Cheney-Rock Lake Road Race

Well I’ve been negligent in my bloggigness. To recap my season since last post: I’ve been riding some, getting dropped every time on the race course, and working hard putting on races and helping with races. Two out of three positives…you can’t have it all.

Anyway, we’re getting pretty excited about the Cheney-Rock Lake Road Race on June 20th. This is the 2010 the Washington State Elite Championship Road Race. In USA Cycling speak, Elite = Senior = anyone who wants to race. This is opposed to a race that’s limited to Juniors (under age 19) and Masters (over 35 or so). Riders from around the state will be competing for state championship medals, merchandise, and most of all pride.

The Cheney-Rock Lake course offers something for everyone. Racers will be treated to beautiful rolling hills of the Palouse farm lands and channeled scablands south of Cheney. This is classic bike racing!

For this race we wanted to offer something different than the typical circuit races that racers are so used to: a 10-20 mile loop repeated multiple times in order to get the required distance for the races. Cheney is nice in that you can ride out of town and not see another traffic light for 100 miles. To take advantage of that, for this race we're using a combination of three loops: A 73 mile long loop, a 38 mile loop, and a 14 mile extension loop for give everyone the required distances for state championship courses.

Urban legend says that the Inuit’s have 100 words for snow. True or not, I would say that cyclists have even more words for “Hill”. Check the Dictionary of Roadie Slang if you don’t believe me. We in eastern Washington call the terrain in the Palouse “rolling” and that confuses people from other areas. Yes, they are “hills”, but I would not call them “climbs”. Two of the biggest hills on the course are notable: there’s a one mile long 5% “grade”, and .25 mile long “wall”. There are no mountain passes, no crushers, and no other terrain changes that should affect the outcome of the race. Anyway, it’s a pretty good course.

We’re also looking for volunteers for the event. If you’ve ever wanted to check out road racing, but aren’t sure if you’ve got what it takes, volunteering is a great way to get into it. You’ll get to watch the race unfold and support the cause. Email us for more details.

And for your riding pleasure, the State Championship Criterium is being held in Cheney on Saturday June 19th. Details here. We’re doing this as a combined weekend in order to make it more attractive for west siders to travel over for the weekend of racing.


manditory bicycle photos