Helmet Cam - April 13, 2014 Zwiedzanie Bethel, Field Sprint

The last of the Outdoor Sports Center Bethel Spring Series clips from 2014, and the last of the Series since it is done at Bethel.

The venue at Bethel had become too busy over the last few years, after the land was re-zoned for retail use in late 2009. Although the town of Bethel fully supported having the Series, I felt it would be unsafe for the larger fields to share the roads with heavy and steady vehicular traffic. The continued development, introducing new businesses at other points of the course, seems to have reinforced my decision.

Going into this final race I was still hoping for some kind of miracle but I'd basically resigned myself to this being my last race in a Bethel Spring Series. I'd started thinking about a July 4th race here, to pay homage to the memorial and the history of the races while not stepping on any retail stores' toes, but on April 13th I really wasn't talking about it much.

However I was doing some informal surveys to see what the racers thought of a move up to New Britain or other points slightly north, ultimately asking for help publicly in October 2014. Ultimately this all came to fruition when we secured two venues, New Britain and Rentschler Field, for the 2015 Aetna Nutmeg Spring Series).

With that, here's the final clip from Bethel. I had a feeling it would be it and I hoped to win the race. When a break went up the road I briefly contemplated trying to bridge but the reality was that I'd barely trained and I'd be fortunate just to hang in the field. I felt super motivated for the sprint though, sort of a desperation I haven't felt since 2005.

Here's the clip.

Enjoy!

Helmet Cam - April 6, 2014, Circuit Francis J Clarke, 9th

Here's another helmet cam clip from the 2014 Outdoor Sports Center Bethel Spring Series. In this one there are a few off the front. However I thought there were a good 15 or so riders off so I thought we were sprinting for 16th place or so. Finishing 5th or 6th in the field I figured I would be lucky to have cracked the top 20. My math was pretty bad though and I ended up 9th in the race, 5th in the field. A jumbled sprint, I could never actually go.

Second to last of the Bethel Spring Series.

Enjoy!

Helmet Cam - March 23, 2014 Bethel CDR Gold Race, 7th

I thought this was up since I watched it regularly on my computer but when I looked for it for someone else I realized that no, it wasn't up.

It's up now.

Although the Bethel Spring Series won't be happening this year we're moving to New Britain and hopefully one other venue for the new Aetna Nutmeg Spring Series.

I hope this clip helps get you psyched to go racing soon.

Enjoy!

Helmet Cam - 2014 Nutmeg State Games, M45+

Or "How to win a field sprint on less than 2 hours of training a week".

This was a good race for me because it has all sorts of elements in it and it was bearable in terms of pace. I almost sat up, didn't, and did about as good a sprint as I've done in a while.


Enjoy!

Promoting - 2014 Zwiedzanie Bethel

Ah, where to start.

It seemed like just yesterday that I was worried about whether or not the Series would even go on. I gambled a few thousand dollars (in insurance, numbers, and permits) that it would, then gambled many more thousands that it would go on for at least a few years (trailer, new generator). The stress really got to me, with my riding hours down, my back hurting, and generally being tired all the time.

The Series did eventually kick off, the racing happened, and I even got to race my bike. Surprisingly I could race okay after the first couple weeks. My back pain leveled out at "tolerable but be careful" levels, my whole body soreness (from sweeping and chopping and shoveling the course) went away, and the staff, virtually all new, settled into a nice, well oiled unit.

Before I knew it the last week of the Series approached us. Usually the last week means a lot of extra work so I tried to do what I could to get things done earlier. My normal first stop included picking up the release forms from Staples on Friday.

My assistant picking up the release forms.

It took 15 minutes to get going, about 30 minutes less than usual.

I dropped the releases off, along with the numbers and start lists, with Veronica, who would organize them into the pre-reg notebooks that we all know so well.

The big things for me this week, literally in some cases, was to bring the podiums down (big wood boxes), the trophies (big boxes that don't stack well), and the t-shirts (big boxes).

Although I had to make a trip to Bethel on Friday I got it done, dropping off the podiums, trophies, and t-shirts. Junior was a bit wigged out since he was with me for about 4.5 hours of driving that day.

Saturday the 12th was the CCAP Breakaway Benefit ride. I'd registered for it, raised money for it, but I wasn't sure if I could ride. I had this fantasy that I could pull Junior along in a single-kid trailer. When I realized that even 25 miles would be tough with 40-50 pounds of trailer+kid I started thinking I'd just pull Junior around in the parking lot or maybe a surrounding road or two.

Of course in the frenetic weeks I never even got the trailer down from its hook in the garage.

I lowered my goal to making it to the start at 7 AM. The start was only about 45 minutes from the house so 7 AM seemed realistic.

In the morning things just didn't work out. I thought for a brief time that I could make the 8:20 AM ride start time, when the Expo guys would be starting.

Finally I realized that, oh, I really should go to the bank (to withdraw $2000 in additional prize money in addition to the $1500 I normally had), and they open at 9, so I'll head down after that.

Things with Junior take a while so I didn't get to the bank until 10. Since he likes to run laps around the building and such it was a bit tough even to leave in 15 minutes, and a touch after 11 I finally got to the CCAP tent.

Junior loved it, running around for the next FOUR hours.

One of the rider's daughters was out exploring.

Junior was fascinated with her bike.

Trotting with purpose.

Dancing.

I've seen these birds a lot in the last week or three.

I didn't bring any bike or anything, I figured I'd just hang out with whoever was done riding and such. I managed to catch up with a few people I know from the races, saw a couple of my teammates, and we called it a day. Junior started to melt down at about 3 PM so we headed out. I'd drop him off at home - the Missus would be done with work by then - head back to the CCAP spot for the dinner, then drive to my dad's for the evening.

I managed to do 20 minutes on the bike at home, just a short spin up and down the condo complex roads, then dressed ("business casual") and headed back. Although I had my camera I didn't take any shots of the dinner, I just basked in the atmosphere. I'll have to do a separate post on CCAP as it's such a significant thing. Suffice it to say that I didn't head out until after 9:30 PM, and the nav system told me I had about 1:20 of driving ahead of me.

And here I was, still needing to do some registration work before tomorrow.

I got to the house pretty late, ate some (more) food as I really hadn't had much at the CCAP dinner, and decided to call it a night.

6:15 AM trailer selfie.

I kept meaning to take a trailer selfie shot in the dark with all the lights but by the last week of the Series it was too light when I got to the venue. I should have taken the 30-60 seconds to take the picture in the first week of Daylight Savings but I didn't.

6:17 AM, give or take, the beginning of the day.

I'd already coned off the truck on the backstretch and now we had to set up the registration area and the finish line area. I generally helped with the trailer, the rest of the crew helped with the Turn One and finish line areas.

6:30 AM, ready for business.

John is leveling the trailer. Note podiums in the background at the left.

I think that picture was from a bit later than 6:30 AM since we normally have Cat 5s ready and waiting by then. This might have been around 8 AM, after the clinic started and there was a short breather period for everyone in registration.

John R is the guy that's been at Turn One this year. He's helped out in the past but not to this extent. He marshaled the finish line intersection last year, the "crossover" if you will, and I knew that he'd be great at Turn One. He sacrificed his opportunity to race in order to make the Series work, and his efforts made the results incredible.

His backup, and usually stationed at the bottom of the hill, was Jeff C, and between the two of them they'd run the marshaling group. Derek was one of the full time marshals as was Joel. Both did other work too, in setting up and breaking down, but without the consistent marshaling from those two things would have been much less predictable.

Junior race.

Derek C is in the front gesturing, tall guy on the white bike, CCAP kit. He's one of the new guys and has worked out great. I first noticed him last year when he make a huge effort to make sure his teammate won the Junior race. Over the winter I asked his folks if he could work, if they could work, and so it was that the Series gained a whole family, Jeff, Veronica, and Derek. Derek spent each week working the whole day, from setting up to breaking down, marshaling until just before the P123s, and racing P123s. It was really great to have him and his family on board.

Hanging out at the trailer midday. Erin is standing at the window.

The "registration girls", as I call them, worked well once again. All experienced hands at the whole thing, they accepted the extra things I needed them to do in good spirits. This year we wrote checks for everything, I had a CCAP donation bottle out, we sold t-shirts… all sorts of extras. Erin, Delany, Amanda, and Veronica (in order of when they started helping out) worked out great, and I've only heard nice comments about the "registration girls".

One of my goals with the trailer was that it would become a focal point for riders in terms of hanging out and such. With Outdoor Sports Center's tent, CCAP's bake sale, and the results on the end, it sort of ended up like that. The traffic on the road, both bike and car, meant it wasn't an ideal spot for hanging out, but it worked.

Speaking of t-shirts...

Front

Rear

Luckily for all of you these t-shirts are still available! $10, let me know if you want one. S, M, L, XL, they run about true to size (Gilden t-shirts). As my brother asked…

"So how'd the t-shirts go?"
"Go?"
"Well, did you make money?"
"No. Lost a lot, actually."
"Yeah. We never made money on t-shirts either."
"Yeah."
(pause)
"I think the money is in making the t-shirts, not selling them. It's like the gold rush - the people who made money sold the picks and axes. The people looking for gold had to buy the tools but that didn't mean they found any gold."

Back to the regularly scheduled program…

Finish line set up.

This year was Mike's first year at the camera (back to the camera, blue shirt). He did an excellent job so that was a huge stress relief for me. I was super nervous the first week, making him do two practice "finish line clips" on the Cat 5s. I even asked him how he unlocked the screen saver on the laptop, since that would really screw things up if he couldn't use the laptop. He pointed at the manual his predecessor Jonathan wrote.

"The password is in the instructions."

Oh.

Mike and Meg, the officials, did their usual exemplary job. As a promoter I can request specific officials. There are a lot of reasons that I ask for Mike and Meg, but the main one is this: if I'm racing at a race I'd want them officiating the race. That's what it boils down to, that as a racer I'd want them officiating my race.

As a promoter I stress about three things - crashes, course marshals, registration, and the finish line camera. With the full crew in place I didn't have to worry about pretty much anything. You can tell because I took a lot of pictures during this Series, something that I can't do if I'm busy doing "promoter stuff".

My favorite podium shot, pretty much of all time.

Sixcycle guys, hamming it up. They won the Cat 3-4 overall in both team and individual.

We did podium shots on the last week, which you can see here on the Bethel Spring Series site. We also raffled away a roof rack with two bike mounts, courtesy Outdoor Sports Center and Thule. Fittingly one of the women racers who marshaled regularly ended up winning the roof rack.

5:40 PM, the end of the day, all packed up and ready to go.

Unlike other weeks I had to get everything into the trailer and Expedition for the trip home. Joel helped load the trailer properly, although I think I vetoed one of his ideas and that ended up making the trailer a bit less stable. Nonetheless I made the drive home, only a wiggle here and there on the road.

What I unloaded that night at about 9 PM, taking almost an hour to unload.

Normally I don't unload a lot the last day of Bethel but I wanted to empty out the trailer in preparation for the interior finishing. Therefore I tried to empty out the trailer before I drove home from the storage bay. Except for a few totes everything ended up in the garage, and by the next day everything was in the bay.

I worked hard to get the results up that evening. I wanted to do that for the race but when I woke up on the keyboard I realized that it wasn't going to happen. I got the individual GC up but had to do the team and high school stuff the next day.

Well earned cup of coffee in a Sixcycle gift mug.

I have to comment on the Sixcycle guys. I don't know any of them, heck I didn't even realize that one drove a green pickup until the end of the Series. But they've been super nice, super polite, at least off the bike (on the bike they just rip your legs off). One of them called me "sir" which was really great. They brought me a few gifts on the last week, a mug (same mug as Carpe Diem Racing so I know what it cost etc, but the thought is what counts) and a couple t-shirts (I know about them too, sort of). The kicker is that these were almost the only actual gifts someone gave me for the Series. Yes, for Junior, people gave us so much I could barely fit them in the car, but for me, for the race… not so much. So thank you to the Sixcycle guys and good luck in the rest of the season.

So that ends the 2014 Bethel Spring Series p/b Outdoor Sports Center. After a bit of decompression, some work on the trailer, and prep for some of the other events coming up, I'll revisit the whole "where will the Spring Series be in 2015?" question.

For now, though, a nice cup of coffee.

Thanks everyone for coming to and supporting the races. I hope to see you all next year at the WhereverItsGoingToBe Spring Series.

Racing - 2014 Criterium de Bethel

Well the race was pretty uneventful for me. It was cold, wet, and totally dreary. The old me would have reveled in the conditions but the new old me wasn't quite so keen on doing a repeat.

Ironically my only ever race winning break happened in similar conditions - wet, cold, small field, and a winning break.

I had no idea how I'd be in the race but I prepared for a mentally challenging race.

In the morning I had my normal two egg sandwiches, bought early early in the morning, along with the requisite cup of coffee. It took me a couple hours to eat that. Later I broke into some of the cookies I brought for the bake sale, had a bit of Coke, and called it a day on food. For whatever reason I'd been eating a lot in the prior couple days so I wasn't feeling hungry.

I did my now-normal base layer + rain jacket (for wind protection, not water protection) + LS jersey thing. Because it wasn't that cold I wore knickers instead of tights, plus in the rain I prefer to wear knickers until it's unbearably cold simply because knickers get less heavy when soaking wet.

I did put my phone (Strava) into a ziplock bag, and I encased my feet in plastic bags before I slipped on the booties. With a brimmed cap (to help keep water from dripping into my eyes) and my favorite Canari gloves, I felt fine in terms of temperature and conditions.

Small field lined up.

The dominant Sixcycle team hadn't shown up so the race felt wide open. I knew that shelter would be a major factor for me since I can't make efforts over and over, at least not this year. I also knew that I could sprint at the end so I hoped that I could reach the finish in the points.

I assumed that a break would go because they always do in these kind of tough conditions. My goal was to try and do a good sprint if less than six riders got away.

Gap attack on the second lap.

When the race started the numerically superior (they had three riders) FGX team gapped a rider off the front. Someone chased and the two leaders got a small gap. This happened a second time and I was near the front when the two were within touching distance. I decided to ramp up the pace a bit and make everyone race.

The view when I started to push.

There was only one problem - no one felt like riding. When I pushed a bit no one stayed on my wheel. I think it's partially my history - "Aw, just let him blow himself up" - and partially the cold, damp conditions.

I crested the hill alone, wondering what would happen. Ideally someone strong would bridge and then we could work together for a while. I know everyone things I'd just sit and sprint but honestly, when it comes down to it, I give credit where the credit is due. I've gotten to the finish in other breaks but purposely didn't sprint until it was too late for me to win, simply because I didn't work enough to justify going for the win.

It didn't matter. The theoretical didn't happen. I blew up and returned to the fold.

In the field.

The pace, although not terrible, wasn't kind to me. My effort off the front, as tempered as I thought I'd made it, had put me at the edge of the red zone. The hill put me over every lap, I fought to recover, but the small field offered little shelter and no mercy.

Each lap it seemed someone else took a turn attacking, and the constant push up the hill wreaked havoc on my legs.

After a few more attacks I had that lumpy throat, "I'm blowing up" feeling. I thought of all the stories about the pros going so hard and throwing up and this and that and I realized, you know, it's just one of the races at Bethel and I'm okay with not finishing it.

The field leaves me behind.

I kept going a bit, just to make sure that the field didn't sit up right after I blew up. I watched them hammering along in single file, riding away from me.

No miracles today. The field wouldn't suddenly, spontaneously, decide to go 18 mph for a lap or two. Any rider could see the gaps forming, the single file hurt, and if I had the legs I'd have been pushing. Selection of the fittest in this case; no camouflage from hiding in the field.

It was an FTP kind of day and I failed the test.

I rolled back to the registration area.

Another cold wet day at Bethel.

Promoting - 2014 Bethel CDR Gold Race

Promoting always starts a few days before the race. I mean, okay, it starts months before, but the final stuff can't even start until pre-registration is closed.

Last week I drove the trailer home so that I could work on it. Unfortunately the reality is that since I don't park the trailer at the house.

Since I can't work on it when Junior is around I had all of maybe four or five hours to work on stuff, while he was at day care. To make things a bit more awkward I can't get the trailer to our garage due to the steep driveway so I walked everything up the driveway. I spent most of that time emptying out the snow-related stuff, some wood that I realistically won't be using immediately, and organizing the remaining stuff to correct the weight distribution. I spent my free Tuesday afternoon doing that stuff.

I started working on making the folding tables for inside the trailer but gave up when I realized that time-wise it simply wasn't going to happen.

Thursday I did manage to get a few things done. I installed a bracket for the fire extinguisher (right of the door when you step into the trailer), I got a little tool box to screw into the floor to hold the generator accessories, and I started putting up wood on the walls for the tables. I also got some curtain rods up but they seemed way too flimsy for holding up a windproof barrier, so for now they're bare.

I wanted to get some stuff from the storage bay but that meant backing up a 100 yard curving driveway, something I can't do yet with the big trailer, at least not proficiently. Loading up the stuff for Bethel ended up with me spending a good 30 minutes backing up the trailer a few agonizing feet at a time. I decided I had to practice with a little car and trailer, like a Matchbox set, to prepare for the real thing.

Therefore I walked a few of the things I needed from storage to the trailer.

That finished my Thursday.

One of the staff volunteered to sort the pre-reg release forms and numbers so I gladly gave up that job, my normal Friday evening. The Missus called her Victoria at some point so I started calling her that also, leading me to call her Victoria on Sunday.

Which is not her name.

Oops.

Instead of doing pre-reg stuff I spent the time updating the magical spreadsheet to reflect the additional Junior race. I had most of it in place but I wanted to make sure that things were set up properly.

Saturday, traditionally the day I did Bethel stuff, ended up a bit less productive. I started working on the tables again, realized that I really ought to get to Bethel and drop the trailer off first, and headed down. The gusty wind really played with the trailer which in turn played with my mind.

Just before Bethel (actually the Danbury exit that I take that leads to Bethel) a modded Lancer Evolution burbled by me. I noticed it because, well, because I did, but thought nothing else of it since the driver seemed normal and competent.

A few minutes later traffic suddenly came to a halt. We creeped forward until we came across two cars that had obviously tangled with either each other and/or the Jersey barrier median. The Evolution driver, whose car seemed unharmed, was setting out flares. People were walking or standing on the left shoulder and one guy ran across the highway in front of me.

I thought that, wow, if I'd been a mile or two earlier I could have been in the middle of that. With a car, okay, but with a large trailer it would have been ugly.

Once at Bethel I worked on the tables (are you sensing a theme?) until about 8 PM or so, gave up again before I could finish, and headed over to my dad's.

I first stopped for some Coke and cookies. For some reason this last week or so I've been really craving Coke, and even drank it with my dinner at my dad's. My brother pointed out that I'd be awake for a while, but when I went upstairs I lay down and realized I only had a minute or two before I'd be unconscious. I turned off the light and that was that.

The alarm startled me awake at 5 AM. I was happy I set it earlier in the day on Saturday because I totally forgot about it Saturday night.

Sunday we missed out on the temperature lottery again. I don't remember how cold it was but it was something like 30 degrees, cold enough to make my hands go numb, cold enough that my legs really never felt warm. Initially the wind stayed calm but as the day went on it really picked up.

The big changes for the Bethel CDR Gold Race versus the previous weeks were the following:
 - CCAP High School Race added to the schedule.
 - Powerbar would have a tent set up.
 - Moment of silence for Markus before the Cat 4 race.

The emptier trailer made for a better registration set up but I forgot on my two free afternoons to get propane for the tanks - we had only the smaller heaters in the trailer, not the larger one.

On the other hand I found all the stuff to hook up the generators in parallel. After thinking about it a bit, though, I decided to leave the single generator for the trailer. We don't need 3200 watts for the trailer and to do the parallel hook up I'd need a screw driver, I'd risk ripping the cord if I moved the generator without remembering to remove it, etc.

I think I need to make a little trailer for the generators so we can move them in tandem, we can keep the parallel cables in place, and we won't accidentally rip the parallel cables off by picking up just one generator.

I spent some time on the course taking pictures between handling the various promoter issues I needed to handle. These include questions on the races, comments and suggestions, instructing the new-to-the-race-series police officers, trying to keep the promised areas clear, speaking with local tenants, organizing the various tents, replacing wonky radios, and stuff like that.

The Junior race was really good at so many levels. The older Juniors were intent on helping and encouraging the younger ones, so much so that the best riders were at the back sometimes literally pushing the youngest Juniors.

The competitive ones.

One CCAP rider helping one of the younger riders.

This was the first chase group, if you will.

Another rider receiving help from two CCAP riders and his older brother.

An encouraging look.

One of the actual attacks of the competitive group.

The four rider chase.

The sprint for the win.

The second chase finishes.

The Cat 5s were next, followed by the 4s. This marks the second anniversary of Markus's passing and the Pawling Cycle guys said some words and the field had a moment of silence. You'd think that all these racers were hard core tough dealing with the weather and such but you could see that some of them had, ahem, some early spring allergies. Or something.

Cat 4 field, Rob from Pawling saying a few words.

The Markus Memorial.

The women's race had an impressive number of riders with a slew of well represented teams. It was great to see the camaraderie amongst the women before and after the races.

Registration.

One of the early attacks.

The field getting into action.

Post race huddle.

More post race huddling.

Happy team.

I'm happy with the Women and Junior races. For all my complaining about various things relating to promoting, it's the emotions that I feel when I see the Juniors or the Women racing that help ease those complaints.

After my race I sat out the P123 race in order to start breaking down. In the past I'd do the P123 race and then help break down stuff. This year, with little fitness, with a lot to do to break down, I haven't even bothered putting myself in for the P123 races.

The worst part of the day was the prolonged P123 protest period. The race is tough on everyone, the racers (intentionally) as well as the race staff. The results were changed a few times and finally the remaining hardy souls and the official hammered out the details on who placed where on what lap. Since I wasn't in the race and didn't even watch it I can't comment on what happened but it was a bummer since a number of the race shakers and bakers left before the results were finalized.

I left the trailer behind this week, realizing that I won't be getting much done in it if I took it to its home base. This naturally allowed me to drive home as quickly as I dared. Unfortunately when I got home I missed seeing Junior as he was already asleep. The huge thing for me has become not seeing Junior, not being able to share the race stuff with him.

With some tasks that I really needed to get done before I went to bed I set about posting the results. I uploaded the 200-odd pictures, doing some very rough picking (horribly out of focus shots got ditched as well as the photo bomb arm-back-shoulder in the way ones). I couldn't get done before 11 PM and by then I realized I was so fuzzy headed I had to get to bed.

On that note the fourth week of the Series finished up. It seems like just yesterday that I was stressing about the first week, that we had the rental trailer. Now the stresses are a bit less severe, my back isn't killing me, and the whole process seems to be running a bit more smoothly. There are always problems, else I wouldn't have to even go to the race, but now they seem a bit more manageable.

My big hope is that the Junior turnout increases for next week. I've had two people already contact me about bringing a couple Juniors to the race, one disappointed dad was late for this last week's race, so with those folks in mind I hope that we have a 20 rider Junior field.

It sounds a bit sad, to be excited about a 20 rider Junior field, but right now that's the state of Junior cycling. That's why CCAP is so important. And that's why we're basically giving away a 30 minute slot to the Juniors, to try and get the kids to give this sport a try.

Promoting (Sort of) - CCAP 2014 Breakaway Benefit Dinner Fundraising

I realized when I was signing up for the Breakaway Benefit that the last time I did a fundraiser I was something like 14 years old. I did a bikeathon to benefit St Jude's Children's Hospital and raised a bunch of money. What I don't mention in the above blog post is that I think I was the only rider to show up. There might have been one other rider but I don't know. It was the first time I had a goal and purpose to a ride, and it ended up one of the faster, longer rides I'd done up to that point - 18 mph for 4 hours.

Actually, come to think of it, if I did 18 mph for 4 hours now, I'd be pretty ecstatic.

Anyway I signed up with CCAP and pledged to raise $350 for them. I figure there's a lot of riders trying to raise $350 each so my goal is to raise just $175 and have the good guy Dwight Johnson match it to make $350 (if raised between March 10th and March 16th). If I can raise extra money I'll give it to other riders who still haven't hit their goals.

So to donate through me the link is here.

I'll also be accepting money at registration at the Bethel Spring Series races from March 16th on.

Don't feel obligated to donate. It's a non-negative thing. Not donating doesn't mean it's negative. Donating is simply a positive.

Thanks in advance.

Promoting - 2014 Ronde de Bethel

"We brought two monitors for you."
"Awesome. One should go to the finish line, one should be here at registration."

A short time later.

"The monitors aren't working."
"What?"
"We need some kind of adapter."

I thought about the adapters on the cables for the two monitors I use with the laptops.

"Right. I forgot about them."

I'm not sure where to start as it's been a long couple days. I suppose it was Friday, or even Tuesday. See, this year I had this idea to use a few thousand pound registration tent, aka a trailer, and this meant a whole lot of learning.

Tuesday I went to pick up the trailer. That in itself was an adventure, but it was just the beginning. My initial plan was to pack up the trailer on Thursday, head down to my dad's on Friday night, go to Sweep Day Saturday morning, and then, after returning to my dad's for the night, head back to the course for Sunday's race.

It went a bit differently than that. It was tougher than prior years, so much so that I couldn't even think about getting to my dad's until later on Saturday.

Thursday I tried to get the trailer packing done but simply could not do it. I had to make a few things, including the platform for the officials and the camera, the base for the tent, some other stuff. I was working away in the garage until I couldn't think straight and started worrying about cutting off a finger or something. I was already bundled up, both for temperature as well as safety. Circular saws, drills, sanders, all inside the unheated and bone chilling garage, meant ear, eye, and nose protection.

Early in the evening when I went inside for something.

I went and got the Expedition + trailer, parked it on the street, and moved stuff into it. Then I moved it to our storage bay and repeated the process - this was super nerve wracking as it's a narrow curving lane to the bay and I had to back out of it. Finally I drove it to where I've been parking it and got the Jetta and drove back home.

I got the major pieces in there, like the platform for the camera, the pallets (for the officials' platform), tents, heaters, cones, leaf blowers, snow blower, tables, chairs, shovels, brooms, course stakes (like cyclocross ones), propane tanks, gasoline, some tools to finish up the platforms… you get the idea.

That closed Thursday, with all the electronics and paperwork still to get done.

Friday I sent out the print jobs for the releases. The BikeReg releases was straight forward - they're pre-filled with the pre-reg info. However the blank releases was different - I got a waiver off of USAC and was about to attach it to the email I send to Staples when I decided to double check the waiver. To my shock it had all my info in it, like I'd filled it out. 1000 copies of that wouldn't do anyone any good so I cleared it all, saved it, checked it again, and then sent it out.

(As the racers at Bethel know the releases were properly blank so it was okay.)

I had to pick up more things from the local True Value - more cones, more heater stuff, more propane, some nuts and bolts. I had to pick up the print jobs from Staples. I debated some other stuff but decided against it. A post office visit to send a letter to a land owner, then back home to pack the rest of the trailer.

By this time I knew I wouldn't have time to drive to my dad's, and in fact I had to leave the trailer a few miles away because there's no place to park it at our house. I packed the Jetta with the more precious stuff - camera, radios, race numbers, stuff like that.

After the Jetta was packed I still had my bike, gear bag, overnight bag, and a bunch of stuff to put in the already full car. I was too tired and too cold to figure it out so I called it a night.

Saturday I had to finish packing the Jetta - my brain worked better after a few hours of sleep, drove to the trailer, packed that stuff in the already full Expedition and trailer.

Here was my big shock regarding the rental trailer. Every trailer I've looked at had D-rings in the floor, meant to tie down cargo. The most dangerous thing to have in a trailer is an unsecured cargo, one that can move around. A tail heavy trailer is a guaranteed recipe for disaster.

The rental had no D-rings.

Therefore I bought, that morning, some eyelets, turned the platform upside down in the trailer (4'x8' platform), mounted the eyelets (drill hole then screw in eyelet), and used the eyelets as light duty D-rings. I managed to move a lot of heavy stuff out of the Expedition and into the trailer, but this took some time. I needed to leave at 8:15 at the latest to get to the course by 10:00 AM. I got to the trailer just before 8, due to the time factored in to pack the Jetta in the driveway.

I left at about 8:55.

However now I had much more stuff in the trailer, it was tied down, and I felt reasonably comfortable driving forward with the trailer. I got the grate covers in there (heavy!), tents (heavy!), tables, shovels, cones, gasoline, stuff like that, in addition to the 4'x8' platform (heavy), snow blower (heavy!), two leaf blowers (heavy!), blah blah blah. The Expedition inhaled all the stuff in the absolutely packed-to-the-gills Jetta.

In a minute or so of driving I realized that an unloaded trailer bounced around like an unloaded van (we used to have a 15 passenger van for Bethel stuff). With 1000 or more pounds of stuff in the trailer it seemed much more smooth, much less jerky.

On the other hand the total weight had to be about 10,000 pounds - 5500 pounds for the Expedition, 3000 for the trailer, about 1000 pounds in the trailer, a little less in the Expedition, maybe 300-400 pounds in there.

This meant I had to actually get into the slow lane on the hills. The Expedition struggled up the hills - I didn't want to put my foot on the floor for minutes at a time so I let the whole rig slow to the high 40s on the longer hills.

I got to the course at about 10:35 AM, so better than I expected, but it was still later than I wanted. We worked on the course for a while, a good team of people sweeping, chopping, and shoveling.

The sand blowing team.

Ice chopping team.

SOC and I went to get some ice melt. We could only rock salt - the good stuff, the calcium chloride, has been gone for a while. The rock salt didn't do much but I dumped much of it on the ice on the road.

I had to print out start lists and some other stuff so I optimistically set up a mini office in a parking lot. I got everything going and then realized that I was too cold and too tired to think. I packed it up and went to park the trailer.

Mini office, Saturday late afternoon.

Of course to park the trailer I had to clear a spot in the snow as well as back the thing up. I kept forgetting this or that - I couldn't remember where I put the padlocks, my keys, the chocks, I actually almost ran over one of the generators… I was a mess. Finally, the trailer totally crooked in the spot, I decided that since I hadn't broken anything I didn't want to push it any further.

I headed to my dad's.

I wasn't much better there. I'd spent about 7:30 to almost 9 AM outside, then 10:30 to almost 6 PM outside again, and this only added on my Thursday and Tuesday stuff.

I had a cool little thing, negotiating my three nephews' sleeping arrangements. After a few reports of so-and-so bothering so-and-so I could sort of sense a pattern. I suggested a minor change in the arrangements (meaning switch two of the nephews) and they were asleep shortly after. I was out not much later.

At 3:45 AM I woke up with a start. I thought about what I might have forgotten. I knew I forgot the monitors at this point (I don't remember when I realized it). I worked on the spreadsheet - I added the sweep folks in BikeReg but hadn't added them into our spreadsheet. I left when I realized that I was actually late - I spent almost two hours working on the spreadsheet.

Race day went well. There are a whole slew of new people working with me, we had two police officers instead of one, we had one less business to handle (the volleyball place is gone), and one really busy new one (Skyzone, an indoor trampoline place).

I parked the trailer about where we used to have registration on the first turn, but later we realized I'll need to move it down a bit. Outdoor Sports Center set up their tent next to us, and they let us put the table with the releases a little bit under their tent.

With a couple extra marshals things went pretty smoothly on the course. I carried a marshal radio with me during the race, just in case something happened. From it I could hear chatter the whole way around the course, marshals calling out cars, bikes, and all that.

Registration, once I got a printer switched out (the original one wasn't printing so we did a quick change to the back up), was fine also. The rental trailer was a bit cramped but it was still much better than the tent set up we had before. With four dedicated registration people things went really smoothly.

The camera went great this year. I had concerns going into the race, with a new guy Mike doing the camera work. I met with him earlier in the week, we went over things, and then we (or rather, he) did three test runs during the Cat 5 clinic and race. Those went well, the numbers were good, and by the time the finish came up he worked the camera like a seasoned pro. All the races got scored accurately and in a reasonable amount of time. With such pressure to have a flawless finish line camera set up this was a huge relief for me.

Cat 5 clinic

The Bethel Spring Series almost didn't happen this year because of tenant complaints. I tried to make it clear where riders should not go, even making a really crude map to drive home the point.

Red striped area is off limits

One surprising incident involved a rider not only riding his bike into the off limits area but then stopping to pee said same off limits area. When the official ejected him he complained that he "did it all the time and no one ever says anything."

Really?

The Sterling RR in Massachusetts is gone for one reason - racers peeing on peoples' properties. There's no other reason, it's not budget, it's not the course, it's not the promoter, it's not even the municipality. The reason it's no longer on is because the town's people made it clear that they will not tolerate rude and impolite strangers rolling up to their yards or houses and peeing on them.

Our rider went into the upper red striped zone and took a leak. So that racer was tossed out of both races he entered.

(To be clear the driveway in the lower section is okay to stand in, and anything downhill of the finish line is okay, but the red striped areas are simply off limits to cyclists, bikes, etc. The only thing we had to do was to set up the wheel pit along the left side of the road between the driveway and Turn One.)

Overall, though, things went surprisingly well. I think the low turnout helped. It was like a trial run for us. I follow F1 and the situation this year reminds me, in a very distant way, of the massive changes in F1 for 2014. See, in F1, they have a twin hybrid drivetrain now - a smaller V-6 (instead of the V-8 from last year), an inline electric motor (sort of like a hybrid on the street), and, the biggest thing, a new hybrid turbo. They also have rear wheel electric generating brakes, new for this year. All this complexity has meant a lot of work and a lot of teething problems. The champions for four years in a row, in their last test, couldn't get their car to do a lap, and in the last run literally couldn't even make it to the end of the pit lane.

Those are some bad teething problems.

With us, going to the outdoor registration, using the trailer (with no D-rings for now), packing the trailer, with more businesses in the park, more traffic… things were a little rough. Not "car broke down at the end of pit lane" rough but more like "not quite there" rough.

I have stuff to do this week. I need to troubleshoot the printer, or buy another back up. I have to figure out the two new heaters (neither worked). I also need to think of some better arrangements for the trailer and better packing protocol. With just one race under my belt with the Expedition/Trailer combo I haven't come close to figuring out the best ways to pack either.

It's a long list but I'll get working on it.

I know where I'll start - remember the monitors.

Bethel Spring Series p/b Outdoor Sports Center - 2014 Ronde de Bethel

Results here.

A more in depth post to follow.