Sweating Out the Pre-race Weather

One of the races that the NOBC puts on each year kicks off tomorrow morning. The handful of us who are pulling this thing together have been tying up loose ends the last couple of days and things are pretty much in place. This isn't nearly the level of oranization that we achieve for the Tour de La., but then this is more of a local, fun type of race.

The one little problem is the Tropical Storm that has been heading straight for us. It's been raining all day, we're under a Tropical Storm Warning and a Flood Watch, and I've been answering e-mails and phone calls from riders wondering if the race has been cancelled. I decided around mid-morning that we would go forward as planned, and so now I'm sweating out the weather and hoping that we get enough riders to avoid losing too much money. We have $500 in sponsorship earmarked for prizes, which means that all of the expenses will have to come out of entry fees, which is pretty much impossible for a race of this type at this time of year. But then the club's not here to make money, and it's usually a fun event anyway. The forecast is actually looking better now, at 10 p.m., than it was this morning, so that's encouraging. If it wasn't for those six Levee Board cops we will have to pay, it wouldn't be a problem, but as it is, we'll probably lose a fair bit of money on this one. At least it will be good P.R. for our police department relationship. I can't really say I'm looking forward to being wet tomorrow. The only thing worse than racing in the rain is officiating in the rain, and I'll be doing both.

The masters race is up first, and I'll probably ride that one unless we are really short on help. Then I'll officiate a couple of races. If the other guys think they can handle officiating the Cat. 1,2,3 race, then I might race that one too if I'm not too wasted. Hopefully by then the chances of rain will be lower. I've seen everything from 30% to 80% as the chance of rain tomorrow. Now, that's helpful, isn't it? Needless to say, I'm planning on being wet. Along with all of the usual race-officiating stuff like megaphones, clipboards, tape recorders, etc., I'm packing a couple of extra pairs of socks and a big rain cape, and of course my famous officiating hat.