We're Going to Miss Them.
Until relatively recently, I ran an alpine ski racing league at a small ski bump. By ran it, I mean I did pretty much everything. I set courses, organized sign-ins/bib pick-ups, timed races, tabulated results, did publicity, coordinated with the hill, maintained the race equipment, herded cats...
It was a lot of work. On a given race night, I was on the hill for 8 to 10 hours. I would ski (on average) about 20 of those minutes. The rest was running around, carrying heavy things, and freezing my fingers trying to get timing to work. I just liked getting people out on the hill and racing through a bunch of plastic poles.
For about ten years all of that work was completely worth it. Then, for various reasons, it wasn't.
The reason I bring this up is that the long-time Arctic Bike Club Road Division race directors, Missy and Kristin, have stepped down. They have been with the program longer than I have, so I literally can't remember a race without at least one of them yelling at me about something stupid I was doing or had done in the past. I think that's why I liked them so much. I understood and appreciated the amount of effort it took to give me and my fellow lycra fetishists a venue to let our freak flags fly. They were in a constant source of positive energy in a sea of roadies, even when it was cold and raining.
A lot is going to change next season.
Not that change is necessarily bad or good. It's just... change. Unlike my old ski racing league, the whole organization's existence does not rely on one person. New people will come in, new ideas will be presented, some will be implemented, and in the end us pack fatties will still be able to wheeze around in circles on our expensive toys. A lot will be different, and a lot will be the same.
We're still going to miss Missy and Kristin. I just hope we can avoid screwing up what they worked so hard on for so many years. With luck, maybe we can build on that foundation. We can't replace them, only follow in their footsteps.
They've promised to get out there and race with us, and I'm going to hold them to that. No doubt they'll still yell at me for doing stupid things, because I provide an endless source of idiocy that begs for comment.
It will be just like old times.
It was a lot of work. On a given race night, I was on the hill for 8 to 10 hours. I would ski (on average) about 20 of those minutes. The rest was running around, carrying heavy things, and freezing my fingers trying to get timing to work. I just liked getting people out on the hill and racing through a bunch of plastic poles.
For about ten years all of that work was completely worth it. Then, for various reasons, it wasn't.
The reason I bring this up is that the long-time Arctic Bike Club Road Division race directors, Missy and Kristin, have stepped down. They have been with the program longer than I have, so I literally can't remember a race without at least one of them yelling at me about something stupid I was doing or had done in the past. I think that's why I liked them so much. I understood and appreciated the amount of effort it took to give me and my fellow lycra fetishists a venue to let our freak flags fly. They were in a constant source of positive energy in a sea of roadies, even when it was cold and raining.
A lot is going to change next season.
Not that change is necessarily bad or good. It's just... change. Unlike my old ski racing league, the whole organization's existence does not rely on one person. New people will come in, new ideas will be presented, some will be implemented, and in the end us pack fatties will still be able to wheeze around in circles on our expensive toys. A lot will be different, and a lot will be the same.
We're still going to miss Missy and Kristin. I just hope we can avoid screwing up what they worked so hard on for so many years. With luck, maybe we can build on that foundation. We can't replace them, only follow in their footsteps.
They've promised to get out there and race with us, and I'm going to hold them to that. No doubt they'll still yell at me for doing stupid things, because I provide an endless source of idiocy that begs for comment.
It will be just like old times.
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