Schenectady Central Park Cyclocross Race

Well, i have not been doing a satisfactory job in keeping up this blog... i've been just swamped with stuff... Mostly busy with being the race director of the Schenectady Central Park Cyclocross Race.  Tons of details to take care of at the last minute.  One thing is for certain, though, i am fortunate to be part of the greatest CX community on the face of the earth.  Our club is so CX enthusiastic.  I simply direct a large group of volunteers, folks that step up to do whatever needs to be done and i am ever so grateful.

We had a great race, with a record turn out.  I even got to race.  I usually do not race, as there are just so many things to deal with on race day, especially in the AM when people are arriving, the registration desk is busy, the officials are scurrying, course tape is being finalized, hay bales positioned, and on and on and on.  Well, things were slightly more organized this year and i had a great registration crew (Thanks you guys!) so i suited up about 15 minutes before the start of my race and i raced.  I felt pretty good, my fitness is still lacking a bit, but i love the Schenectady course and i just had a blast!

After last year's race, i made a note to try to solicit some sponsors from loacl businesses in order to bump up our prize money for the Elite races.  In 2007, we had some real CX talent... like Jamie Driscoll, Team Fiordifrutta from Jericho, Vermont, the '06 National Collegiate Champion and '06 Crank Brothers Grand Prix Series Champ in U23. Like Josh Dillon (Fiordifrutta), 2007 NYcross.com Series Champ Alec Donahue, and Roger Asphlom from Westwood Velo. I thought that in '08, i really needed to up the $ to reflect the Elite racers that we were now attracting and we should try to build on our momentum and try to draw a bigger Elite field.  Well, i had good intentions, but i never was able to raise the $ for the Elite races, but i did get a lot of support from local bike shops and some $ from a local business that allowed me to provide some decent merchandise prizes.  In addition, my wife took it upon herself to put together some gift bags for all the Women racers that either medaled or placed in the money. These gift bags were very well received.  Turns out, the prize $ and merchandise was pretty decent and because my race was up against a UCi weekend race in nearby VT, that race drew most Elite racers to that venue to get them UCi points anyway.  All in all, i was OK with our tournout, the positive comments, and the cool zen of the day.  It was all good. Race # 2 in the 2008 NYcross.com Series is in the books.