Buffalo Bicycle Classic race report

This was the best-organized race I've been a part of yet.

And I'm not just saying that because it's run out of the building where I work. :) I genuinely had a fabulous time from start to finish. I would include pictures but unfortunately the professional race photographers didn't shoot the riders in the shortest race, nor the race expo and lunch afterwards, so all I could show you is a bunch of strangers.

The BBC featured the opportunity to, ahem, "ride the buffalo" for 13, 35, 50, 75, or 100 miles depending on your bicycling abilities. Originally, Matt was scheduled to be out of town on business, so I chose the 13-mile "Little Buffalo" route in case I had to take the bug. Turned out he got to stay home, so she hung out with Daddy for the morning.

Each ride length had a different start time, so that everyone would finish sometime around the lunch hour. My ride, as the shortest, started the latest. I showed up about 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. start, breezed through registration, picked up my T-shirt, and had plenty of time to take my goodie bag through the expo and return to the car to get my bike before the race started. Close free parking and lots of goodies were big pluses. There were a ton of enthusiastic volunteers to cheer us on. The weather was cool, cloudy, and in the mid-60's, so it couldn't have been better.

My ride was a ton of fun, largely because most folks who chose that route had kids with them. There were tandems, tagalongs, and Burley trailers aplenty for the folks under 12. Since I was relatively unburdened with child, I got off to a fast start and finished the route in around 50 minutes. (I was "beaten" by a fellow CU employee who rides to work every day and a young man around 13 who was trying to lose his parents, so I was pretty proud to be the first girl even though it wasn't technically a race.) The course was really well-marked. Every intersection was clearly marked with chalk, signage, or volunteers, even though we rode in and around trails in the middle of town as well as out into the countryside. I wouldn' t think twice about bringing a young child on the route after riding it once. There was a bit of elevation gain involved, but almost all of the route was on bike paths, little-travelled streets, or very-broad-shouldered road, so the safety factor was high. There were two aid stations with lots of cheery people and tasty snacks, and the kids really seemed to have a great time. At race's end, there was a huge pasta dinner which was well-earned by the various riders. The century-biking folks began rolling in just as the 13'ers returned, so everyone was in various stages of complete exhaustion at the finish line.

Next year, maybe we'll go as a family.