Woo Hoo! I finally pulled it together and hosted an event. What a great time. Not everything went as planned, but I'm pretty sure the participants had a good time.
My purpose in hosting a ride was two fold. First, I read an article last year talking about thow the old school riders in post WW2 England would do these long winter fixed time trials over the country lanes and unpaved tracks of the day, and I wanted to do a ride similar to those. At the same time, as a cyclist with a spouse and kids who don't do the milage/rides I do, I wanted to have something for those who weren't interested in the longer, harder ride, or who might even just want to hang out at the start location.
Thus was born the Fix26, a time trial modeled after those old school rides. I mentioned it on my blog, and got a number of victims friends who were interested.
Winter was over this year before we knew it, but it was still early enough in the spring to have a brisk wind keeping everyone cold as they gathered for the start. Rain the previous day would have some of the course soft, but everything should be ridable. Some folks were a bit late, so I opted for a slightly delayed mass start, to simplify my administrative duties (lazy). This tended for people to ride together, which probably helped with route navigation, but didn't give a truly "rider against the clock" feel. The field ended up 5 fixed riders, one single speeder and one (shush) gearie. The short ride had one single speed, one gearie and me, who switched from single to fixed halfway 'round the loop. At home, Todd and Renee's daughter was immediately ushered off by my daughter to visit the neighbor's horses, check out the creek and play with every toy in the house. She appeared to have a good time.
| A chilly morning, getting ready to ride. |
| A group photo at the start. |
| Julie and Maili weren't interested in the longer ride, so we went out on a shorter, 6 mile loop to intersect the longer ride. We still weren't able to avoid the hills. |
| Before long the first three riders came along. |
| Jason, Joe and Todd. |
| Renee |
| Steve |
| Donna |
We waited a bit, but we apperaed to have lost a rider! No sign of Kevin. We headed back to the start.
 | Back at the Finish, Todd edges out the others for the fastest time. |
 | Here comes the lost rider. Kevin got off course, but found his way back and made good time. |
 | Donna comes in past the "Official" timepiece. |
 | Renee comes in and tries to run down her husband. Something about a promise to ride the course with her...... |
 | Steve riding sweep. |
 | This could be a Crosscheck advertisement (with an On-One thrown in for good measure). |
 | Post ride feasting. Folks brought stuff Potluck to supplement my wife's wonderful lasagna. Yum! |
 | Course Elevation. About 1900 feet of climbing over 26 miles. |
 | Course Map. |
 | Blossoms along McKinstry's Mill |
 | Blossoms along McKinstry's Mill |
 | Hanging around before the start. |
 | Pushy Race Official |
Rider | Start Time | Finish Time | Elapsed Time |
| Todd | 10:42:00 | 12:21:40 | 1:39:40 |
| Joe | 10:42:00 | 12:21:41 | 1:39:41 |
| Jason | 10:42:00 | 12:21:42 | 1:39:42 |
| Kevin* | 10:42:00 | 12:35:22 | 1:53:22 |
| Donna | 10:42:00 | 1:01:15 | 2:19:15 |
| Renee | 10:42:00 | 1:01:45 | 2:19:45 |
| Steve | 10:42:00 | 1:01:58 | 2:19:58 |
| *Left the course, but equivalent mileage. | |||
I learned a lot about organizing a small event (sort of like herding cats) which will hopefully translate into organizing slightly larger ones. I also found I can make a usable cue sheet. Well, usable by everyone but Kevin.
Thanks so much to my friends who came out as guinea pigs for my event experimentation. You all rock! Good people make for a good ride, no matter how disorganized the event is. See you next year!?!?!?!?