I got to take a weekend off of doing my own stuff to support The Wife, her team and teammates, and women racers in general in the Baking FieldsTM of Kern County for the 12th edition of the Kern County Women’s Stage Race. Phew, it was hot, “damn hot” to crib from Robin Williams in ‘Good Morning Vietnam’, most of the time. But those ladies showed their toughness, and went out and put on a display of some darn good riding. Eighty one entrants, 6 fields, 4 stages, and not a single crash! And a lot of good camaraderie, sportsmanship, and class shown by all. Kudos and congratulations to all.
My role at Kern was limited. Guys got to either (a) sit around, (b) pass out water and cheer from the feedzones, or (c) drive follow vehicles. I don’t think anyone opted for (a), and Robert twisted my arm to do (c) on both Saturday and Sunday. A very different perspective on the race. From the feed zone you get a brief snapshot of the status of all the fields as they pass. From the follow car you get a limited view of the action of the front group of one field throughout the race. And I found it is much harder to drive follow when you have emotional attachments to folks in the field, and easier when you know some of the folks but do not have the attachments. Either way, it was easy to admire their fortitude in getting out in that weather and to be impressed with their skills and tactics.
And one has to be impressed by the dedication that VeloPromo and Robert put into this race. It is a logistical nightmare for him, the officials, and all the participants. But it apparent that Robert puts a lot of effort and heart and thought into this event. Icy watermelon at the top of the hot, brutal climb, and him serenading the riders with his “it’s not a saxaphone” clarinet music 2 miles from the top? No wonder a lot who have experienced this event keep coming back in spite of the logistical problems. I am sure that The Wife has already mentally penciled it onto next year’s calendar.
I’ll have a few photos to post later, once I get caught up on things like shopping, eating, sleeping, and hydrating. But not so many; hard to take photos when one is driving along some distance behind the group.
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I can’t thank you enough for all your support of all of us this weekend.
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Thanks for the support!
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VG – it was my pleasure, as always. Any luck on the hunt for the lost item?
m – My pleasure. It was awesome to watch you out there; you were an attacking machine!
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I just found it on the fifth tearing apart of the car!!!!!!
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VG – Great! Glad it was found. I was really bummed when I could not find it back at Walker Basin on Saturday.
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I still haven’t unpacked my car
Rick—your support was outstanding all weekend. Sorry I couldnt hang with the lead group long enough when you were our follow car, but thanks for helping my teammate out! -
Doc Kim – You held on for a long time on a tough route in brutal conditions. It was great to see you out there giving it all. You were awesome! And so was Susie! It was an honor and a pleasure to help you ladies.
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It sounds like a good time. I remember the posts about Kern last year and how hot it was then too. Good job to miss Chatterbox. I have never seen watermelon handed out at the top of a climb before. Very novel.
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80 entrants and all female – I’m jealous! I just saw the start list for the Metropolitan Championship here in Brisbane and saw that 10 women have entered! SIGH!
Great support work! Will now wander over to Mrs Chatterbox’ blog to read her side of the story … -
Chris – I was not at Kern last year, but my guess is that various stages had to be 10-20 degrees (F) hotter than last year. For example, the local weather station (Bakersfield airport) temp at the time of this year’s Hill Climb was 99.5F, and it was 81.2F during the 2007 Hill Climb [ neat feature of uploading Garmin Edge data to MotionBased; it then get the weather data from NOAA for the closest weather station to associate with the course ]. The TT course was a convection oven!
Groover – the promoter keeps hoping to top 100 entrants. And it is obvious that he really puts a lot into this event; he stayed up until 2:30AM the night before the last race making plaques and trophies, by hand, to give out afterward. And everyone gets a t-shirt. At all the other dozens of races he promotes the t-shirts go to those who place, only, and there are no plaques or trophies.
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Velo-bob takes Kern to new heights. I didn’t win a handmade trophy this year, but the one I got last year with a level and two little windmills…well, that one sits on top of my desk at work! He doesn’t even make money on Kern….but we’re so glad he does it!
I’m starting to feel like myself again today–when I woke up to <60 temps this morning I was happy!
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Doc Kim – It is nice to be cool again!
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Maybe I should mark this one in my calendar and come over next year? Wonder if I could race with my Australian licence?
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Groover – come on over. I doubt USCF will let you race on your Aussie license, but you could get 3 one day USCF licenses to race that stage race. Or maybe we will have to come over and race one of your more temperate stage races!
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