First Race at Big Cedar
Endurance Race Director Bobby D was listening to his two-way radio and looking at the paper in his clipboard confirming all the details were taken care of. Kristi was directing traffic in the parking lot. Big Daddy, Gina and Solcatia were working the registration tables. Solo was tweaking and fine tuning the playlist on the PA system. Sapo was greeting the sponsors and offering them hot coffee. cH4os, and Johnny were talking on the radio to Shadow to confirm the blue loop was ready. Bicycles Plus, and The Bicycle Path had their tents up and were wrenching on some bikes. In the parking lot jjay was drinking some coffee and talking to JFLrides as RollingPJ tied the bib number to her bike.
It was overcast with a temperature of 55 degrees and winds SSE at 11.5 mph on top of Prayer Mountain in the property of Mountain Creek Church and in one of DORBA’s newest trails – Big Cedar. Shadow and a core group had been working on preparing Big Cedar as far back January soon after the Boulder race was over. Then came the rain and snow. The few days in January and February that we had some sun was not enough to help dry the trail.
“It is with great disappointment that I must announce the cancellation of the February 13th DORBA Frozen Endurance race at Big Cedar. The current trail conditions and the impending weather forecast are just too much to overcome to make the trail race ready by the 13th. The landowner, Trail Steward, DORBA Board, and the Race Director were all included in this decision.”
When Rich posted the cancellation of the race in February it was after lengthy and passionate discussions with all the parties involved. Alternative venues were discussed but once again the weather prevailed until Saturday March 6th when Big Cedar hosted DORBA’s first competitive race.
75 racers competed in the six hour event and 58 in the four hour event. Bryan Fawley was the only competitor to complete 12 laps in 6:22:32.184. Nicholas Garza completed 11 laps on a single speed in 5:53:15.538.
As cH4os was giving the final instructions to all the racers at the start line, Shadow stood behind him and whispered, “The start lap is going to kill them” as he smiled to the crowd. Shadow and Mr. Neidel did much of the work preparing the course along with help from Ray, Steve, Mark, Cody, Tim, Michael, Terry, and others.
It was good to see some old familiar faces of members that have been less active recently. It was good to see and learn that Jerry Tillery is recovering well. Don Booker has put on some weight but he’s a newlywed so he’s excused. Ben Tinkle has returned from California and has lost some weight but, he still needs a tan. And once again PIV shocked us all with his one of a kind custom trophy that can be proudly displayed in any coffee table. They are sure to be conversation pieces.
The consensus from the racers was that the course was: “awesome”, “tough”, “sweet”, “my new favorite”, “incredible”, “expletive,” “Yeah man!”, to “I wish I lived closer to this place”.
Mountain Creek Church Senior Pastor Robert Summers visited the festivities and talked to BobbyD at length about the future plans for the area which will include a pavilion. Pastor Summers even praised the wonderful brisket sandwich prepared by Hambone BBQ from Sanger TX.
Lastly, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone that donated money to the church’s youth ministry. The original plans were to have the kids sell hot dogs and hamburgers during the race but because of scheduling conflicts and cancellation of the February race they could not participate. The racers donated $263.
DISAPPOINTING!