(pic from Julie Lewis-Sroka)Wow...Saturday was just an awesome day. Lots of work, stress, physical exhaustion, and FUN. I loved it.
Checking the weather on Friday night, I fully expected we’d be setting up the course in steady rain; not a great way to start. When I woke and checked the weather, I was glad to see that rain should hold off for the majority of the morning and may move in for race time. Perfect. We did get some light rain around 10, which didn’t affect setup time. The crew showed up around 8am and we got busy doing all the course prep work. I was coordinating and had to use my bike to travel from one section to the other continuously as people had questions about the course layout. I was also trying to gauge the need for more supplies and eventually was dispatching people to local stores for more tape, flags, and stakes. It was real nice to have a race location within 1 mile of both a Home Depot and Lowe’s. We finished setting up the course just in time for a 12pm ‘C’ race start.
The ‘C’s had some damp ground to work with, but for the most part stayed dry for the 30 min race. They were able to get 3 laps in. The ‘B’ race got underway in similar conditions, but as lap 2 started, the sky opened up. I was monitoring the course and was down in the area next to the firestation. Riders were coming down the hill into the pine tree / banked turn section pretty fast. Slick brakes were not working well and tires weren’t gripping either. Several people slid down the hill or had to bail straight through the caution tape at the pine tree. I asked spectators at the top of the hill to give warning to racers that they should slow before the hill. This seemed to help minimize the trouble for the moment. I rolled back to the start finish just as I heard thunder in the distant. Now I am being tested in my first race organization effort. Do we keep racing? I decided to keep on going, but then heard another clap of thunder. With input from others at the s/f line, we decided that we would give the leader 1 lap to go on his next time through. Just as we made that decision, there was a bright flash of lightning followed quickly by thunder. Way too close. Decision changed to have the leader finish on his next time through. I then rolled through the course trying to let all know that this race was ending now. B’s finished 3 laps and had about 25 minutes of a planned 45 minute race. We then had ½ hour before the ‘A’ race to make a call on what to do. Thanks to several people with Blackberries and active weather maps, we could see that we were likely out of the woods. Race on with the ‘A’s, including me.
One thing I will have to remember for next year, DRINK WATER. I went nearly the entire morning without any. With all the setup and organization to tend to, I completely forgot to keep a steady intake going. I finally realized this during the break between the C and B race when my mouth was parched dry. That’s a real bad sign with 1 hour to race time. I gave the 35 ‘A’ racers the pre-race announcements and then lined up at the back. In pretty short order I was about 5th from the back heading towards the 1st set of barriers, and not feeling energetic at all. I realized how this day was going to go. I kept pushing with a hard effort all race, taking in the fun lines through the hilly section, cursing myself up the smaller steep hills, and dreading PAIN hill. I did enjoy keeping my head up and watching the race develop ahead of me. How cool it was to see the race, with great cyclocross weather, right here on the course that we designed and practiced on over the past few months.
The leaders were making their way around and coming up behind me. I realized that I was going to get lapped, and was pretty OK with that because I was already past exhaustion. It saved me from a 7th lap. Congrats to Paul Martin, Matt Weeks, and Gerry Pflug for taking the podium.
The Stark Velo crew had the course torn down and everything cleaned up in very short order. We ate lots of Subway, drank lots of water (a bit late for me), and changed into clean clothes. It was an epic day, worth all the work no doubt. Having this one under our belt, we look to make it even better for next year.
OK - one paragraph of well deserved thanks:
I've read some blogs and even our own website crediting me for the course design. Sebastian Birch and Ron Bercaw were also originators of the main course layout and others had made suggestions to tweak it here and there. I've received a lot of compliments on it and just a couple suggested changes. A HUGE thanks go out to the large group that showed up early that morning to mark, stake, and tie off the course, scramble for more supplies, register racers, brew coffee, etc. Some specific thanks go to Lynn Marut, she was an integral part of making race day flow smoothly also. Rich Grella really put time into prepping for this race and handled so many things; I probably would miss some if I listed them out. Sebastian was the KSU liason and responsible for securing our venue. Also the small group of people who built and painted barriers, secured stakes, transported large items, and now are storing materials for next year also deserve thanks. Subway also really came through with tons of food, and TENTS which were absolutely needed. Hippie Coffee rocks. Again, thanks to all!
Matt
Checking the weather on Friday night, I fully expected we’d be setting up the course in steady rain; not a great way to start. When I woke and checked the weather, I was glad to see that rain should hold off for the majority of the morning and may move in for race time. Perfect. We did get some light rain around 10, which didn’t affect setup time. The crew showed up around 8am and we got busy doing all the course prep work. I was coordinating and had to use my bike to travel from one section to the other continuously as people had questions about the course layout. I was also trying to gauge the need for more supplies and eventually was dispatching people to local stores for more tape, flags, and stakes. It was real nice to have a race location within 1 mile of both a Home Depot and Lowe’s. We finished setting up the course just in time for a 12pm ‘C’ race start.
The ‘C’s had some damp ground to work with, but for the most part stayed dry for the 30 min race. They were able to get 3 laps in. The ‘B’ race got underway in similar conditions, but as lap 2 started, the sky opened up. I was monitoring the course and was down in the area next to the firestation. Riders were coming down the hill into the pine tree / banked turn section pretty fast. Slick brakes were not working well and tires weren’t gripping either. Several people slid down the hill or had to bail straight through the caution tape at the pine tree. I asked spectators at the top of the hill to give warning to racers that they should slow before the hill. This seemed to help minimize the trouble for the moment. I rolled back to the start finish just as I heard thunder in the distant. Now I am being tested in my first race organization effort. Do we keep racing? I decided to keep on going, but then heard another clap of thunder. With input from others at the s/f line, we decided that we would give the leader 1 lap to go on his next time through. Just as we made that decision, there was a bright flash of lightning followed quickly by thunder. Way too close. Decision changed to have the leader finish on his next time through. I then rolled through the course trying to let all know that this race was ending now. B’s finished 3 laps and had about 25 minutes of a planned 45 minute race. We then had ½ hour before the ‘A’ race to make a call on what to do. Thanks to several people with Blackberries and active weather maps, we could see that we were likely out of the woods. Race on with the ‘A’s, including me.
One thing I will have to remember for next year, DRINK WATER. I went nearly the entire morning without any. With all the setup and organization to tend to, I completely forgot to keep a steady intake going. I finally realized this during the break between the C and B race when my mouth was parched dry. That’s a real bad sign with 1 hour to race time. I gave the 35 ‘A’ racers the pre-race announcements and then lined up at the back. In pretty short order I was about 5th from the back heading towards the 1st set of barriers, and not feeling energetic at all. I realized how this day was going to go. I kept pushing with a hard effort all race, taking in the fun lines through the hilly section, cursing myself up the smaller steep hills, and dreading PAIN hill. I did enjoy keeping my head up and watching the race develop ahead of me. How cool it was to see the race, with great cyclocross weather, right here on the course that we designed and practiced on over the past few months.
The leaders were making their way around and coming up behind me. I realized that I was going to get lapped, and was pretty OK with that because I was already past exhaustion. It saved me from a 7th lap. Congrats to Paul Martin, Matt Weeks, and Gerry Pflug for taking the podium.
The Stark Velo crew had the course torn down and everything cleaned up in very short order. We ate lots of Subway, drank lots of water (a bit late for me), and changed into clean clothes. It was an epic day, worth all the work no doubt. Having this one under our belt, we look to make it even better for next year.
OK - one paragraph of well deserved thanks:
I've read some blogs and even our own website crediting me for the course design. Sebastian Birch and Ron Bercaw were also originators of the main course layout and others had made suggestions to tweak it here and there. I've received a lot of compliments on it and just a couple suggested changes. A HUGE thanks go out to the large group that showed up early that morning to mark, stake, and tie off the course, scramble for more supplies, register racers, brew coffee, etc. Some specific thanks go to Lynn Marut, she was an integral part of making race day flow smoothly also. Rich Grella really put time into prepping for this race and handled so many things; I probably would miss some if I listed them out. Sebastian was the KSU liason and responsible for securing our venue. Also the small group of people who built and painted barriers, secured stakes, transported large items, and now are storing materials for next year also deserve thanks. Subway also really came through with tons of food, and TENTS which were absolutely needed. Hippie Coffee rocks. Again, thanks to all!
Matt
Matt-LOved every inch of that course you designed. Pain hill rocks. Please leave it in for future courses!! Quite technical, fun, great barriers, needed good brakes and brutally hard. Lot of racers in the A race looked cooked afterwards. I was totally cooked.
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