FLCC> Hollenbecks THANK YOU!

[Sara Barker]

Hi all,

Once again I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to all the amazing 
volunteers who came out this weekend to help run another great bike 
race for our club. I can't say enough how much I appreciate everyone's help.

Sunday ended up going extremely well after a bit of a rocky start. 
I've run this event for many years and have never once thought that 
we might actually need to cancel it on race morning. Saturday night, 
when Aidan decided again that he wasn't interested in sleeping, I had 
a sort of premonition or nightmare that I'd show up on race morning 
and there would be no porto-jons. You can imagine how shocked I was 
when it actually came true. In my mommie mushy brain haze I tried to 
figure out where the heck 200 people where going to relieve 
themselves before 10:00am. After many phone calls, a friend's husband 
convinced Greek Peak to open their doors and the police called the 
fire chief who drove over and opened the fire hall bathrooms. With 
the Virgil fire chief and Wes Kryger's immense generosity we were 
back in business!

While I was figuring out where the new dump stations were located, 
Tania stepped up and organized registration which was a huge relief. 
Tania you may be moving to New Hampshire, but we need you back for 
the first weekend of May next year! All those who showed up early 
that morning were fantastic as I barked orders. Glenn, Marcia, Peter, 
Don, Dave, and Jack showed up with all kinds of gear which literally 
exploded out of their cars. Guided by Glenn and Peter, tents were 
going up all over the place just as the rain started to come down. We 
even had Mr. Results' Mini Cooper parked under one I believe.

Ernie and Brian Lee were in charge of the signs and making sure the 
roads were clear that morning. Nice that I didn't even have to think 
about that aspect of the race.

The registration crew of Tania, Holly Monkman (who placed second in 
the Cat 4s!), El Prez Ruppert, Shelley Mulvaney (back from Wyoming 
just for the race), Sam Kolins, Erin Bohman, Henrik Spoon, Lilynn 
Fluff, Jess Walden, Brian Lawney, Tim Reissman, and Vivian Hoffmann 
were ready and waiting. I believe Ms. Fluff only got rained on once 
when part of the tent collapsed.

Mark 'Results' Rishniw and Wayne his sidekick were unbelievable with 
results this year. I don't think we've ever gotten them out faster. 
Mark maybe it's time to try that new software you've been developing, 
although the old system seemed pretty flawless this time around.

A huge thank you goes to Jeff Poulin who graciously volunteered again 
as our official. He not only officiates for us, but runs his own 
races in Binghamton, and does a ton for NYS racing in general. Jeff, 
we really appreciate all the time that you generously give to cycling 
in this state.

Marcia Swan, our volunteer chief, helped me organize and outfit the 
massive number of corner marshals (overcompensating for the lack of 
last year) as well as drove the course backwards to find a few lost 
souls. Charles Eldemire, Joe, Don Ten Kate, Daniel Blakeley, Dave 
Heck Sr, Morgan Miller, Chris Castellano, and Ali Gruber were joined 
by volunteers from a Cornell student group called Cover Africa. They 
all were fantastic, communicating regularly with me via cell phone. 
Even Deputy Gary told me how impressed he was with the people on each 
corner. By the way, Deputy Gary was out driving the course for us all 
day! He was probably the friendliest officer that I've ever met. He 
entertained us multiple times at the finish and we certainly 
appreciated his presence.

The pace car drivers and wheel vans ran or rather drove like 
clockwork. Steve Bowman, Peter O (thanks Steve and Peter for driving 
the marathon distances!), Tania, Todd Lemmiksoo, Steve Edgar, Karl 
Best, Jim Bondra, Don Smith, Alex Specker, Jon Decoste, Paul Monkman 
and Hobit Lafaye kept a close eye on the racers and ensured their 
safety. Hope you guys had some good tunes out on the road or at least 
a decent NPR channel.

So the rumor is true that someone who was not racing that morning did 
decide to move the finish a wee bit farther up the hill, but for a 
good cause I promise. It made scoring so much easier and the 
merriment at the finish so much more entertaining (sorry Glenn!). :-) 
I couldn't have asked for a better crew at the finish. Shelley 
Mulvaney, Sam Kolins, Erin Bohman, Henrik Spoon, Bill Lodico, Jess 
Walden, Marcie Robinson, Andrew Glosenger, and our driver Steve 
Powell were all incredibly efficient and good at picking numbers. 
Steve was also our volunteer down at Greek Peak to "man" the 
bathrooms. Thank you so much Steve for agreeing to do any task at the 
last minute.

Mark and Amanda Shenstone were responsible for the amazing cookies 
and other delicious post-race food. I asked Brenda to be the "food 
police" and she did a fantastic job as we actually had a few cookies 
left over at the end of the day!

Mike Ludgate and Ludgate Farms deserves a big thank you for the yummy 
apples as well as Gimme for the coveted coffee.

I apologize if I forgot someone as the list is so long! Hope to see 
you all out on the road very soon. Till next year...

Cheers,
Sara