House-sitting and racing

I belong to the list serve for Montana Cycling and I just have to quote what was just sent out from Brink Kuchenbrod. His description of Saturdays race is so good my heart was racing 100 mph after reading it. So without further adieu here it is:

Rolling Thunder!

Last Saturday's cyclocross race at Osprey Stadium in Missoula was an absolute jaw-dropper and my hat is off to Shaun Radley and his crew for pulling off such an amazing event. I'm sorry if you missed it because if you did, you MISSED OUT! This top-notch, Euro-trash bike race topped anything I've ever done in Montana!

In case you missed it, you wouldn't friggin' believe this thing... racing under the lights of the baseball stadium, beer garden, concessions, going over a triple in front of a big crowd (I don't care if I look like a duck...), Miss Montana dishing up kisses on the podium immediately after the race, music blaring, cowbells, rain, sand, excitement, spilled beer, friendly heckling.

It's the coolest race I've ever done in Montana. It was like racing through somebody's party... as cyclocross should be. At the start they played AC/DC's "Hells Bells" over the stadium PA, and off we go:

After speeding around the perimeter of the baseball field, the course had you drop into the "sand pit of doom" near the Clark Fork River, you couldn't see much and your tires dug in about four inches. Then you run back up the river bank, the halogens hit you in the eyes, a hundred spectators are yelling, you can't see where you're putting your feet from the glare, the music hurts your ears, the announcer yells your name, and off you go for another lap of rubbin' handlebars through a twisting course. Does it get any better than that?

I can imagine the initial planning stages of this event... "What if we had three different races!" "What if we had Miss Montana and a real podium!" "What if we had music!" "What if we had beer!" "What if we raced at night at the baseball stadium!" This conversation has been had before, except these folks went out and did it ALL!

So, Shaun and crew, obviously this was a lot of work. Are you going to try to pull it off next year too? What combination of forces got this all together? What worked and what didn't? Did you make money or lose money? Is there something you'd never do again? Or something you'll definitely do next year?

It would just be nice to get this information out in
the open, at some point, so that if other communities were to aspire to putting on their own Rolling Thunder, they'd know where to begin. Imagine, Rolling Thunder every weekend... hundreds of racers, hundreds of partying fans...

I should also mention that Don Russell stood outside in the cold all afternoon and evening getting the results dialed on all three races. Thanks, Don. Your dedication is appreciated!

Cheers, Brink Kuchenbrod Montana Velo