The annual GFNY is almost upon us, we asked GFNYs Uli Fluhme some questions about this years event:

I’m guessing that after five years to experiment and refine ​there won’t be any big changes this year, but what will you be doing differently at GFNY 2015?

I think the new finish is quite a big change. We’re finally where we always wanted to be: riders will come up a closed to traffic Dyckman Hill to Englewood Cliffs and then head down a fully closed Hudson Terrace to finish in front of Strictly Bicycles. We’re also adding more road closures. Henry Hudson Drive (“River Road”) and Hudson Terrace will be closed for the whole day.

Now that you have franchised your event to other races around the world, how has GFNY expanded?

For years, after people cross our finish line they asked : “What’s next?” They love the training, the race and the experience and don’t want to wait another 12 months to do it again. At the same time, we started getting requests from organizers to put on partner races in their countries. We already had some partnerships with existing events, but we saw that loose cross-promotion partnerships (logo exchange on websites or mentions on facebook) weren’t meaningful.

To fulfill this demand, Lidia and I decided to create a series of events where a participant would get a similar race experience as at GFNY. We created event criteria and a set of common guidelines for GFNY World events to follow, for example: start-to-finish timing, the green GF shield logo, a host location that is a great tourism destination for the whole family, abundance of course signage, road closures, pre-race expo and more. At the core of each race is the passion for cycling because each GFNY World organizer is a cyclist and a GFNY participant.

The GFNY World events are serving as qualifying events for the front corral in NYC. This year, the top 10% in each category qualify for a front corral start. The race is growing so in the future these races may become a way to funnel entries into NYC when it reaches capacity.

You have made a point to include more local elite talent, what was your thinking and why do you think they had been absent in years past? Will there be a prize for the top NYer? And do you think you can produce anyone who can really give Magarite a game?

The question should be: do the NYC racers actually have a chance against the international talent that has shown up each year? It’s going to be fun to see Margarite/Chabanov/Epstein trying to beat defending champ Gabriel Corredor from Colombia and GFNY newcomer Timo Krieger from Germany, a former U23 Elite racer and multiple winner of granfondos in Italy.

We thought of a prize for the top NYer but I figured they better bring their A-game and win the race outright instead of aiming for a watered-down competition.

Have the local towns and police depts. become easier to deal with now that they have seen your event successfully roll through a few times?

We always had great relationships with the towns and PDs. Of course it has been easier to plan the race over the years because we all have established a functioning routine by now. We continue learning together with the PDs and do some minor tweaks here and there like adding an officer or moving one to a different spot to improve safety even more.

Why has it become more difficult for so many cyclists to coexist with not just the NYPD but the small-town motorists and patrolmen too?

There are more cyclists out on our roads than ever before. People don’t like change and it takes time to adjust to a new reality. There is and will be friction occasionally until a certain amount of cyclists on the roads become the standard and the infrastructure caught up with it. By then, no one will think twice about it.

Any ideas for helping to resolve misunderstandings?

None other than the obvious: be courteous and mindful towards your surroundings. Lead by example. Most riders I know get that. But no matter what it is, there are always going to be a few bad apples that may seem to threaten our existence by their negative behavior. I have faith in people though that they see the bigger picture.

What happened to doing a UCI race in NY? Is that still a consideration or a WIP?

It has been and is WIP. We have the technical and logistical knowledge to put on a pro race. We own a lot of necessary equipment, already have road closures and moderated traffic for GFNY participants and have good service provider relationships to execute a top-level pro race. And we continue to have talks with potential stakeholders who have the marketing budget for a UCI race. It comes down to finding someone able to commit $10 million over three years to such a project. Everyone wants to be in NYC but few are willing – and able – to pay the premium.