastardisation of a line in a Kevin Costner film (Field of Dreams).
Kevin Costner also starred in the cycling themed film American Flyers.

In my mental mash up of those 2 films, the ‘it’ he was talking about would’ve been a race. The them would’ve been the teams/riders.

If you prioritise the creation of bike races, you make an opportunity for a couple of hundred male/female riders to prove their ability and progress through the sport. Wide funnel, natural selection.

If you create a cycling team you give a much smaller number of bike riders an opportunity to prove their ability and progress (but only if there are races to ride) and the playing field is slanted towards a much smaller number of riders.

Teams are great. But races are the foundation. If you don’t build them, no-one can come and there’s nowhere to go