Hi Kim,
Sorry you weren't here but family is a priority!

I'm not surprised that Benicia contacted you about insurance issues. They were so concerned this year about this that they issued orders that were beyond reasonable for how we could run the race. They made a rule that NO ONE could cross the street during a race (even when the flags were down) which made our downtown streets very unfriendly for pedestrians as well as racers who needed to get around. I pretty much ignored the ruling and let people cross when it was safe. Other marshalls finally let people cross intersections when it was safe to do so (flags down, etc.)but we were blamed for this instead of the city which was too bad.

The crit was not well attended by local people partly because I don't think they knew much about it. We did have Floyd Landis race with some of his team members this year. He liked the course and is planning to come back again. We'd love some more high profile riders as I think that would help with bringing in more outside folks to our town.

I didn't go to the meeting with the city after the race, but am under the impression that it will probably go on next year. The cyclists loved the course-it was technical and right downtown on our main street. There were definitely some logistical problems that need to be corrected. I have volunteered to be part of the organizers next year- we'll see if that happens.

The TT on Sunday was done on a county road and the Taleo team did a great job with the organization. Since it wasn't in the city limits they only had to deal with the county and the CHP.

I had that honor of working with Fred (Taleo guy who does a lot of starts for TTs). He called the shots and disqualified riders who showed up late, etc. Since I do most of the clockwork for our TTs it was a good experience for me to see how a "pro" works a race like that.

It was great to have Paula with us both days. She is just a neat lady. It was her birthday the day of the crit and I felt badly that the city treated her the way they did. But, she took it all in and accommodated them as best as she could.