Thursday, January 15, 2009

Race Results

Thank you everyone for coming out to the races. The turned out to be a great success!


We ended up generating 140 dollars for Bicycle Redemption (which was pretty good considering it was our first event and it was 3 degrees outside). Will Cycle for Charity will be buying parts to give to Bicycle redemption. I think the total count for people last night was 50 to 60 (just estimating) with 32 riders.

I think the races turned out to be pretty awesome. I was worried at first about the idea of deviating from the original idea of roller races by using trainers, doing rides with varying elevation, doing more than just sprints, but after experiencing the event I think they turned out even better. It was really entertaining to be able to see the computerized riders moving on the screen and seeing the progression on the track at the top.



I think this was able to get the interest of people who were at the bar just hanging around. It was also great when one person started to pass the other and everyone in the bar started freaking out and cheering. Thanks a ton to Maplewood Bicycle for allowing us to use their computrainsers and Bicycle Works for donating the bikes.

There are a TON of pictures from the races. All of the ones that Sara Arnold took are on her flickr. She took somewhere around 300 pictures. Here's a couple of shots:






































Chris and Jason were the two finalists:



On the last race the both rode 5 miles on an uphill course. Both of the riders rode for a little over 25 minutes straight!!!




Chris pulled off the win with Jason finishing about 5 mins after (these are all approximate times b/c I don't have the score sheet in front of me). It was an extremely impressive ride, especially considering both riders raced in all four rounds. Chris walked away with 60 dollars cash and Jason got a bag of various bike goods (lights, pumps, bar tape, etc) provided by A&M Bicycles.


All in all it was a good night.


The next race will be on Feb 11th. Now that we have one race under our belts we'll be able to correct any mistakes that were made in setup and modify how the races work. This was the first time that any of us had put on this type of event as far as the computrainers and courses go. We still need to figure out exactly what changes we're going to do, but I do know that we're planning on having different race classes, road bike and fixed gear races (we didn't have access to enough general fixed bikes for this last race), and bikes with matching frame sizes and gearing. That way we can even it out for everyone.

These are supposed to be fun races to generate money for charity, but we totally understand wanting to make sure everyone has a fair chance competetivly. Basically when all of the equipment is provided on a donating or borrowing basis like it was for this first race you have to go with what you're given. I think for the second race we'll have more access to more equipment.

Thanks again to everyone from coming out. Keep your eye on this blog and on the Will Cycle for Charity for information on the next race.

-Chris


After note: I didn't realize that comment moderation was turned on for the blog so I just enabled allowed all of the pending comments. Sry.
Also, if you want to get on the mailing lists for the events we (Will Cycle for Charity) are putting on send me an email. We're putting on these races, some up coming movie nights, and various rides and races throughout the year. We'll be sending out emails, posting on blogs, and noting on our website for everything.

4 comments:

  1. Will you post official results from the races?

    Thanks for putting on this terrific event.

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  2. I'll grab the results from Patrick and type them out.

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  3. Sorry to chime in so late. I just found your blog via Hipster Nascar. Man, this looks like such a wicked good time. I've never been to an event like this. Dare I ask what the garbage cans next to each racer are for? (I have a hunch that I don't want to know.) I'd get creamed doing something like this, but it sure looks like fun.

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  4. @velofolk: The garbage cans were for anyone who puked (which I'm assuming is what you were assuming). Luckly/Sadly (depending on your pov), no one puked that night. I was slightly disappointed because I bought a bottle of mouth wash specifically to give to the first person who puked and no one did. Oh well, there's always next race.

    You should come out to the next race if you're in St. Louis. Feb 11th.

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