Racking up the (NICA) miles

Back in late February, my personal log of annual bike vs. car miles had been clearly in favor of the two-wheeled variety: For every mile I had piloted a car I had pedaled more than ten miles. Well, that quickly changed once the domestic officiating season kicked into full gear, and over the past month or so I have spent more (literal) time sitting in the BMW than atop my Seven. At the time of this writing, I am closing in on 4,000 miles in the car while I still have not cracked the 1,000-mile barrier by bicycle, something that just a couple of years ago would have happened in early February, or March at the latest. As Bob Dylan crooned, the times they are a-changing.

Thanks to somebody's senseless war gas prices are spiking,
and the common folk are bunkering diesel

Since my last blog entry, I have worked an additional three NICA high school mountain bike races, thus concluding my 15th season with the Texas league. First there was the "home" race at 4R Ranch & Winery, near Muenster and Gainesville—"home" because with "only" 613 miles of driving it is the race closest to Lubbock. 4R took place on the last March weekend, and after one weekend off I had two back-to-back races that required almost 2,000 miles of driving in total.

Maegen is one of the many solid rocks of the Texas NICA league

First off, there was a second trip back out to Longview, in East Texas, thanks to a massive weather system over most portions of the state that spared only the eastern portion of Texas. The production team of our league did an amazing job re-locating the entire event from Troy to Longview, and the coaches and parents were amazingly resilient in changing work schedules, rebooking hotel rooms, and making plans for the trip that is a long one for everyone but a few teams from East Texas. I got in the car on Friday morning (to avoid the worst of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Friday afternoon traffic) and checked into my hotel almost 500 miles later. We had condensed all NICA activities into Saturday, with a brief pre-ride session before noon and racing until around 7:00 p.m. And we did it! Obviously, there was no way to even start heading home, so I spent another night in the LaQuinta and started westward, now in intermittent rain, on Sunday morning making it home late in the afternoon. Those are hard, exhausting weekends.

League Director JJ takes a well-deserved dog-nap

After only four days at home I left town on Friday for our NICA State Championships, heading south-east into a relentless, straight headwind toward Warda, a tiny hamlet just north of I-10 about halfway between Austin and Houston. In other words, to get from West Texas to Bluff Creek Ranch is another long haul. (In comparison, the roundtrip to Longview totaled 989 miles while Warda was 934 miles.) I spent the night in the illustrious Super Ocho in Giddings, a low-cost, low-amenities, low-everything caravanserai only 15 minutes from the venue. On Saturday we had our scheduled pre-rides and put the finishing touches on the entire production, and then I went back to my modest pad for the night.

At the State Championships, all graduating seniors are recognized
with a laminated race poster that they can keep
as a permanent memento of their high school racing career

Sandy's grandson, Zane, is graduating but could not make it to his final race
because of a robotics competition and prom night

Overnight it rained, and we had to postpone Sunday's race for 90 minutes to establish detours around hopelessly muddy sections and let wind and sun dry things out just a little. Race attendance set a new record with 573 riders, and there was not a face without a smile! It was a fabulous end to our season, and I cannot emphasize how much I enjoy being part of this league. I will surely miss our team members as well as the students, coaches, and parents in the many months to come until we kick off the 2027 season.

Race Director Kim is always up for some shenanigans

By the time the last medals had been awarded it was about 5:30 p.m., and I headed west to Austin, where I had made a reservation in a Simply Suites by Sonesta. The name sounds way better than what the chain provides, but at $70 for a night to put one's head down, who cares? Of course, it would have been nice had my room not been flooded after I took a shower and I had to switch into a new habitat.

Yesterday morning I woke up to heavy rain in Austin, and the drive home to Lubbock was anything but enjoyable. Even Lubbock was cold and dreary, which came as a shock after all the sun that West Texas had enjoyed over the past couple of months. I made it home right at five o'clock, and then the usual unpacking, doing laundry, going through accumulated mail, writing out my invoice, and all those other chores followed. The 2026 NICA Season had been officially completed, and tomorrow Sandy and I will embark on a quick trip to New Orleans.

Jürgen