Weekend recap........

Had a great weekend but lots of windshield time. I found out on Thursday I was going to head to Minneapolis on Friday to receive some continuing education credits, basic electricity for door hardware, from our DHI-North Central Chapter. With heading to the Mpls area, I knew there are always bike races in the area so I contacted a few people to let them know I was going to be in the area and would like to "shadow" another official if it would be ok. They had a big race going on in Cannon Falls, MN called the Ken Wood Memorial Road Race, University of Minnesota-NCCC (North Central Cycling Championship). 340 riders and 70 collegiate riders for the race. The weather was to be crappy, rain, cold, wind, so I was prepared with all sorts of layers. I was paired up with Emily another official. She had never done the road racing commissaire part of the race before and since I had, we were a team. We followed the Cat 3 men (3-laps on a 21 mile course) for the race in the morning. Pretty "cushy" job, not that officiating is a cushy job, but since the wind was a bit cool and the threat of rain loomed all morning, it was good to be in a car. I even got to do my first call out of a race, meaning calling the group and going over some of the rules before leading them out on the course. In the afternoon, I did the Junior (1-lap on the 21 mile course)race and road with one of the parents, Bob, nice guy and good conversation was had. Good to see the parents involved and doing stuff with their kids! The race was also good just meeting other officials and and experiencing how bigger races are run.

This event also featured a "chip" system. This means that the racers have to rent or buy a "chip" about the size of a quarter, that is on a velco ankle strap. At registration the riders are given their chip. The chip has a number that is entered into the computer with the riders name. When a rider goes across the finish line the chip is triggered by a series of wires on the pavement which go to a computer and is plugged into the software system. This places the riders as to their finish. We do still keep track of the riders manually also and then everything is double checked from the officials manually scoring to the chip read-out sheets. Since technology is not 100% fool-proof and then if there are any DQ-d (disqualified) riders, the computer can't tell that, so it can be taken care of at that point. Once the finish is agreed upon then the results are printed and posted. Pretty cool system! Thanks again to all the officials, Matt, Bill, Bruce, Jeff, Steve, Emily, Larry, and two others that I can't remember their names (SORRY!) that helped me learn a bit more about officiating. Also thanks to all the corner marshalls braving the wind out on the corners to keep everyone safe during the race! One older lady who was a corner marshall in teh morning, was from Des Moines, and was there to see her granddaughter race for the U of M. How cool is that to say your grandmother was out there as a corner marshall! She did a heck of a job out there also!

I left Sioux Falls around 8:30am on Friday morning and made it back to Sioux Falls 8:30 pm Saturday night. Long couple of days and lots of miles, but it was worth it.