How I spent a day standing on a street corner….

in rainy, 50 degree F weather! After rushing home and preparing a quick dinner on Saturday night, I hit the sack so I could be well-rested for my big day in downtown Syracuse. The Syracuse Race Weekend continued on Sunday with a criterium. I left the house around 8:00 for a planned 8:30 arrival on-site. I checked in with the marshal coordinator and received an orange vest and flag. I also received a two-way walkie-talkie which would be used for communication, since many of the marshals were about a mile away from the start/finish line. I had brought the pop-up canopy with me, as the weather was supposed to be rainy. While walking to my corner, the sun actually started to peek out and it seemed like it was promising to be a very nice day. I was having an inner debate about whether to put up the canopy or not. Upon arriving at my designated corner, there was nobody around to help me with the canopy anyway, so I figured my decision was made. Shortly, however, a spectator arrived with a camera and she looked like she was going to hang out for a while. I asked if she would mind helping me set up the canopy and she agreed. I made sure to tell her that she would be welcome to use it if it started raining later in the day. Well, somehow we got our signals crossed and she wasn’t raising her corner pole at the same rate that I was raising mine. I heard a “snap” and next thing I knew, an edge support was broken. About this time, one of the racers from our club was arriving and he helped me get the canopy set up the rest of the way. I will have to check out the company web site and see if I can get a replacement pole. Being that it was only the second time I’ve used, it, I’m rather disappointed. Lesson learned…I should have waited for help from someone I knew. Oh well.

Since it was almost time for the first race to start, I turned my attention to my marshaling duties. Primarily, this meant being aware of pedestrians who may try to cross the street while the racers were approaching. This might seem to be a no-brainer, but when the riders are approaching speeds of 30-35 mph, the general public underestimates how much time they have to get across the street. Luckily (?) the threat of rain and the cool temperatures kept many people from attending the event.

Included in the day’s events is a kids’ race, which is quite well-attended. Participants included kids from a local program – B.I.K.E. Syracuse. In a nutshell, it’s a program which uses bicycling as a way of introducing disadvantaged kids to positive role models. Volunteers with the program spend Saturdays going on a bike ride with the kids and spending valuable time with them. These kids provided me with my most memorable event of the day. Before the kids’ race started, there was a group of older, un-chaperoned BIKE Syracuse kids who were approaching my intersection. I knew the riders would be approaching soon, so I asked the kids to please wait where they were until the riders passed. The kids immediately stopped and waited (even though they could have made it across, I felt it was in everybody’s best interest to have them wait). They didn’t question my decision, didn’t act rude or put out and we even talked a little about the race and how much they were looking forward to participating. What a refreshing breath of fresh air!! Gave me hope for the future, it did!! As a result, I have decided to name BIKE Syracuse as my “charity of choice” for the B-Fit B-Day challenge. Who knows, if I get really adventuresome, I may even do some Saturday rides with them.

Pictures taken by the local newspaper (The Post Standard) can be found here. Look in the middle column under sports photos, then 14th Annual Race Weekend.
Pictures taken by a fellow corner marshal can be found here. Hope you enjoy!