Waco

They were selling T-shirts at the race that said “KEEP WACO WACKY”.  It took less than an hour to figure out what that meant.  You had to start almost every conversation with the words “DO YOU FILTER”?

 

Waco is a fairly large town in a depressed state. The downtown area was like a deserted Hollywood set, lots of buildings but very few people or vehicles.  The Interstate that runs through town is lined with a dozen chain restaurants, but there are a couple trendy areas where they have turned old warehouses into Galerias specializing in dueling Bar-B-Q joints.  I must admit that the Bar-B-Q was swell, not that a long-time Bostonian would have a clue. 

 

One thing Bostonians do have a clue about is water.  Nowhere on Mother Earth does the water taste as bad as in Waco. When we arrived, Colt and I wanted to pre-ride the Time Trial course so we filled water bottles from a water fountain at the Cameron Park. Halfway through the course I took a swig…….and “Oh My God”……I had to spit it out!  Apparently their water is taken from Lake Waco, and there are diary farms upstream that have “runoff” of animal waste into the river that feeds it.  No, I am not kidding!  The local mantra is that the water treatment plant kills off all the bacteria but they cannot eliminate the taste.  With 500,000 cows contributing to the flavor, I am not surprised.  What is more amazing is that the locals say you “get used to it”.

 

Restaurants fell into two categories, those who “filtered” and those that did not.  You could not drink coffee, fountain drinks, or even pasta cooked in this water.  Taking a shower required good control over your gag reflex.  At one point I went to a trendy Starbucks imitator and threw away a three dollar latte!  Wacky for sure.

 

This was our first trip to a NORBA National.  Fortunately I had been to a couple Cactus Cups and they were organized similarly.  Experts and pros were invited to race the entire stage race and would qualify for cash prizes.  Unfortunately, Colt was coming down with pneumonia and was only able to race the Time Trial.  I had entered the Expert Stage Race only because Colt was racing but suddenly I was on my own.

 

Time Trial-Day One.  The approximately ½ mile uphill start on pavement looked good for me.  Then you quickly ducked into twisty tight singletrack with very high berms, back onto a paved uphill, then back into even more tight twisty singletrack with some impressively steep sections. The trail descended down a  very sketchy ravine to the river below.  The finish was on flat singletrack along the river.

 

I got a good start and was encouraged that I had passed one rider and was nearing another on the big hill before the singletrack.  One of these guys would re-pass me later on the daredevil descent.  I blew by him again on the flat finish but I knew it would not be enough.  I took 5th overall.

 

Short Track-Day 2, This was pack racing on pavement, grass, and dirt.  The course included a couple tight turns including a 180 degree turn about 200 feet from the start/finish line.  All riders would be required to ride 20 minutes plus 2 laps (or so the rules said).  This would be red line racing from the word “Go”.

 

This was a mass start with about 40 riders from 2 age groups. The first lap was insanely fast and as we crossed onto the grass there were collisions galore.  Some skinny guy took me on but was half my size.  He went down on a course divider.  After about 18 minutes I started to move forward but was shocked when the race officials put out a “one to go” sign several minutes early.  They were cutting the race short so that the pro’s start would be on time.  I did my best on that last lap and got 4th, a few seconds behind the 3rd place guy.  Oh well…..the lesson is to stay near the front.

 

Cross Country-Day 3.  We would again start on the ½ mile paved uphill before heading out into the singletrack.  Rain had made the trails treacherous, particularly anything that was off camber.  During practice runs I had fallen three times in one hour because my bike would slip sideways out from under me.  It was like riding on a wet bar of soap.  The course zig zagged up and down from the river on some of the steepest trails I have ever raced on.  The only flat trails could be found atop the cliffs in areas with suitable names like  “Lovers Leap”.

 

The steep climbs backed up to 50 riders at a time.  When one guy got off his bike everyone had to.  It took ten minutes or so to spread things out.  One guy who tried to ride a steep muddy section passed a few of us…..fell…..then slipped down the muddy incline and took many of us down  Towards the end of lap one I flatted.  On the last lap I had a blowout on my front tire…..and made a trip over the handlebars.  Apparently I had cut the tire on lap one and did not notice the hole in the sidewall when I fixed the first flat.  At least I did not break any bones and had to continue on foot.  Oh well.

 

Nice Guy Awards

Alison Dunlap- Alison takes an enormous amount of time with her fans, particularly little kids.  It is very cute to hear little girls yelling “Go Alison” during her races.  Sometimes she even flashes them a smile in the heat of battle.  She is a true credit to her sport.  In the mud of Cameron Park, only fellow Canadian Alison Sydor could ride with her.

 

 Steve Tilford- “Tilly” will talk with you for hours.  He is a walking history book of American racing, and can recount blow by blow almost any race you ask him about.   He is also nearly undefeated in the history of Fat Boy Crits, and was looking forward to the one in Waco before NORBA canceled it for lack of competitors.  Rumor around our hotel is that racers didn’t sign up because they knew Steve would win the $1000 prize anyway!

 

Colt was thrilled to watch all his idols, Ryder Hesjedal (6 ft. 2 in.) and Roland Green. He noted after the time trial that Ryder had “only” beaten him by 2.5 minutes.  Colt calculated that if he could just get one minute faster per year until he was 19…..who knows?  It is good to have a goal.

 

Prediction

I am quite certain that this will be the first and last time Waco gets a NORBA National.  The town is too depressed, the crowds too small for the sponsors who had all set up their tents and big rigs.   But, most of all there is that water!

 

 

Back