Come hell or high water, the race will go on

Earlier this week someone in the midwest typed "Green Mountain Stage Race" Irene into google and wound up at this blog. 

So, though it's not the Tour de France (although the 2011 event website proclaims that the GMSR is "the largest Pro/Am road stage race east of the Mississippi!") the GMSR will go on this year.

The flag drops on the 2011 TdF

Racers waiting for the start of the 2010 Dealer.com criterium

Through the years race director Gary Kessler has been forced to get creative with courses... and  this year will be the greatest test yet.  Irene destroyed lots (most?) of Vermont's transportation infrastructure in some areas and finding replacement road courses that will support multiple fields and hundreds of racers at the spur of the moment is ahem... challenging.   There is a chance that Sunday's race will (unexpectedly) come through Waterbury and if so I will be there marshalling.

Bike racing seems quite trivial (even more so than usual) in light of all that has happened.  Most GMSR participants, however, come from outside Vermont and their presence will pump some money in the local economy which is a good thing considering the circumstances.

2010 criterium photos here.