GRAFORD —
NASCAR didn’t race in the rain last weekend, but 275 bicycle racers took to the smooth, but wet roads, vying to cross the finish line first in the Mineral Wells Stage Race.
They came from all over Texas and beyond, largely drawn by the Team Bicycles Inc. and “The Racing Post” promotion of providing “rolling enclosures.” Undeterred by a full weekend of soaking rain, amateur and professional bicycle racers pedaled the Palo Pinto County pavement and continue to thank the community for the opportunity.
Riders came from Tulsa, Louisiana, Northwest Arkansas and Texas locales like Austin, Texarkana, Clear Lake, the Metroplex and as far as McAllen. E-mails are coming in to city and county officials, all thankful for the support from the community at large and police support from Mineral Wells Police Department, Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s Department, four constables and Department of Public Service troopers.
Co-sponsored by the Mineral Wells Area Chamber of Commerce, the MWSR is one in a long line of state and national events vying for entries in a busy bicycle race schedule, according to Chamber Executive Director Beth Watson.
To attract racers, TBI asked for and received the coveted rolling enclosures for race groups – a type of protective shield that allows racers to use the width of the road. This type of race takes time, support and commitment of local law enforcement and community groups. The MWSR became the third race in Texas to provide this protection.
Having the rolling enclosures for the larger race groups and a purse totaling $10,000 – including a team payout – attracted 275 die-hard racers and their $3,000- to $5,000-plus machines despite the forecast and actual race day weather.
TBI even dolled out $1,500 to Graford ISD for use of their gymnasium and facilities, according to race organizer Andy Hollinger, who is affiliated with TBI and “The Racing Post.” He said they also contributed $3,000 to the county to help with law enforcement overtime.
Palo Pinto County Sheriff Ira Mercer told the Index this week that he estimated the cost of the event to the sheriff’s department at $3,000. He also said the weekend’s event went smoothly.
What was the bottom economic line? Despite having an estimated 200 reservations cancelled, due to the weather, Hollinger said, “The hotels and restaurants of the county got 400-plus visitors for two days, which translates into many tourist dollars.”
Economic impact
He estimates the local revenue to be “somewhere around $85,000 … of course and the real figure could be higher or lower,” he said. “But counting the bicycles who came before to ride the course in preparation and those who will be back because of the almost ideal cycling roads – if for no other reason than shear finances – the race was a plus for Palo Pinto County.”
“The Mineral Wells Stage Race is a wonderful example of sports tourism. It is a shining example of a dedicated and visionary Chamber of Commerce, county and city partnership and frankly some ‘out of the box’ thinking by the Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s office and county commissioners,” said Hollinger.
“It’s very clear that the bike race generated positive economic activity for the hotels and restaurants,” said Watson. “And that’s our goal when we sponsor these events. Even though the weather was terrible on Saturday and still drizzly on Sunday everyone who participated had a great attitude and seemed to have a good time.”
“My Facebook and e-mail are stacked up with ‘thank yous’ for the race,” he said. “The most often-mentioned feature was the rolling enclosure. Two [racers] said they drove six hours simply because of the rolling enclosure and the other features of the race like team payout – few, if any, do this.”
Having organized races over the past eight years, Hollinger said he’s worked with Mercer on several other racing projects.
“But compared to MWSR 2010, they were small and required little in terms of extra resources and coordination. Perhaps this is what led him to trust that we (the Team Bicycles Inc. and ‘The Racing Post’ promotion team) would live up to our side of the agreement,” said Hollinger. “Once he agreed to support the race, he and his staff, led by Sgt. Chad Jordan, did everything as agreed to make us successful.”
Hollinger said this year’s coordination between city and county government, the communities and local law enforcement made the difference for “an extremely successful race only held back by unseasonable rains.”
Dedication
In hindsight, perhaps it could have been named the “Soggy” Mineral Wells Stage Race. At one point, there were reports of riders rolling through 4 inches of water in one low spot on the route.
“You had to be somewhat crazy to ride in inches of rain,” noted Precinct 5 Constable Gary Morris, who added that he was tucked inside his Dodge Charger. “You want to talk about dedication for your sport. That was the most unique thing to me is how dedicated they are for their sport.”
Morris said he drove 296 miles providing support and donated 18 hours, while his new unpaid deputy constable, Brad Norman, contributed seven hours and 80 miles on Saturday.
Could it happen again, the Index asked Morris. “Absolutely,” he said. But Morris said that he wasn’t sure about the financial burden of county and city law enforcement who were “on the clock.” He also said he did not know TBI gave $3,000 to the county to help.
“In my opinion, the organizers of the race were well organized,” Morris said. “Everything went off on time and was well run. In addition, the way the sheriff’s office organized the help, was well-done [assigning law enforcement to each of races for rolling enclosures] and well organized.”
Morris said each race had five vehicles, including two law enforcement, two race organizer vehicles [immediately in front and behind the bikes with the rear vehicle carrying extra wheels] and a motorcycle to communicate directly to riders. He said most of the times the race groups were pretty tight, but a couple of races, at times, stretched the enclosure out about three quarters of a mile long.
He added that working the race was “enjoyable” despite being frustrating with a “tiny percentage” of disrespectful drivers. Overall, he said drivers cooperated and the event was “well organized and smooth.”
“I enjoyed it. I wonder how many of these people have never been here before and got to see this part of the country,” said Morris.
Watson concurred with the organization. She made sure a chamber staff member was on hand.
“They hardly needed anything,” she said of TBI. “They had plenty of volunteers. To me it went very smoothly. They coordinated well with police and every one knew what they needed to do.”
“They are known for their professionalism in terms of registration, how smoothly they run an event and how they prepare for it,” she said.
In addition to the safety a rolling enclosure provides, Watson noted another rationale for having this feature at the local race.
“The bike racing calendar is getting crowded so they wanted to do the rolling enclosure to make it unique,” she said. “They like to ride out here. When things shake off the racing calendar, we want to be hosting the events that are good enough to survive.”
Mineral Wells race
“Substantially more riders were expected than showed up,” she said. “For me that bodes well for next year. This will be good moving forward because they got a lot of positive feedback for the downtown criterium June 12.”
The June criterium is another pilot-type bicycling race project. This type of race has a short course, usually in a city center. The excitement comes with the racer’s speed, intensity, proximity and angles maneuvering around tight turns.
“It will be like NASCAR with the riders going around in a circle really quickly,” said Watson of the potential crowd appeal.
“This is an event that last year they held at Texas Motor Speedway and we asked them to do it here,” she said. Because of their existing relationship with TBI, Watson said they agreed and the chamber’s “tourism committee, board and staff are proud of that.”
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