ONCE CONSIDERED an obscure sport for kids, commuters and hardcore fitness fanatics, cycling has evolved in the past few years into both a powerful networking tool for executives and an activity that corporations are increasingly using to connect with their client base. One example, Adobe Systems , the San Jose, California-based maker of design and publishing software, organizes formal cycling events for clients and partners at many Adobe and partner conferences around the world. They’ve become a big draw.
“I have executives say, ‘Send me your cycling calendar.’ They’re using it to decide which conferences to attend,” says Ben Rabner, Adobe’s head of experiential marketing, who founded the bike program five years ago. The company hosted 15 group cycling events in 2017—ranging from short beginner coffee rides to challenging multihour suffer-fests (including a ride up the challenging Mount Ventoux in France before Adobe’s participation in Cannes Lions). The company provides bikes and helmets for those who don’t bring their own and offers a postride social, all accompanied by a specially tricked-out, Adobe-branded Mercedes Sprinter van.