Old Man Winter 2025

 Well we did it again! Me and my trusty co-driver led the racers around the 75 mile course of the Old Man Winter Rally I don't remember how many exactly how many I've driven, but this was about the 3rd or 4th I've done with my co-driver Robert. The first two years of the Rally I rode the course on a tandem. Then I discovered it's more useful for me to help support the event than participate in it.

Driving the lead car entails several challenges, the first is correctly leading the racers down the course. When I started doing this the map app was glitchy and cell coverage was spotty. Navigating was done by watching the odometer and reading turns off of cue sheets printed on paper. We used radios to communicate with the rest of the staff. The map app worked pretty good this year and I think we had cell coverage the whole way.

It still gets confusing because the course returns on the same roads that it went out on. And the app just shows the course going down the road in both directions. Robert and I have done pretty well with the navigating, we've only had two disagreements in the heat of the moment. We've been sailing into an intersection with the lead peloton behind us and he says, ok we go left up here. I say, no I think we go right. He says, but the arrow says left, I say but the map goes right. Since I hold the steering wheel I always get final say.

This year we made a wrong turn, but it was at the top of a steep climb above Boulder, so I had time to quickly back up and correct before the riders caught us.

Staying on the course is just the first challenge, the driving is the second. As the name implies, this is a winter rally, so the road conditions can be variable. I encounter slippery mud, icy pavement and snow packed switchbacks. I try to find the ideal distance in front of the riders, but that gets tricky too. The course covers dirt roads with tight corners and steep rolling hills. A few times I took a corner or went over a hill and suddenly the peloton has built up a huge burst of speed we didn't expect. We'd be looking back, do you see them? No,  they've got to be coming...oh shit go, Go, GO!

We come down one section of north facing dirt road with winding, steep switchbacks. I was really hoping to find it icy and snow packed as usual, but this year it had mostly melted out. Some years I've been drifting my car around a switchback and looked in the rear view to see a rider with his foot down drifting the corner behind me. Only this one rider accepted the challenge of pinning it through the switchbacks.

To me, he's the real winner. After the switchbacks the other five riders in the lead peloton caught him again. Some years a dude breaks away and he's the only one we watch all the way to the finish. But this year a group of six riders hung together until the final sprint. Along the ride they were chatting and laughing. I like the idea that for an elite few this was just a fun ride to do in between the big races. 

I'm also a little curious what the end looked like, since I had to pull away as they turned into the final few blocks to the finish. The results show a one second difference between 1st and 3rd. So I guess they were pretty tight even in a sprint.

I'm always left wondering if I did a good job for the racers. Some years I bump into the winner at the after party. I've been given a low key, "thanks" or "nice job."  I guess I'd know it if it went badly. But, you have to figure if you're a racer who always leads the race then you get to see lots of lead car drivers. How do I rank compared to other drivers? Do they appreciate that I pulled away from them when I saw a big puddle in the road ahead. I figured they didn't need to ride through a big spray of water hanging in the air. Or are they just thinking, 'what's this guy doing? I wish he'd stay at a consistent distance.'

I guess until a racer wants to talk to me I'll never really know. Until then I'll just keep doing the job to the best of my abilities.