UCI Road World Championships 2015 - Richmond VA Day 8 - Final Report

Day 8

Slovakia comes through!

Today was the last day of the UCI Road World Championships in Richmond VA and the only race was the Elite Men’s Road Race, a short jaunt of 162 miles. (After riding just 2 laps of the course Friday night, I can’t imagine 16 laps of the same thing. Of course, I’m not a world class rider. I’m a hack, and an old one at that.) The weather forecast predicted a 50% chance of showers throughout the day with limited sunshine and a temperature around 75 degrees.

The good news was the rain never really made much of an appearance. There were some scattered showers here and there most of the day but they didn’t really seem to hit the course until around the final lap and, even then, it was a brief splash. 

As a result, crowds were very impressive; I heard many people who had attended other Worlds around the globe and they were saying these crowds were outstanding! I haven’t seen the numbers for the weekend but I’d estimate that well over 50,000 spectators attended today, alone.

The last Marshal

I was assigned to the corner of Harvie and Main Streets which had a crossing to be controlled and was asked to be there from 8:00 to 4:00. I arrived about 8:15 or so and set up shop. Another volunteer, Ken, appeared about 9:00 to join me but was only working until noon. We talked about how to manage things, what we’d experienced over the past week, and who we liked in this race. Ken and I got along well and we were both looking forward to today’s race. We also agreed that the city had done a yeoman’s job on the championships.

The Race

At 9:00, the riders left the start house at the University of Richmond campus and made their way down to the course. By the time the riders made it to our post, a breakaway of 8 riders had formed that included Ben King of the US. Ben was born in the Richmond area, still makes his home in VA and his parents live in Charlottesville, about an hour away. This breakaway managed to open up a 4 minute gap in the first lap and held it for the better part of the first half of the race. Every time they would come past, the crowds would go crazy. In watching the live feed, it appeared that the crowds around the course did the same thing. The riders interviewed after the race were saying that the crowds were deafening, even chill bump inducing.

The breakaway stayed out for a long time but with about 5 laps, 80 km or so, left the peloton reeled them in. Several other groups punched their way out for a brief breakaway but all were dragged back to the pack. By the 5 km mark, the entire peloton was back together and it appeared a bunch sprint for the rainbow jersey was imminent. At that point, they headed up the 23^rd street cobbled climb and things started happening.

Peter Sagan, Green jersey winner (top sprinter) at the Tour de France this year, charged up the hill and gained a tiny gap at the top. Turning the corner, he accelerated quickly and went into an ultra-tuck as he screamed down the hill with about 20 meters on his closest pursuer. At the bottom of the hill, he used the entire road to make the left turn and then the same on the right hander back onto Main street with about 1 kilometer to go.

Sagan had opened up a 50 meter gap as he charged up the rise to the bottom of Governor’s Hill. Making the right turn, he looked over his shoulder and began his final push, charging up the hill. At the top, he turned left again and charged up the last 650 meters of false flat that made up the finish of all the races this past week, burying his pursuers who just didn’t have anything for him after 162 miles of racing. He was the last World Champion to cross it this week, almost nonchalantly crossing the line with a smile and a wave.

Winners

Peter Sagan (Slovakia) in 6:14:37 – that’s quite a speed for 162 miles! (He was in stealth mode up until that last climb. It was quite a stunner!)

Michael Mathews (Australia) in 6:14:40

Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania) in same time as Mathews. He also was a part of the early break and did a lot of work today.

Alex Howes was the top finisher on the American Squad finishing in 12^th place.

Observations

The crowds were very excited today, and lots of people who knew absolutely nothing about cycle racing were out and about. My volunteer shirt caused most of them to ask me questions about the race and I had a great time today acting as a docent on the sport. I only made up about half of the stuff I told them.

For the first time, I was in a position that made me a target for the rider’s discarded drink bottles and I actually scored 2 of them. I never saw who tossed them so I don’t know who to thank. Interestingly enough, they’re smaller than ones I typically carry so I can’t imagine using them but I may keep them as souvenirs.

I’ve always wondered what riders do if they need to pee on a long race. Today, I saw one of them going while riding. He was cruising along the left barricade, riding with his left hand on the bars while holding his shorts open with his right hand and hosing down the fence over his left leg. I’m guessing the spectators on that side of the course were wondering what was going on as he went past. Fortunately, it was a sparse crowd at the time. Of course, now I’m wondering how difficult it is to do……

Richmond as Host

I admit, I had low expectations when this was first announced. The city government has a history of being less than spectacular in execution of big things. (Witness the “new baseball stadium” that is still under discussion; for about 10 years now.) This effort, however, was a combination of a separate organization (Richmond 2015) taking care of the details (especially the money) and the government officials acting as partners. The results were really outstanding! Were some people inconvenienced? Sure. You can’t hold something this big and not do that. But the group was small and, if they planned properly, the inconvenience was pretty small. 

The people that were bitching about it, were reactive instead of proactive and expecting things to be messed up.

I’m pretty sure that the crowds over the weekend weren’t enough to make up for the dearth of crowds in the early part of the week. No matter how they tried, the organizers just couldn’t explain the attendance in a way that business people seemed to understand. As a result, a number of restaurants and businesses had overly high expectations and were sorely disappointed. Folks that came in from out of town, who had been to other Worlds, said these crowds were huge. That’s good enough for me!

Was it worth it? A spectator asked me that question today. The jury is still out but my opinion is that it was, unequivocally. Big money came into the city, lots of tax

The River City, standing tall!

revenue gained this week, and the city looked really good on TV. I think that will mean a lot of future visitors to our town. It will also mean that we’ve proven we can pull this size of an event together and make it successful! That means future events, future growth, and future fun in the Old Dominion.

Congratulations to Richmond 2015 and all of the organizing committees! It was an honor to serve as a volunteer and be a part o this!

Congratulations to all of the new World Champions! You earned it with your efforts and your suffering!

UCI Road World Championships 2015 - Day 4

Let's go ride!

Today’s competition involved only the elite men riding Individual Time Trials and they didn’t start until 1:00 pm.

As a result, I got up and took a ride myself on a glorious Virginia day with sunshine and around 60 degrees at 8:00 am. Yep, it was awesome! I took off on one of my regular routes of 23 miles and even had a negative split on the return trip into the wind! I felt so good when I got back, I wasn’t even complaining about the wind. I just bored a hole through it and kept pedaling.

Off to the Races!

My assignment today was an intersection in eastern Henrico County on the Richmond-Henrico Turnpike. (Turnpike is a quaint old word. Many years ago, these were the first toll roads in America. Today, it’s just another street.)

This particular neighborhood is one of many small, older homes, and the inhabitants are primarily African-Americans. It sits less than a mile from Richmond International Raceway, on the northeast side of the city.

I arrived just before my requested appearance time of 11:30 (which seemed awfully early for an afternoon start) and I pulled up behind a Henrico Police cruiser that was parked there. The officer got out as I did and we introduced our selves. He was Officer Andy Brook, a 12 year veteran of the force. Super nice guy, too! We had a wonderful time chatting over the next 4 hours.

As I was setting up, a man came out of the house next to my car and started to

Sid and his lovely wife Shirley
Cheering the cyclists

unfold a lawn chair and place it near the road. He asked me when the race would be starting and I told him it would be at least a two hours before the first rider showed up. We introduced ourselves, his name was Sid – retired from UPS and now the president of the neighborhood watch. Another great guy! He offered something to drink, a bathroom, whatever we needed. I felt like I was at a church picnic or something.

And y'all better behave!

Soon after, a large group of kids and moms showed up across the street, plopped themselves down, and started asking questions about the race. I was able to answer them and talk about when they’d be coming through and how we should

cheer and clap for all of them because it’s a very hard race. The kids started practicing their cheers, including a dance line number, and everyone was ready.

I’d like to point out that every one of the moms spent time parenting. Every time one of the kids would start to act up, they’d get the kids back in line by using their MOM VOICE. The MOM VOICE, which is all powerful, is a lot like MOM SPIT which is all powerful for removing dirt from things. (If you don’t know what this is, you’ve been spoiled all your life.) In other words, it gets stuff done.

Frankly, they sounded like my mom when I was a kid. It was very refreshing to me; I’m used to parents letting kids do whatever they hell they want instead of correcting behaviors. Thanks Moms!

Riders Up! Finally…..

Once the riders began at Kings Dominion amusement park, about 20 miles from our position, it would take them some time to get to us. I pulled up the live feed on my phone and walked around showing everyone what was happening at the start. Most struggled with the notion of a race that doesn’t have everyone starting together. I finally got somewhere talking about speed skating in the Olympics where people start 2 at a time, but their times are compared at the end. Even if you lose your heat, your time may be fast enough to win a medal. That seemed to get the point across.

Around 1:40, the first rider appeared, coming up the hill at a brisk pace. He was wearing number 70 and would be followed every 90 seconds by someone else. At least that’s how they started. Right away, we had 2 riders show up out of order and I then had to explain mechanical failures and flats. Everyone was fascinated by the idea of a bike change happening like a NASCAR pit stop. The kids kept hoping someone would flat coming up the hill so they could see it.

Taylor Phinney powers up the hill!

Riders continued for the better part of 2 hours with the last one passing by about 3:45. The spectators in our little area hung around for the entire time! Every time a motorcycle would appear around the bend, indicating the next rider was coming, moms would say, “Here comes another one!” and the kids would all jump to their feet or stop what they were doing and start clapping and cheering! It was awesome! (At one point before the first rider came through, a cyclist who wasn’t racing, came up the hill and he got a cheer, too. His grin was awesome!) Sid and his wife Shirley would wave their American Flags at each rider, too.

All this time, cars kept appearing at our cross street and the officer would wave them across when it was safe to do so. No one got upset, no one lost their temper, and the riders were all kept safe and exhorted to do well.

I think our spot was the best on the course. We got everyone involved and it was great fun.

I’m not sure if any of these kids will grown up to be bike racers but you could tell they were intrigued by the whole thing. They were asking me about the bikes, why they looked so different, how they worked, what the disc wheels did, etc. They all said the saddles looked uncomfortable. When I pointed out it was all about making you go faster and that’s why they used them, they began to get the idea of sacrifice in order to get speed. You could tell that they were understanding that sacrifice was something you do in order to get something; in this case, a world championship.

Winners

Vasil Kiryienka of Belarus put up a smoldering time of 1:02:29 over the difficult 33.2 mile course to claim the rainbow jersey. This was the biggest win of the 31 year old’s pro career and he was lauded for such a strong performance. 2^nd went to Adriano Malori and Italy who put up a time that was only 9 seconds slower. He held the top spot for about an hour before Kiryienka came through. Frenchman Jerome Coppel finished 3^rd, another 17 seconds back. American Taylor Phinney, fresh off a gold medal in the team time trial with BMC, could do no better than 12^th.

Observations

Time trials are not very spectator friendly if you don’t know what’s going on. I feel very good about educating a small group of people today on the nuances of it.

Richmonders want to enjoy the bike races. Truly. And they also want to show the world a good time. But most are not very worldly and it shows to some degree. 

Geography is not a strong suit here. (I was asked for the location of several countries after the riders went past. I started asking them to Google it. The kids were all over it, too.)

Tomorrow is a no-race day as the competitors get some practice on the road course. I’ll be working the Fan Fest for a few hours.

Friday starts the road course with Sunday being the big race as the Elite Men ride 16 laps or 162 miles!