FAQ: "What is it like to be a race official?"
Answer by Bill Dolan, 11/2001

As it is too cold right now to do yard work I decided to spend a few moments outlining some of the tasks performed by an official at a bike race.

There seems to be at least two sentiments regarding officials circulating around this group namely, we are lucky to have good officials in New England at one end of the spectrum to why have officials [why pay officials] because anybody can write down a few numbers at a cross race and they do little more than get a few numbers and keep an eye on the "Yellow Line" at a road race.

First, let me say that at nearly every race I officiate one or more riders comes up to me at the end of the event and say "Thank You for being here today." Second, it is important for me to say that at a good event a rider should only show up, get a number, start his/her race on time and safely make it to the finish line where accurate results will shortly become available.

The rider need not know that for the great race he/she just finished many months and hours of careful planning took place. On race day the promoter, the registration staff, course marshals, USCF officials, police, medical services, announcer and in some cases countless others quietly and mostly unseen came together and put on a great day of racing. If you have never helped out at a race I suggest you might want to volunteer at an event next year.

The tasks that I perform at a bike race depends on two major factor:
1.    The type of cycling event [Criterium, Road Race, Track Event, Time Trail, Cyclocross]
2.    My assignment at the particular cycling event.

At a recent Cyclocross event [Amherst] my assignments varied. During the Master/Junior race I scored the race at the finish line. [Note: I do not have the race paperwork with me so my numbers may be slightly off but I think you get the point]

On each lap I not only wrote down every riders number except of course for the three riders who had their number on the wrong side I assigned a time split to every group or individual who crossed the line. On lap three riders started to get lapped so I indicated each lapped rider on my score sheet. By this lap we had figured out the numbers of the riders with their number on the wrong side. By the time the bell lap was sounded more than twenty riders were lapped. On the final lap approximately twenty more riders were lapped. I recorded both a number and time for every rider as he crossed the line on the last lap. I then assisted the Chief Judge in assembling the results including separating masters from juniors and riders on various laps. If there were seventy riders in the race and they each completed seven laps then during the race I recorded nearly 500 numbers as riders sped across the line and I would guess that I wrote down 200 or more time splits.

The next race started in ten minutes. I grabbed a cup of coffee and went to my next assignment in the pit.

As regards road races and just keeping an eye on the yellow line let me take you through a recent day at the Fitchburg Wachusett Mountain Road Race. I arrive an hour before the first race and I put up the results for my group and I also put out the sign in sheets. My assignments today are Comm 1 [Head Road official] for the Cat 3 men and then in the afternoon I will be Comm 2 [In front of] the Women's Pro field.

At the sign in table I answer lots of questions such as can we feed, where do we line up for the start, how do I get to the feed zone, etc.? I briefly meet with the moto official who will be on the road with me. I ask the official to both get the radios for and check to see that our caravan cars are ready.

I go to the staging area and discuss what will happen on the road with each volunteer driver. Thankfully all my drivers have driven in this race before. I talk with the Pedros crew about how we will handle service. I talk to the police officer who will be in front of the Cat 3 men's field.  The race starts.

Going down the hill I again check that the radios are working. After we turn right I ask the moto official to remind riders about the yellow line. A rider goes off the back so I note the riders number, time and distance into the race. The pace car radios that we have riders off the front. I get the breaks numbers and with the moto officials help we begin doing time splits.

On a straight stretch of road there is a big crash at the back of the peloton. Pedros and I stop. I get numbers, time and distance. Pedros starts helping riders. One rider has hurt his wrist and cannot continue. I have Pedros stay with the hurt rider and I go about 100 yards up the road and have a police officer call for an ambulance.

I catch back up with the field. The moto official tells me that there is a five rider break so we start doing splits. The break is nearly one minute up. We continue taking time splits until Pedros catches us. I remind Pedros to watch for a rider rejoining. The time gap to the leaders is now 90 seconds. I send Pedros up to the break. The moto official takes up a position in front of the field.

I call Pedros on the radio and Butch gives me the numbers of the riders in the break. Some riders who crashed earlier catch back on so I have my driver move to the left so they can pass. I note numbers, time and distance of rejoining riders.

We race through the feed zone as the break's gap comes down. I tell Pedros to pull over and wait at the KOM for the field to pass as it looks like the break could get caught going down the mountain.

All hell breaks lose as roughly twenty riders are involved in a high speed crash. Pedros and I stop. It becomes clear that at least four riders are really hurt [2 on the left side and 2 lying right in the middle of the rode]. I have our cars park on the left, I tell my driver to right down every number, I call for medical help, I let the official at the KOM know what's happening and that the left side of the decent is closed. The first ambulance arrives and I position it in the middle of the road right behind the injured riders. The KOM officials call on the radio to say that a women's field is approaching. I walk about one hundred yards up the mountain towards the women's race. A junior's parent gets in the street another hundred yards up the street. We move the women's vehicles and riders to the right and they safely pass the crash site. I return to the down riders and I continue taking information.

A police car comes down and parks on the right of the road effectively closing the entire road. I ask the officer to move his car and he refuses. The KOM official calls and say that the junior field is heading towards me neutralized. The police officer and I have a spirited discussion about his police car. He moves the car and the junior field safely passes the crash site. Four riders are taken by ambulance to the hospital. The medics go into the woods to assist another rider who they had earlier placed a collar on. He is gone. Concerned that he was hurt and wandered into the woods we search for the rider for ten minutes. Then we hear a message from the state police officer at the bottom of the mountain who reports seeing a rider race past wearing a medical collar.

The scene is clear. Pedros and I decided to stop at the base lodge and wait for the Cat 3 field to come around as we could never catch them. I give a verbal report to the Chief Referee [numbers, hospital taken to, etc.] and I go and get the registration forms of the transported riders.

The Cat 3 field comes down the mountain and we get back into the race. The moto official gets me up to speed with what has happened while we were at the accident scene.

Thankfully the rest of the race is quiet and we spend most of the time taking time splits and recording numbers as riders go off the back. The last time through the feed zone we have several conversations about the fact that the Cat 3 field needs to go up the mountain but that we need to return to the base lodge. The field goes up the mountain and we return to the base lodge.

The chief Referee tells me that two riders were released from the hospital but that the other two were hurt badly and they would remain hospitalized. I find all my crew- Pedros, drivers and the moto official and thank them for a great piece of work on the side of the mountain.

I get ready for the PRO Women's race which compared to the Cat 3 race was thankfully rather uneventfully except for the last portion of the last lap. As I pass through the feed zone with the Women leaders for the last time It is obvious that the PRO men's break will pass us before we go up the mountain.

The PRO men leaders pass us smoothly and we start to discuss the last few miles of the women's race. It then becomes obvious that the entire men's caravan is going to pass the women. We discuss the situation with the officials in the men's race and it is agreed that the men will pass on the left. From my position at the front of the race I can see that lights of the PRO men's field as they close in on us. At that moment our moto official says something feels wrong about the women being passed on the left by the men. I yell into the radio that the moto official is correct and we unceremoniously quickly move the entire women's field to the left side of the road. The PRO men's caravan passes the women about one hundred yards from the KOM/QOM line. I remember thinking that we were just passed by an Amtrak train speeding down a mountain. The Chief Referee who is with the PRO men's field gets on the radio and thank us for a great decision.

The women finish. I help with results at the top of the mountain. About a half hour after the last PRO men finish we arrive at the base lodge. All the officials return to the hotel to finalize the days result except another official and I take two of the courtesy Saturns to a station to get them gassed up for the crit the next day.

Upon my return I meet somebody who is trying to locate a bicycle that was left at the crash scene. I take them to Pedros and the bike is retrieved. I have a brief conversation with two of the riders who were transported. They will recover to race another day. Its now more than 14 hours since I set up the sign in sheets at the base lodge at Wachusetts Mountain.

I go to the hotel lounge in search of a sandwich and a cold beer. Its closed. That racing! I go to my room and complete the days accident report and get myself organized for the crit. I read the crit rules and go to bed tired, thirsty and hungry.

I cannot figure out why I am so tired if all I did was get a few numbers and keep my eye on the yellow line. I fall asleep knowing that today on the mountain we made a difference.