OK, so I am projecting a little bit into the future since—at least as of the time of my writing these first few paragraphs—I still have this upcoming weekend's TORS#1 mountain bike race in Ft. Worth ahead of me. But even then, looking at the past eleven days it's been a veritable whirlwind of travel and activity.
The first of the four races was our Texas State Road Championships in Oatmeal (population 20, as reported not only in the 2020 census but also in 1990 and 2000), for which I was the chief referee. This hamlet, where people either don't die, move away, or in any other way upset the status quo, is located near Austin, and as anybody who lives in Texas can attest, that's "a ways" from Lubbock. I left at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, worked the race on Saturday from 6:30 a.m. until about 3:30 p.m., and then drove back home, making landfall at the casa at 9:15 p.m. after racking up a total of 738 miles.
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| Louisiana moto trash Randy |
It was fun to work this race as I don't get very many road races thrown my way. We had a crew of nine paid and unpaid officials, among them three moto refs from Louisiana who are always fun to work with. Co-race directors David and Andrew had been very communicative in the lead-up to the race and continued to be organized and professional during the competition. The race became challenging when instead of the expected 200 racers more than 350 showed up! We lucked out in that the day's rain didn't last for more than a good hour and that we didn't have any major crashes—with a combined Masters field of exactly 100 starters I had feared the worst! I was really proud of our crew in how we handled huge fields on tiny country roads on an eleven-mile circuit without rider protests or errors in the results.
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| Approaching Quebec City, crossing the Saint Lawrence River |
Fifty hours after my return it was time for me to get on a plane to Dallas and onward to Philadelphia where I caught my final two-hour hop to Quebec City. This was the third time for me to work the
Grand Prix Cyclistes Quebec et Montreal, after 2015 and 2023, and just as in the past I was on-site to help keep the sport clean.
Working a World Tour race—even more so, two, in the span of a couple of days—is something special. This year's edition attracted super-stars such as Tadej Pogačar, Wout van Aert, and Julian Alaphilippe, but that's just the very beginning. All 18 men's World Tour teams had made the trek across the Atlantic, and looking at the start list you would have thought you were at the Tour de France or the Giro d'Italia. The first of the two races, an 18-lap affair almost 135 miles long (216 kilometers), takes place in and around the beautiful city of Quebec, located on the Saint Lawrence River. The history of this city goes back more than 400 years, to 1608, when it was founded by the early French settlers. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, attracted by the picturesque buildings, narrow roads, and French atmosphere.
Of course, I
did have to do some work related to the race at hand, but most of my Thursday was open for sightseeing and exploring the town. Back in 2015, the entire race entourage had stayed at the fantastically designed
Hôtel Château Fontenac, a Fairmont property, which with its turrets and crenelations looks like something out of a fairy tale. During said stay, a bat had made it into my room, flying around whenever I turned off the light to sleep. Eventually, I had been able to stun the little guy with a whack of a bath towel, put it into a Ziploc bag, and take it to the reception. With many apologies the manager had given me a gift card worth 100 Canadian dollars. I had never had the opportunity to use the money, but this time around I had decided to splurge a little. How does a dozen fresh Atlantic oysters sound, chased by a couple of local IPAs? The card still has a balance of $10 CDN. As I said, I splurged.
While the entire racing entourage was housed in the Delta hotel, a Marriott property, some of us had plush rooms in the independent
Hôtel Château Laurier, which was just a stone's throw from the start/finish area of the race. It couldn't have been any more convenient. Thousands of fans had congregated to see the international
peloton, and large parts of the route were lined with spectators as well. This race, now in its fourteenth year, has really come off age and is a
bona fide addition to the region's many attractions.
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| Pro-Palestinian protesters were present in both Quebec and Montreal |
My evening forays (after dinner in a large ballroom of the
Delta set aside for all the teams as well as officials and members of the organization) led me to several new brewpubs. On my last trip in 2023, I had been especially impressed with
Noctem Artisans Brasseurs; this time I discovered
Nano Cinco, quite likely the brewery with the finest IPA that I have tasted anywhere in Canada. I don't really rank the places where I've had a quaff or two, but
Nano Cinco would quite likely crack my top-10.
After our bus transfer from QC to Montreal on Saturday, Pogi, Wout & Co. quite likely went out for a bit of a reconnaissance ride for Sunday's race. I, on the other hand, had an opportunity to continue exploring Quebec's brew scene. My local driver, Etienne, had taken me to the university campus to drop off Friday's fruits of my labor. He gave me a list of brewpubs that I would be able to visit on a five-mile walk back to the hotel starting at
Mellӧn Brasserie, a very European-style establishment. I had a chance to see the Montreal where the people live, not the glitzy downtown with its high-rises and fancy shops. The breweries were nicely spaced out, around a mile apart or so, making for a fun afternoon/early evening.
Sunday—remember, one week after working the Oatmeal race and driving back home—I did a little bit more work to justify my paid vacation. It hardly gets any better! I wish I could tell you more about what I officially do on trips such as this one, but I have been sworn to secrecy, and we call these forays to foreign countries "missions" for a reason. Thank goodness, they are less violent than what you'll see on the big screen, and generally they are not a
Mission Impossible.
Another Uber ride on Monday at noon to
Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, or YUL for short, and then a four-hour direct flight to DFW and a final hop to Lubbock, and another race was in the bag. For three full days I was at home, riding a few miles, cooking a dinner or two, and spending a bit of quality time with Sandy. And then it was already Friday and time to drive to Fort Worth.
TORS (or Texas Off Road Series) is an almost-new mountain bike race series that's organized by Trek Bicycles. When I say "almost," I am referring to a false start last year when things didn't quite get off the ground. To be honest, I was afraid that history might repeat itself when in the run-up to the first event of the 2025 five-race series I was faced with an alarming dearth of information. You see, as the chief referee of any competition I am the one where the buck stops (especially when I am a one-man show such as here), and racers and organizers alike are not happy campers unless their overall experience is positive. And sometimes that is challenging to achieve.
On Saturday I walked about two thirds of the seven-mile course at Gateway Park on the Trinity River, a venue new to me but with established trails that are being used by the local FWMBA riders. At the time I got there, exactly no infrastructure had been established, but I got to meet Shawn who not only is the timer for TORS but also is the fella who was tasked with marking (tape, arrows, etc.) the course, and I started to feel some reassurance. Meanwhile, series director Romain was busy arranging the logistics for Saturday's Trek 100 road ride, which attracted around 800 riders. So, when I left Gateway Park and headed for HopFusion Ale Works I simply thought, "Either this works out or we'll get run out of town."
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| Shawn, cleaning up the leftovers of the recent river clean-up |
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| I finally got to meet TORS director Romain on race morning |
Sunday morning at 7:30 the start/finish area actually looked just like that. Pop-up tents and an inflatable arch, together with snow-fencing and Red Bull bar tables and umbrellas had sprung up at some point, and there was even a music/public address system. Shawn was a little stressed with numerous last-minute registration additions and requests for a category change, but I ended up with start-lists that were mostly accurate and needed just the last-moment write-ins on the line. I did what I do best: Stay on top of the schedule, make sure the racers get off at the pre-determined time, and hope like hell that all the timing chips work.
After TORS #1, I am confident that the upcoming series stops at other Texas locations will gain momentum (we had only 103 racers) and the staff will learn from the weekend's challenges. I will work two more of these events, in October and November, but I won't be chief ref, so many of the concerns and worries won't bear down on my shoulders. I am happy that Shawn, Romain, and their skeletal staff were able to pull off this series-opener, and it will be interesting to see how things will progress from here.
For right now, I am glad to be at home for about 10 days before the final two major assignments of the year, the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Lake Placid, NY, next week and then immediately after that our USA Cycling National Collegiate Mountain Bike Championships at Powderhorn resort, close to Grand Junction, CO. With less than 24 hours of turnover between flights from and to the two events at home, I'll have to stay focused and prepared to pull this one off, especially since I'll be chief referee in Colorado. In other words, no more posting until mid-October!
Jürgen
Working a World Tour race—even more so, two, in the span of a couple of days—is something special. This year's edition attracted super-stars such as Tadej Pogačar, Wout van Aert, and Julian Alaphilippe, but that's just the very beginning. All 18 men's World Tour teams had made the trek across the Atlantic, and looking at the start list you would have thought you were at the Tour de France or the Giro d'Italia. The first of the two races, an 18-lap affair almost 135 miles long (216 kilometers), takes place in and around the beautiful city of Quebec, located on the Saint Lawrence River. The history of this city goes back more than 400 years, to 1608, when it was founded by the early French settlers. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, attracted by the picturesque buildings, narrow roads, and French atmosphere. 
Of course, I did have to do some work related to the race at hand, but most of my Thursday was open for sightseeing and exploring the town. Back in 2015, the entire race entourage had stayed at the fantastically designed Hôtel Château Fontenac, a Fairmont property, which with its turrets and crenelations looks like something out of a fairy tale. During said stay, a bat had made it into my room, flying around whenever I turned off the light to sleep. Eventually, I had been able to stun the little guy with a whack of a bath towel, put it into a Ziploc bag, and take it to the reception. With many apologies the manager had given me a gift card worth 100 Canadian dollars. I had never had the opportunity to use the money, but this time around I had decided to splurge a little. How does a dozen fresh Atlantic oysters sound, chased by a couple of local IPAs? The card still has a balance of $10 CDN. As I said, I splurged.
While the entire racing entourage was housed in the Delta hotel, a Marriott property, some of us had plush rooms in the independent Hôtel Château Laurier, which was just a stone's throw from the start/finish area of the race. It couldn't have been any more convenient. Thousands of fans had congregated to see the international peloton, and large parts of the route were lined with spectators as well. This race, now in its fourteenth year, has really come off age and is a bona fide addition to the region's many attractions.
After our bus transfer from QC to Montreal on Saturday, Pogi, Wout & Co. quite likely went out for a bit of a reconnaissance ride for Sunday's race. I, on the other hand, had an opportunity to continue exploring Quebec's brew scene. My local driver, Etienne, had taken me to the university campus to drop off Friday's fruits of my labor. He gave me a list of brewpubs that I would be able to visit on a five-mile walk back to the hotel starting at Mellӧn Brasserie, a very European-style establishment. I had a chance to see the Montreal where the people live, not the glitzy downtown with its high-rises and fancy shops. The breweries were nicely spaced out, around a mile apart or so, making for a fun afternoon/early evening.
Sunday—remember, one week after working the Oatmeal race and driving back home—I did a little bit more work to justify my paid vacation. It hardly gets any better! I wish I could tell you more about what I officially do on trips such as this one, but I have been sworn to secrecy, and we call these forays to foreign countries "missions" for a reason. Thank goodness, they are less violent than what you'll see on the big screen, and generally they are not a Mission Impossible.
Another Uber ride on Monday at noon to Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, or YUL for short, and then a four-hour direct flight to DFW and a final hop to Lubbock, and another race was in the bag. For three full days I was at home, riding a few miles, cooking a dinner or two, and spending a bit of quality time with Sandy. And then it was already Friday and time to drive to Fort Worth.
TORS (or Texas Off Road Series) is an almost-new mountain bike race series that's organized by Trek Bicycles. When I say "almost," I am referring to a false start last year when things didn't quite get off the ground. To be honest, I was afraid that history might repeat itself when in the run-up to the first event of the 2025 five-race series I was faced with an alarming dearth of information. You see, as the chief referee of any competition I am the one where the buck stops (especially when I am a one-man show such as here), and racers and organizers alike are not happy campers unless their overall experience is positive. And sometimes that is challenging to achieve.
