The 5:45 cellphone alarm went off at the Hampton Inn and I jumped across the room to silence it, squinting in the darkness at the blue screen. Before I packed up the laptop, I checked the weather.com radar and was shocked to see rain in the area. That's never a welcome sight on the morning of a criterium, especially when you are going to be out there all morning. There were a few little raindrops on the windshield as we drove over to the course, but luckily that was all we saw for the rest of the day. The criteriums went off pretty well. Keith and Brian and Robin et al, along with the increasingly well-paid Covington police department, had the course under control and we were able to get the first race started with minimal delay. Somehow we got behind on the schedule by the end of the day, so I'll have to see if I can figure out what happened there. The Women and Juniors race is the first race of the day and it's always confusing. Some riders are lapped numerous times, even though the course is nearly a mile long, and it always takes a little while to sort out the final results. Otherwise, things went smoothly and the races looked to be good. The Cat. 1,2,3 race was clearly the fastest, and on this city course with the sidewalks right up against the curb it's exciting to feel the rush and the wind as the group blows by each lap. The women's race ended up with a tie on GC, thanks to one rider's success at nabbing bonus points in the crit. Luckily Shane's expert finish camera work got us placings for everyone in the RR and Crit, so the tie was broken, just barely, according to the rules. The last race of the day was the Cat. 1,2,3 race and it's the one I always look forward to. For one thing, it's relatively easy to score because the pack tends to stay together, only shedding riders toward the end. The other thing is that it's always pretty fast and animated and there's usually a great sprint at the end. The only problem this year was a little pile-up early in the race that sent local rider Ben Schuler to the hospital with a broken elbow that will require some hardware to fix. I think it was probably Ben's first race in over a year, too.
As Mark and I drove back home across the lake, after the awards ceremony at Vic & Natly's, an Abita Turgo Dog, and a fried catfish po-boy, I remember thinking that I felt just as wiped out as I do when I actually race all weekend. Then I remembered that I still had a ton of work still to do to post results to the website, upload data to USAC, fill out the Chief Ref reports and post-event stuff, etc. Meanwhile, Laura has a number of abandoned wheels to return to their owners, various payments to be made, etc., etc. It will be another week yet before we're really finished, but it's a good feeling to be able to put on a good race with good people and give something back to the sport. I know all of our volunteers feel the same way, too. I'm just glad I only have to do this once or twice a year!
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