Sorry folks but we're going to call the Tour de Kirche, the race scheduled to run March 16. With snow forecast from 4 AM, almost definitely falling by 7 AM, and then tapering until 12 noon, we feel that the conditions would be simply too risky to hold a race.
My nightmare scenario is someone in the last lap takes a wide line somewhere, ends up on some slippery stuff, and takes out a bunch of racers.
In rain, it's slippery everywhere, but it's relatively consistent with no ice. With temperatures near freezing it's different - bits and pieces of the road rideable and other bits and pieces potentially unrideable, I simply can't justify the risk. Yeah, I'd ride on a day like that on my own (and I have, or in small groups) but in a racing field with the unknown variables of rider handling, the red mist of competition, and the exponentially higher risk of a mechanical?
No.
We'll be refunding all pre-registered racers or transferring their registration to a later race (your choice, and don't feel bad for asking for a refund).
Having done this, the weather will probably be really nice on Sunday, 75 degrees and sunny. But based on the information I have right here, right now, we're calling the race. In order to let those folks know that travel from far, far away (New Hampshire among other northern places) we wanted to make the call as early as possible.
Remember we do NOT race March 23 (Easter Sunday) so the next race will be March 30th. If you want to get some racing in on Easter weekend, check out the Plainville Series March 22. I should be there and maybe I'll see you there.
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2 comments:
Aki, I know it was a tough call to cancel. Thanks for thinking about rider safety. It's appreciated. The good news is that a lot of us got to some base miles we probably we wouldn't have otherwise.
Thanks for mentioning the Plainville series on the 22nd. Last week, the 3/4 was a blast --- hope to see some more CCC, Zephyr, Bethel, Stage One, and Keltic, among others, this Saturday.
The 123 had a surprisingly big turnout...and some real strong riders didn't make it the winning move. Shocking, I tell you. It didn't feel so bad recovering/embarking upon futile bridging attempts.
Anthony
CCNS
You know, I hate canceling races. However, as someone pointed out to me, by canceling the race, I guaranteed that there'd be no snow south of Vermont (and other the other hand, if I didn't cancel, I would have guaranteed 12 inches of the stuff everywhere except where people ski). Apparently that was the case and everyone got in some good miles.
I should be out at Plainville this coming weekend (22nd) and I hope to be able to make it out for other weekends. It's hard since doing Bethel basically starts at 2 PM Saturday, but if the weather is good, I'll make a good go of it.
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