Four weeks, three races, two countries—and 6,835 miles of traveling

Within three weeks I worked road, mountain, and track races!

If it hadn't been for severe weather in North Texas on the weekend of April 23/24 the title of this blog entry would have read "Four weeks, four races." Instead I was able to enjoy a weekend at home, unfortunately having to forego the NICA season finale that had been planned for the 4R Ranch close to Muenster. Still, there was enough racing action to keep me rather busy.

After this forced one-weekend break that kept me from going out of town I fired up the beemer a week later and drove to Pace Bend, close to Austin, for a two-day TXBRA road race on Lake Travis. It was a lot of driving for just one weekend, 853 miles to be exact. Whoever says or thinks that cycling is a "green" sport is mightily wrong. Officials have to travel to the event, participants burn much gasoline to get to the start line, and follow cars drive at 25 mph after each field, most of the day. Really, it's pretty crazy when you think about it.

The race itself was easy to work, without accidents or protests. My role was that of an assistant referee, so there was little to no pressure and I simply enjoyed seeing my fellow officials and adding a few brewpubs to my list. One of them, The Oasis right on Lake Travis, was noteworthy for being the atrocity that it is: Imagine a multi-million dollar compound that has multiple restaurants, shops, and beer stations, with parking provided not only via a huge parking lot but also multi-story parking garage, from where golf carts shuttle patrons back and forth. The place is like Disneyland, and to class it as a brewpub as Google does is an offense toward all homegrown micro breweries.

The view from the multi-deck Oasis is spectacular, but the hordes of guests make it look like Disneyland, with prices to match

Infamous Brewing, just a few miles from The Oasis, is the epitome of what a brewpub should be all about: happy music, a local crowd, and
honestly priced (and excellent) beers

Instead of trying to drive the six hours back to Lubbock after the conclusion of the last of Sunday's races I headed toward the Marble Falls area and spent a delightful evening with Judy's brother, Mike, and his wife, Candi. I hadn't seen the two since before the pandemic started, and there was a lot of catching up to do. As an added bonus, David and Kathy (former owners of Peyton's Bikes in Midland) came by as they are neighbors in the gated community where Mike and Candi have been living for about a decade now. So, race weekend #1 was a full success.

The view from Mike and Candi's deck

Tiny Marble Falls has two microbreweries within
just a couple of blocks from each other

The following Thursday I drove out to the airport to get on a plane to Salt Lake City. Working the SoHo Bike Fest UCI mountain bike race in Midway has become an annual enterprise for me as I put the event at the top of my race wish list for USA Cycling. I think this was my fourth time to be assigned as the Vice Chief for this World Calendar race; the international portion is run by the UCI President of the Commissaires Panel (this time around Jim from Victoria, BC), and I am responsible for the USAC amateur events. I knew the three other USAC commissaires—Kris, Tobin, and Tim—and together we helped put on a smooth, incident-free weekend of racing in the Heber Valley just south of Park City. The weather held up beautifully—until the last hour of the Pro Men's XCO on Sunday afternoon, when mist and then rain started to move in, as had been predicted. Monday morning we left for the airport on snowy roads! 

Back in Lubbock it was hot, stinking hot. It was quite a shock to the system to go from snow to 100 F! I had only one full day (Tuesday) at home before my next trip and I really wanted to go for at least one ride for the week, but I also had a morning appointment with the dermatologist to remove the sutures in my forearm (thanks to the removal of a basal cell carcinoma two weeks before), so I didn't get out for my ride until about 1:30 pm. Oh boy, it was miserable! At the end of my 36-mile route survival was the only objective, to hell with my speed.

Lubbock's playa lakes reflect our rainfall since January 1:
0.29 inches as of the first week of May (since then two thunderstorms
have given us a little bit of moisture, but not much)

On Wednesday morning it was again time to drive out to the airport. The destination was Toronto, where I was going to work the 4-day UCI Nations Cup in the Milton velodrome. I was joined by my dear friend and colleague Linda, who had flown in from her home in Portland, and together we "trained" a newcomer to our tribe, Andrew. The three of us stayed busy, busy, busy for the morning and evening sessions of an event that had participants from more than 30 nations. 

Because of our schedule we didn't see much else than the hotel, the short stretch of road between the Best Western and the Mattamy National Cycling Centre, and the inside of the velodrome. One afternoon I was able to go for a quick 3-mile walk during our break, but that was it. It was work, pure and simple. The first three nights we got back to the hotel right before midnight, and even on the last day it was well after nine when we returned to our rooms for the last time. Good thing I had somehow managed to stock up on an assortment of local IPAs...

Late yesterday afternoon I made it back home, and this morning I turned down an emergency appointment for a UCI downhill race in New Jersey this weekend!!! With my planned trip to Spain starting next Tuesday I simply did not want to face all the travel to the East Coast starting in less than 48 hours with barely a 12-hour turn-around between returning next Monday and then leaving for Europe on Tuesday. I guess I'm getting old and soft...

Jürgen