Back home and thinking about race promotion

I made it back from Michigan last night. I was exhausted from the whirlwind nature of the trip and the fact that the conference left virtually no down time. It was good though and I'm happy to report that I got numerous compliments on my presentation. The secret to presenting in the last session of the afternoon is to make people laugh. Luckily people did get my humour so it was all good. And the fact that I had no time to train worked out fine as my calf muscle needed to be rested anyway. Luckily I had aisle seats 3 out of 4 of the flights so clearly I have phenomenal luck!

While I was in Michigan I got an email from Justin over at USA Cycling with all the necessary forms to get approval to have a UCI cross race next year. All the forms are due Dec 12 so there is some work to be done quickly. I'm quite optimistic we'll make it happen though. I probably shouldn't post this here as I haven't told JPE about this yet. I figured it would be less stressful to mention it after Viking Cross is over! He doesn't need to worry though as I've been in contact with Mitch who puts on the Biowheels UCI race. Mitch has been super helpful and is sending me the example of the technical guide we need to submit with our application. Good thing because the forms we have to fill out are somewhat confusing. The time has come for Wisconsin to have a UCI cross race. Now we just need to convince the powers that give the yes or no!

First though is this weekend's Stoughton Viking Cross race which should be a fun little event. I'm happy that sponsors have stepped up for this last minute event - Planet Bike, Stoton Cycle, Weary Traveler, and Cloudveil. This race is supposed to be a real low key event but the prizes will certainly be of the highest quality. We've made this the Wisconsin Singlespeed Championship because there wasn't one and because we could. I hope it brings out a fun crowd to vie for the titles. Did I mention there will be burritos???

I noticed that the WI state championship race flyer is posted. I have to admit that I'm a little bummed to be racing with the Cat 1/2/3 men again. Not because they weren't very nice last weekend. I didn't have any bad encounters with any of them or the 30+ guys. They're all great in my opinion. However, it is kind of a bummer to spend so much of the race being lapped. I felt like I spend a lot of time looking over my shoulder to see who was coming up behind me and getting out of the way. The 40+ and 50+ guys lap me too but not as soon and not as many of them. I know that the fastest women have to pass quite a few of the master's guys but the up side of that is that they're usually not being lapped. It will be interesting to see how the faster gals felt about that race schedule versus those of us who are back of the pack elite racers. It's good that we tried it both ways though so that all those involved (elite women, masters and elite men) can give some feedback to the promoters. That will be just one of many interesting items that the promoters will need to discuss for the 2008 season.

I hope to get a ride in tonight in the dark. My light is charged up and so I should be set to go. The ride to work felt nice this morning after so many days of sitting around and getting no exercise while I was in Detroit.