Training - EVEN Hotel Recon Rides

A very short time ago I got a vague email about helping out with a non-competitive ride. It was a weekday ride, it was early in the morning, and they wanted it to last a maximum of about an hour. This seemed pretty straightforward except for missing a few details. I asked a few questions, the person that contacted me gave me a few answers, and it seemed really doable. After figuring out how to handle Junior (he'll be at half day day care that morning and I'll have to pick him up at noon the day of the ride) I committed to helping out.

For a fun ride the permitting process through USA Cycling is a bit more forgiving. No officials, no scoring, no road closures, so it's just a group ride. USAC offers insurance for group rides, basically letting a club or shop permit their evening or weekend rides. To encourage this they keep the hoops and hurdles to a minimum.

This helped a lot since I first heard the details of the ride just two weeks before it was to take place. If it was a race there'd be no way to permit it (2 weeks is the minimum time required to permit a race). For a fun ride, aka "a group ride", we just had to pay the somewhat substantial late fee and we'd be set.

Of course I needed a route as well. Fortunately for me I grew up in the area, and in fact I trained on roads literally a little bit up the road starting when I was 13 or 14 years old. Back then it was a big deal for me - I was riding in the next town! My friend Allan and I would ride to a hobby shop in Norwalk to check out plastic models of tanks and planes.

Later, when I started training for racing, I rode some of the same roads with a friend and teammate in high school, Kevin F. He and I last rode together just a couple years ago, exploring some roads near my  "new" hometown. Back in the mid-80s we trained together somewhat regularly. I remember turning left into a road and cutting him off - his frame ended up breaking in that crash.

Actually, now that I think if it, it was about then that we stopped training together.

Ironically I ended up buying a house just off that left-turn-road, my home for a good 16 years or so.

At any rate, 7 years after moving away, I needed to refresh my memories of the area, including those roads that I explored so many years ago. Naturally the roads would have evolved so I wanted to know the conditions of the various roads, widths, stuff like that. Many of them are smaller roads, more neighborhood roads, and some are busier roads.

I mapped out a route that might work on gmap-pedometer, eventually mapping it out on Strava.

I also did some research on exactly who was doing this fun ride. It ends up that it's a new concept hotel,  EVEN Hotel, a healthy lifestyle hotel. It's one of those ideas that you think, "Oh, that makes sense!" when you hear about it. Basically it's a hotel where you don't have to sacrifice your health oriented lifestyle just because you're traveling. For me, when we stay at a hotel, it means eating foods that we normally don't have at home - processed foods and the like. It means traveling with, sometimes, push up bars, so I can do push ups like I do at home. With EVEN Hotels it seems like they want to handle that part of it for you - they'll handle your non-business stuff, you just do whatever you're there to do, like work or visit family or whatever. I'll have more to report after I stay a night there and go through the whole experience myself.

I figured that this fun ride was at just one of many locations but to my surprise it ends up that the Norwalk location is kicking off the EVEN Hotel chain, being the first of the hotels.

Well now.

I've done two recon rides now, adjusting the route slightly, and I'm pleased with what it is, at least based on the area. My goal was to make for a safe ride that challenged, encouraged, and rewarded. The ride starts on a short, steep climb, has some rollers, lets you get some speed up, then hits you with another short, sharp climb. Finally you roll back on friendly terrain, a nice cool down. All the major turns are right turns, although there is one left on a not-quite-quiet road.

The front of the hotel.

The inside is really, really nice. No pictures yet.

I've only been in the lobby area so far but it was unlike any hotel I've been in - for me it was more like a spa than a hotel. One of the people behind the desk in the lobby told me that someone walked in the day before and asked if it was a spa, it's that nice and peaceful. I didn't take pictures on my brief visit but I will Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The kicker is that it's not a super pricey hotel.

At the end of the first recon ride I headed down a bit that's now off the route. There's no shoulder (as evident in the picture), there's a no-turn-on-red, and there's no shoulder or sidewalk for the few hundred yards of busy road back to the hotel.

However, on this first recon ride, there was a minivan in front of me with "Happy Birthday Trevor" on the back window. A boy was leaning out of the window, watching me do a track stand. He motioned to me.

That is not Trevor, the birthday boy, but Trevor is in there somewhere.

"How do you do that?"

I thought of the technical aspects of doing a track stand, the idea that steering allows a rider to stay upright, that you have to move back and forth minutely while steering minutely in order to stay upright.

"Practice", I replied.

He grinned.

I nodded to the back of the minivan.

"Are you Trevor?"

He looked puzzled for a moment.

"Oh, the letters are still back there? No, I'm not Trevor, he's back here."
"Tell him I said Happy Birthday."
The boy duly poked his head back into the minivan.

"He says thank you."

And with that they were off. I concluded the ride (this was the first recon ride) and decided I had to test two alternate ideas. Otherwise I was pleased with the route, with the whole progression of challenges and rewards and such.

During the second ride, with one of my two personally-vetted ride leaders, I tested the two alternate ride bits. One has to do with the last bit of the route (the Trevor bit), the other to do with a "straight with no stops" versus "three stops but less traffic". We're going with the "no stops" option, for what it's worth, and that second ride made all the difference in making those two decisions.

After the first recon ride I headed north a bit to Outdoor Sports Center, the sponsor of the Bethel Spring Series for the last few years. They've been a great help both financially as well as in spirit. The sponsorship helps, of course, basically keeping the race afloat, but the owners would show up at the race and one of the owners showed up pretty much every weekend we had a race. They set up a tent, they gave away gift cards to their store, they wrangled all the raffle prizes we gave away, and basically brought the race up a level. They didn't just write a check, they really participated in promoting the race.

I'm working on the 2015 Series now and so I figured it would be good to stop by the shop and give them an update on how it's going. More on that as it happens.

Outdoor Sports Center.

With that out of the way I headed back. There's still a lot to do before the ride and I want it to go smoothly.

If you're interested in doing the ride, in checking out the hotel, you can sign up here at BikeReg. You get a free t-shirt, some refreshments, and a view of a brand new hotel chain. If you're around in the afternoon/evening there's more stuff happening, some food served, and some health/fitness type folks giving presentations and such.

The ride itself is at 7 AM, Thursday, July 17th. The route is on the BikeReg page but it's about 10 miles long and it's such that even I can do the route without struggling too much (and I really don't climb well). We have four ride leaders at the moment and it's absolutely a no-drop ride. All riders have to wear an EVEN Hotel t-shirt during the ride, that's the price of admission.

I'll try to have one more update on Wednesday but realistically the next post on this will be about the ride on Thursday. If you can make it I'll see you out there!

Promoting - 2014 Circuit Francis J Clarke

Ah. Second last Bethel for 2014. It seems like just last week that I was frantically ordering numbers, gambling that the race would happen. Now it's almost done and things seem much more calm.

Saturday I really pushed Junior's limits by making a long trip with the idea of storing stuff in the trailer and not having to bring them down next week, the last week of the Series.

I started by loading the T-shirts into the car - that took up the front seat, one side of the child seat, the foot area of the backseat, and one box in the trunk. I got Junior in the packed car, loaded up the car with distraction stuff, and set off.

The box next to him acted as a shelf so he left his Horsey and blanket up there. Normally I'd be contorting to reach them after he dropped them but this time I didn't have to contort too many times.

We headed down to pick up the trophies from Crown Trophy in Brookefield. I've been using them since the very beginning and they've been very good to me. This year I ordered the trophies before the end of the Series so that was good - they didn't have to scramble to make them.

I got there about an hour before they closed - 1 PM - and the trophies fit in the back of the Jetta just fine. I headed to the trailer to drop everything off. Because Junior was out of "getting into the child seat" cycles I left him in the seat while I quickly threw everything into the side door of the trailer.

Then without any further ado I headed home.

Where I'd basically pack up the Expedition and do the same 90 minute drive back. My phone died on the way down, the charger sometimes does something and then the phone just turns off when it has 0% battery. This has only happened once or twice but of course it had to happen the night before Bethel.

I got to my dad's sort of late. My brother greeted me in the driveway, waving a flash light.

What?

I rolled down the window after my brain went through a few scenarios. The one I came up with wasn't good.

"Is the power out?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"I tried to call you."

"My phone died on the way here."

"I left you a message." My brother paused. "Do you have any gas?"

Yes I did.

We got the big generator going, the house felt normal (except for the generator running outside), and I ate dinner and plugged stuff in. My big worry was my phone, which is also my alarm clock.

The power went back on a while later and things seemed fine. I didn't get to sleep until just a bit past midnight.

The next morning I snoozed my optimistic 4:30 AM wake up, reset it for 5:00 AM, snoozed it for 5:05 AM, then finally got up. I was looking forward to this day as it was supposed to be pretty warm.

I got in the Expedition.

27 degrees F.

What?

I realized I hadn't bought the little propane tanks for the small heaters. It'd be cold in the trailer today. Ugh.

Trailer selfie.

I kept wanting to take a trailer selfie in the mirror building and finally managed to do it. It's early in the morning, about 6:15 AM, so I was comfortable with taking the selfie in terms of the whole "not focused on driving" bit. I wanted to get one when it was dark and the running lights made for a cool "Mac the truck from Cars" effect, but now it's too light.

I should point out that I ended up well over the yellow line doing it and I would have sworn I didn't move more than a foot off my line. Distracted driving is stupid driving.

We were short a number of helpers so the set up took a bit longer than normal. There were no bake sales, no free food guys, so it was just the table for release forms. No biggie and we got things up and running okay. Mike the camera guy was there so he got his stuff set up fine.

Cat 5 field

I was trying to help out a Junior in his first race ever. This is a good shot of him just in front of the field.

Another Junior

With my Junior (meaning our son) I've taken more of an interest in Junior racing. I realize things about being a parent that I simply couldn't know before. It's changed a lot of the way I approach and think about things, both promoting and not. In the promoting sense I realized that having Junior races is important, regardless of the length or fanciness of the race. It should be low buck for grassroots promoters.

Someone asked me if the Juniors get anything. I shook my head to the negative. He said that that was good. I told him that I figure a $5 entry fee and no "everyone's a winner" makes for a good thing. $3 goes to USAC for insurance so it's not like the promoter is getting much, and the extra $2 is really so we don't have to get as many singles. It costs more to hold the race than the entry but that's okay. When I figure out the costs I might adjust the price up but suffice it to say that the Junior entry fees didn't pay for the registration staff for 30 minutes, that's for sure.

However, for promoting I've realized that the extra half hour is not much to give when it benefits the future of cycling. Giving the Juniors, and really it's the kids, allows them to participate for real. It makes bike racing real, just like becoming a parent makes parenting real (versus just babysitting).

Of course I have the luxury of saying this because time at Bethel isn't that expensive, and it's open ended in terms of time. I don't have to vacate the course by a certain time like a downtown race would have to do.

Moto ref.

I learned that about 30 moto refs got their special moto ref licenses recently. They all need practice so we had one for a few of the races today. It was great having him out there, it really helped tame the whole "Yellow line rule!" screaming that happens on the other side of the course.

I also think the moto ref encouraged folks to race a bit more. I don't know if that's valid or not but it seemed that things were a bit more active. Maybe it was the sun, who knows, but I will seriously consider a moto ref going forward.

By the time the Masters were racing the temperatures had climbed into the mid-upper 40s. It still felt cold in the trailer, with no sun warming up the inside, but outside it was pretty warm when the wind didn't strip the heat out from around you. I saw some shorts in the Masters race.

The Intersection

The intersection, with the maximum number of cars I saw today. I was so shocked at how many cars were there that I snapped this shot. You can see that there aren't that many cars. The consistent stream of vehicles makes it tough though. John, our guy working with the police, has been exceptional at Turn One, and he's a key reason the race worked this year. He even sacrificed racing so that he could work the turn - he put working the Series ahead of racing. That's dedication.

Note that it must be warm - one girl has short sleeves.

Here's that kid thing again. One of the guys in the 3-4 race is here talking with his (?) kids. The idea that the girls are here for the bike race is great. To them a bike race is one of those things that happens on Sunday, just like Monday they go to school. Kids that grow up with this kind of exposure to racing will think it natural to jump in one of those races when they get a bit older.

The races went smoothly today, mainly because of the reduced field sizes and the warmer weather. There was a half marathon in town today that went straight by the course entrance so traffic seemed much reduced. The Masters took the brunt of the traffic hit, stopping for 15-20 minutes here and there, so the officials delayed the Masters race 15 minutes. With the normal 20-30 minute dead spot after the Masters we could still keep the last two races on time.

I think the warmer weather helped also because the main traffic generator, an indoor trampoline place, would likely get less traffic when the weather ended up nice. It was a nice enough day, at least relative to our winter, so maybe a lot of kids did other things instead. The idea generated some hope in me that things would stabilize or be okay enough to hold races here in 2015.

We did have way fewer staff than normal, with one family at Battenkill. The son won the Junior 17-18 race so obviously the trip was worth it, and we'll be glad to have them back next week.

With one replacement staff things were a bit tight but enough volunteers filled out the ranks and the races went pretty smoothly. No one yelled at me so that was a good thing.

With the last race of the Series this Sunday a lot of us have hit the beginning of the closure feelings.

"Oh, it'll be the last Bethel next week."

It's pretty amazing how it seems so stressful and tough in January and by April things have mellowed out. For now, though, it's like what some of the GC leading racers have said to me.

"People are telling me I have it all wrapped up but that's not true. I'm a flat tire, a crash, a sickness away from losing the Jersey. I have to race every week 100% because I have no idea what'll happen the week after."

Likewise promoting the races comes first. I have to focus on the logistics, the planning, the various stuff I need to get in place for the last race. So that's this week. Next week, after the last race, that's when I can finally relax.

We packed up everything at the end of the day Sunday and I headed home. I felt pretty warm and took my hoodie off.

As I drove I felt some discomfort on my lip. I wasn't sure what it was - an abrasion? Did I scrape my lip on something?

A few seconds later it dawned on me.

My lip was sunburned.

I looked in the mirror. I could see some pink in my cheeks, my forehead, and above my lip.

It had been sunny today.

I got too much sun.

It must be near the end of the Series.

I cracked the windows open, letting in the air, ventilating the cabin.

It felt like summer was almost here.

Almost.

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.

Promoting - Post 2013 Bethel Spring Series

The 2013 Bethel Spring Series has finished.

As usual the last day was a bittersweet day. It's the last of the year's Series which means that a lot of stuff ends. The core group of people I see each weekend will change - just like you never get the exact same people showing up at two different race venues I never see the same core group of people at other races, not all at once. This is more so because some of the core group don't even race. It makes Bethel unique because it's the only time I see certain people at the races.

Of course we had ourselves some great racing. Unusually no titles had been clinched by the last week and in fact every title was up for grabs. Each year I hope that someone will cinch the Series early - I have some shorts for said rider ready to go. If they don't then I just give the overall winners a pair of shorts.

In 2013 each race came down to the final efforts in the final laps, except perhaps the P123 race. There were a lot of close finishes resulting in some ecstatic riders, along with the inevitable devastated ones. 20 or 30 minutes after the races and everyone was all smiles. For all the "what ifs" and "but thens" the riders that took the overall earned their titles.

Only in the P123s did the top contenders neutralize one another, watching all the points ride up the road. Some ferocious battling in the field almost brought things together but wisdom relented and the race ended with the overall podium spots unchanged.

I ended up stopping almost as soon as I started the 3-4 race. It was a bit unfortunate because my brother headed over with his family and my dad. I was already off the bike and probably changed when they arrived. It would have been nice to be on the bike for the kids. Ah well.

A fascinating occurrence was that this was the first time in 21 years that we had no trophies left over - there were no absentee podium finishers. I was actually stunned. I think the extra week, to avoid a Battenkill conflict, worked out well.

So how did the Series end up? I'll touch on a few spots that came to mind right away.

Weather

The weather... it went both ways. We didn't have a snow day and we didn't have rain on any week. 

That's good.

We also never broke 70 degrees, and we spent virtually the whole Series in the 30s and 40s. That's not so good, but, at the same time, it's sort of what a Spring Series should give you.

That's... not great but not bad.

Registration

We had a new spot for registration this year. The bakery gets too crowded (did you see the lines??) so we needed to find a different spot. We were fortunate to have use of the very cool spot we got to use. I was treating the folks who lent us permission anonymously but it's Cycling Sports Group, aka "Cannondale". A nice side benefit was that racers could peer through the glass at the Retail Lab, a showroom chock full of bike bling.

We had two new people at registration, Joel and Amanda, and did well, even under the gun at the peak hours of registration.

Overall registration and the associated things (end of day stuff for the officials, posting results, etc) went well. Pretty much all the errors were mine or due to late communication. I'd forget to add someone or someone would ask to change something at 10 PM on Saturday night. In all cases we figured things out okay.

It's one of the most honed aspects of Bethel and it showed.

Finish/Results

The first week had some rough spots as the camera did a bunch of things on its own. In "Auto" mode it adjusts shutter speed, focus, and light balance. It took us two finishes to fix it but that meant two finishes where we couldn't pick numbers. Lesson learned.

The rest of the time the camera worked well. Obscured riders, oddly pinned numbers, and the occasional "perfect glare" situation made for some missed numbers, but we captured virtually all the numbers.

As the second year we're using this system it worked well, minus the hiccup on that first week.

Giveaways

One good thing about the final week is that I get to give away a bunch of stuff. It's fun making other people's day. This year, with Cannondale and Outdoor Sports Center's support, we gave away a Cannondale CAAD10 frameset (a CRCA racer won it).

The actual CAAD10 frameset on display.

Winner gets to choose the size.

Other prizes include a CycleOps Fluid Trainer (Bethel Cycle rider), a couple helmets that I remembered to put them in the car (CRCA and I forget who), and some smaller stuff (FGX somehow won three of these prizes). Drawing the tickets were a little girl, a little boy, and three? of my nephews (ages 5, 7, and 9).

Sponsor

Outdoor Sports Center, our main sponsor, provided us the use of the start/finish tent.

I want to give a shout out to Outdoor Sports Center. They are much more than just a sponsor. The guy that runs the place showed up every week of the Series, helps with the grunt work (i.e. moves boxes, helps load/unload van, etc), and loves the whole atmosphere of the race.

In fact he's the main reason why I added one week to the Series. When Battenkill conflicted with the last Series race we saw the turnout plummet. The poor turnout disappointed the normally enthusiastic guy (and me too). I figured an extra week would be okay, it would allow all the Battenkill riders to return, and it would be more fun for everyone involved - me, the sponsor, and especially the racers.

Crew

The camera crew on the trailer. All one of him.

This is the last week that our Series crew will be together like this. There's no other race that requires this much consistent help. Working the race is a bonding experience. It's like when you go on a century ride with a small group of people. Merely the process of doing the ride forces everyone to share a challenge and to meet it. It's hard not to build a bond with those around you.

Unlike a random century you go to, at the Bethel Spring Series I have the luxury of selecting the crew. I used to vet the crew from birth, as the joke went - I've known a few of the crew as long as they've been alive. I knew the parents before I knew them. It's hard to explain to other promoters where I find the crew.

"So you have some good people helping you at Bethel. Where do you find them?"
"Well first you find a friendly nice young couple that doesn't have kids. Then when they have kids you vet the whole family process. Keep the good families on a short list. It helps if the parents go to races because then you can see the kids as they grow up. When the kids come of age you hire them. It takes a bit longer than just interviewing random people but it works well."
"Oh. Um. Thanks."

This year I expanded a bit and added people that I haven't known for more than a decade. It worked out well, super well in fact.

I consider the officials part of the crew as well. I ask for them specifically because they help shape the tone of the race, the attitude of the race.

Volunteer Marshals

This year we had more volunteers than in recent memory and for that I'm super grateful. With the new "cut through" around the Bethel Power building we needed a couple more dedicated people. Missing regulars for various dates also reduced available resources.

Therefore the marshals really helped make the race work as well as it did this year. I really, really appreciate the time and effort they put out, especially during those bitterly cold days.

Racers

I want to mention the racers themselves to conclude because it's only fitting. When someone says something nice about Bethel to me, I reply in complete truth that without the racers there'd be no race.

Someone last year described the way I think of the racers at Bethel.

"(He) really cares for all "his" racers--that is, everyone that pins on a Bethel number." (DocM)

I never realized that this is how I felt about all the racers at Bethel. I want everyone at Bethel to succeed at racing, to race as well as they can. I may get frustrated with some, never with others, spend more time with this one than that one, but in the end it comes down to this:

I want everyone at the Bethel Spring Series to have fun racing.

Everyone.

Because at Bethel they're one of mine.

Promoting - Pre 2013 Zwiedzanie Bethel

The start of the last week of the 2013 Series

My mornings start with a cup of coffee. Okay, actually, they start when Junior wakes up and babbles and stuff. I try to sneak downstairs to fix him a bottle or a pouch and maybe some cereal before I head back up to change him. He's usually pretty hungry so he's unusually fussy (meaning he actually acts frustrated) so right after I change him I bring him downstairs to "begin his day".

While Junior walks around his domain (the living room, kitchen, hallway) I try to sneak in some breakfast. It usually works. I follow him around so that means eating a sandwich or leftovers while walking around behind him.

Junior doing laps in a cheerful mood.

This week was a bit busier than normal. There's a lot of stuff that happens only on the last week. In "list form" it's two things - the final overall and the raffle - but in reality it's a logistical nightmare. The issue is that most of the podium riders disappear after their race so I have to do the pictures as soon as the races end. This means getting results, calculating the overall, and awarding prizes... all before the next race starts.

On top of that Junior had a few things happening. He had this all-over rash/bumps/whatever... He'd just gotten his measles shot a few weeks ago, he ate some new food last Sunday, but we think he didn't have "bugs" (he slept in his own Pack N Play, he wore his own clothes, etc).

He was also projectile vomiting for about 24 hours, sporadically one day, once at 2 AM that night, then a few times the next day. That second day, on about the 5th expulsion of the second or third episode (and therefore I figured there couldn't be much left), I held a towel in front of his mouth. The "projectile" geyser hit the towel, ricocheted up into the air, and landed on his face and hair... he was not happy.

This meant him staying at home on the one afternoon I thought I could work on stuff.

What happened is that I had started working on "deluxe" things, essentially favors to individual riders who asked for this or that. I do these things before and during the Series. It's not a major big deal, it helps make the race more enjoyable for the racers, and, frankly, it's stressful if I think someone isn't happy about the races.

While working on those deluxe things I realized that, oh, wait, I don't have the spreadsheet done for this week. I have no change for the drawer. I'm short for prizes for Sunday since I pay out for overall. I have to leave early Saturday to pick up the trophies.

On top of that the camera guy wouldn't be there so I stressed a bit about that (he wrote up extensive notes on what to do and another guy covered for him - I covered the M45+ finish).

I had to stop with the favors and do the "bulk work" if you will, the work that allows the race to actually run. These include getting the cash drawer ready (means going to the bank as well), getting the spreadsheet ready, sending out  for printing and picking up the release forms, organizing the numbers and releases, making sure the radios are charged, stuff like that.

I have to get my stuff ready too, my bikes and gear and overnight stuff. Before each Bethel I stay at my dad's place the night before - he lives about 30 minutes from the course, I live about 90 minutes.

During this time I was doing repeated loads of laundry after Junior made his various works of art. Luckily he didn't hit anything used for Bethel, all sitting in various piles in the living room. I did have to clean a large swath of carpet, a bunch of toys, give him a few baths (and take some showers for me), and do multiple changes of clothing for both him and me.

If that wasn't enough one of our cats was freaking out so we had to put him in kitty jail (a bathroom). This entailed emptying out the bathroom of anything removeable, installing a litter box, water station, and food. We took him to the vet to get him checked out, but all this meant moving rugs, cleaning stuff, yada yada yada. He even had an episode in the middle of the night - he peed on the bed through the down comforter - that meant stripping the bed of everything and putting it in the wash at 2 AM and me taking yet another shower. We also moved two rugs out of the way after he peed on those.

So on Friday, instead of being almost done with preparations for a regular Sunday, I was just getting started preparing for a super-sized Sunday.

I was so exhausted Friday evening that I thought of skipping the pre-reg stuff (organizing releases, doing the spreadsheets, etc) and just going to bed. As I stressed I rallied and got it done. I even fleshed out the stuff I wanted to cover in the clinic, a kind of deluxe "send them on their way" bunch of stuff.

That left Saturday morning to load up the car and get down to Crown Trophies in Brookfield before they close. Luckily the Missus is done with tax season so she'll hang out with Junior while I do Bethel stuff.

Eventually I got it all done.

Sunday should be fun.