After serving as Chief Referee for the past three editions (twice in Mammoth, CA, in 2017/18 and then in 2019 also in Winter Park) I had been assigned as Vice Chief for this year. That's not a demotion—as far as I kow it had been unprecedented to have the same CR three years in a row (and four times in five years, counting my 2015 stint in Snowshoe, WV), and it was time for somebody else to take on this awesome responsibility. I had been assigned as wingman for my old friend and mentee Uğur, who hails from Turkey but lives in the Minneapolis area, and it was great to work with and support him and see him succeed.
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| Uğur, our Chief Referee |
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| Michael at the 80% line during the STXC |
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| Dot, one of the best Finish Judges in the business |
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| The timing trailer for the XC and STXC |
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| Joe during DH training with some of the mountain crew, lead by Trip who gives the thumbs-up |
I flew out on July 4, while normal people were getting ready to cook out and watch fireworks. At the Denver airport I met up with three other commissaires (Dot from the PNW, Julie from the Midwest, and Joe from Connecticut) and together we drove in our rental SUV ($500 for a week's rental appeared high until a recent check for a weeklong rental in Seattle yielded $1,000+ price tags for the smallest of the small cars—if one can find one in this crazy post-apocalyptic travel climate!) up to Winter Park, about an hour-and-a-half west of Denver.
Altogether our crew of nine (for the Enduro we were helped by several more local officials) was put up in separate condos in the sprawling ski resort. With access to a vehicle, we went to the local Safeway on Sunday evening to fill up on groceries and adult beverages for the remainder of the week. (Truth be told, we had one evening when some of us managed to make a restocking run for beverages before everything closed down for the night.) With the exception of Joe and my dear friend Cath from Telluride all of us had worked National Championships before, and all of knew of the long, long hours ahead. However, Cath has been working with husband Jon untold events for their timing company, so of course she knew what was going to hit us. Only Joe, as the "apprentice," was a total newbie to this caliber of event, and he left with a new understanding of what it means to be a commissaire.
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| Racers' meeting at the end of each day |
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| Finish area of the Downhill |
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| Just off the path of the DH |
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| My "office" in the run-out of the DH |
As expected, the days were long and the nights were short. USAC expects its officials to work up to nine hours to get their daily pay, which varies for the various positions held by the different commissaires. After nine hours, overtime kicks in, amounting to $20 an hour and calculated in 15-minute increments. Well, you can do the math: When you're on the job at 6:00 a.m. you hit overtime at 3:00 p.m., and if you finally leave for the condo at 7:45 p.m., you've worked 13.75 hrs. And if you are Leslie, our rock-solid Secretary, those hours are even longer yet. I think I ended up with a total of 82 or 83 hours worked between Monday and the following Sunday.
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| The single Speed Cross-Country racers are always, well, colorful! |
You can imagine that with such hours there's little, if any, after-work socializing. Most of us limped back to the room and gulped down some food, showered, and hit the rack. I preferred to feed myself sensibly, cooking every night and always preparing a fresh salad, but it also cut somewhat into my sleeping time. Still, I got a bit more rest than in years past, not only because of a slight decrease in hours worked (in 2019, as CR, I had clocked 90+ hrs) but mainly because I slept better—as Chief I had woken up at 3:00 a.m. worrying about the upcoming day and all the things that can go wrong.
This time around, these worries rested on Uğur's shoulders, and I did indeed sleep much better. Of course, things do go wrong, despite all the planning and foresight. Number sequences for the racers' bibs are incorrect, lightning causes hour-long course (and lift) holds that require shortened practice times or schedule changes, injured riders block the Dual Slalom course so that the entire competition takes so long that the medical staff announce that they can't provide services any longer after having been on the job for 14 hours, and an errant porta-potty door opens up to damage the gear shifters of the third-place Pro Men's Short Track contestant, who eventually finishes somewhere in 23rd or so place. In moments like this it's nice not to be the Chief.... 😉
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| My, my Alexis, how you've grown and matured! |
At an event of this magnitude there will always be tense moments and worse. Much of that is not seen by the athletes, and their comments were almost all extremely positive. People were just SO ready to race again, after the pandemic! For me, who has worked these races for such a long time, it is always gratifying to run into old friends and acquaintances, or more often than not somebody will call out my name and fist-bump or hug me and I have no idea who that is! It's a bit embarrassing, but it certainly feels good to be remembered from all those starts and racers' meetings and discussions during all those years. Probably the most precious moments are those when a racer whom I have known since she was a girl in high school rides in the Pro ranks and does well and we can share a moment of joy afterward.
Overall, we were rather lucky with the weather, despite those lightning-induced holds that are to be expected in the high Rockies at this time of the year. We were spared any prolonged downpours, which can seriously affect a Downhill course and literally obliterate the Dual Slalom. The battle against the sun was much more serious this time around, but lots and lots of sunscreen prevented me from getting fried. For me, one of the big treats at mountain bike nats is getting to use the gondola or lift to get to the top of the Downhill start. It is a quiet time when the race recedes and one can see all that glorious mountain-scape all around. We do have wonderful jobs, and the long hours are easily forgotten when confronted with those vistas.
On Sunday we concluded the week of activity with the Pro Downhill and Short Track races. It was almost an early day, despite a long officials' debriefing that pushed all of us into two hours of overtime. An expensive meeting for USAC! That evening, in a gesture of appreciation of our work all week, the top brass of USAC invited us to a very casual dinner at the timing trailer, where the big kahuna himself, Chuck, grilled chicken and everybody loosened up with quality adult beverages. Bravo and thank you, USAC, because that's the way to foster
esprit de corps and show appreciation for those who make all of this work.
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| Uğur |
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| Valecia and Tom |
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| V. |
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| Leigh and moi |
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| Amy, Julie, and Joe |
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| Jon and Cath |
Monday morning was another early one, and at 6:00 a.m. we were on the road to Denver International Airport for our respective flights home. Another successful National Championship was completed!
Jürgen
Bueno Dude. Le passage de Colorado est ttes bon, N'est Pas?
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