Monday, October 10, 2011

Psycho Cross: We made a race!

At a lot of events things looks great to the attendees, but behind the scenes there is often chaos. I’m not sure how often that happens with bike races, but it definitely works like that at other work-related events I’ve been involved in. This past Saturday was Psycho Cross in Sykesville, MD, the first race put on by the Western Howard County Cycling club (WHCC) and the new Sportif Coaching Group/BPB team. Since Steve is on the team, I’m claiming the royal “we” here and saying it’s my team too. I’ve worked at the Murad road race twice in the past, but this was my first time working a cross race, and from my point of view, it was practically perfect.

The morning dawned cool and foggy, but the sun quickly rose and the warm up began. I was working registration with Emily, G’s fiancée, and we had a steady, but manageable flow of people all day. Everyone seemed excited about the course, and the races all went off very well. No major problems with results either that I could discern.

The only bad thing about working a race is that you don’t get to WATCH the races. By the time the last race went off and registration was done, I was too exhausted to even take a walk around the course. Working registration was a lot of fun though, in addition to getting to catch up with the people I already know, I got to put a lot of names and faces together; I think I may have freaked some people out by knowing who they were before they even gave me their license!

But back to my beginning point about behind the scenes chaos – there was none. The race was remarkably well run, everything was smooth and one time, and apparently the course was a gem as well. If you didn’t go this year, you should really come check it out next year. I think this has potential to be like the Winchester race: a sleeper hit the first year, and now in its third year one of the premier events in the region.

Thanks to everyone who came out, and many congratulations to the entire team, especially Mike Birner, Chris Harshman, Mike Neary, and Jon Hicks for creating and running a fabulous race. It was a pleasure to be in your employ for the day!

4 comments:

  1. For once, it was good to see a familiar face at registration! Thanks.

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  2. Make no mistake you are an "official" member of the team! Great job on registration.

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  3. Great course and smooth operations. Well done, and I hope the race grows.

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  4. I've heard nothing but good stuff about the race- congrats!
    -marc

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