PORTLAND TWILIGHT, or HOW TO PUT ON A BIKE RACE

Myself and 4 of my BRI companions journeyed down to the Portland Twilight this past Friday. From an athlete performance perspective, it sucked...for all of us. From all other perspectives, especially that of the job Brad Ross the promoter did, fantastic.

Brad Ross put on a great bike race. He hit it out of the park on almost all of the important points. He was able to get city support for road closures on an interesting city center circuit. The crowd was great, lining up all around the half mile circuit exclaiming their support for the riders with a wall of noise especially on the finish stretch.

The prize money was fantastic: $10k over 20 places and more importantly he only charged $25. Even when you added the $5 OBRA racing license it was only $30 which is more than fair for $10K in prize list. PNW race promoters take note, Brad obviously did his job securing sponsors. He had lights out on the course, great crowd control fencing and tape, podium presentation & a good announcer. All that costs money & he went out and got it. An added cool bonus was the bike parking for spectators where you could check your bike in, collect your bike check ticket and watch the race worry free. A nice touch.

All in all, Brad gets high marks from me for a great event and most of you know I don't give those out often.

Well done Brad Ross, well done.