Golf and Crit races-recap!

It was a great weekend although a little short on sleep since I was up EARLY each morning.

Saturday I hit the PanCan golf tournament and had a blast. We really had a lot of fun catching up with friends, laughing and being silly, oh yes, and playing golf. My partner and I did a good job on the back nine but the front nine was not so good. Oh well we can't be excellent all the time! 116 golfers hit the course for a great cause!

Sunday it was the SF Crit races. What a blast! I was a marshall at the intersection of 8th and Dakota. The race was a lot of fun to watch and of course I had to cheer on a few of the local FAB racers and other racers also. Way to go FAB guys, the MuSCLe, Minus Car and Dan (in the pic below) you all did a great job!

My intersection, really had nothing exciting happen except for sweeping up gravel that kept popping up between races from asphalt laid maybe a week or so ago. I sure had the pedestrian traffic to control. WOW. Let me just say there are some VERY interesting people that were out and about Sunday morning! Let's see I had a 70-some year old lady wearing red sandals and ankle high hose, skirt and of course slathered with make-up. We chatted as the racers approached and then I told her it was ok to cross the street. She walked about eight feet out in the road, stopped, turned around and started talking to me again telling me how old she was. Of course there were more racers coming so I had to tell her she needed to get off the course! There was another guy that had a deposit from Sunday morning offerings to make. He was very adamant that he needed to drive to the bank located at 9 and Main. I told him that we had a race going on and that he could walk over there but I could not let him drive to the bank as it was in part of the race course. Finally he agree to that. I had asked another guy on a bike to wait at the corner until the racers went by. He didn't acknowledge me when I asked him to wait so I took it that he didn't hear me or whatever so I walked closer to him and repeated it. He then told me he had heard me and was bitching about all these nut cases out there on bikes.....hummmm, I wonder if he had ever looked in a mirror? I told him it was safe to cross the street and of course he said a few more things as he biked away. The funny one of the day was Minus Car's mom and dad. They pulled up in the parking lot by my station. We chatted a bit. They headed in the direction of the start finish line so I assumed they were going to watch the race. I had seen Mr Car warming up on the race course and thought they were there to see their son race. Then about 45 minutes later they appeared and Mr Car's father said he would be back to help out marshall the corners. I asked how the start finish was and he said they went and had brunch at the Holiday Inn. I thought it was funny because their son was going to race. Read Minus Car's blog and you find out the rest of the story. (He really didn't know if he was going to ride and never told his parents) It was not until Mr Car's father came back to relieve some FAB people that he found out that his son had been in the race.

It was also a good education for some of the people as they walked up and asked what was going on and so I told them. They were amazed at the race and how fast they were going even though I was stationed on an uphill section.

Common questions I was asked:

"What is going on here?", "Where are they all from?", "Why are they riding in a line?", What is that black car doing on the race course?", "How many laps do they ride?", "How long will the race last?" "Where is there a good place to eat?", "How do I get to the Holiday Inn?", "Is the library open?", "What class is racing?", "Do woman race also?", "Where is the finish line?","How long is the street going to be closed?"......I am sure I am missing a few.

Anyway it was a fun day watching the race. I had one lady relieve be around 1:00pm from my spot. She rode for Central Plains Cycling and finished second in the women's division. Haley, it was very nice talking with you and I learning more about the races! I also got a kick out of Cloud the weimaraner from the CPC team. One of the team members came around on his bike with a cooler on a trailer that had water, cliff bars and bananas, for the volunteers. Yup bananas! I could not make myself eat one since I had my quota of bananas during the MS150. Anyway he had Cloud hooked to the bike and so she ran along with him greeting all the volunteers! She was a very nice ambassador!

I heard there were 61 racers. Some racers travel from as far away as Oklahoma! Good job everyone! I hope there will be a second annual Crit race next year and if so you can bet I will be helping out again.