Jeffreyborough

Welcome to the town of Jeffrey. It's a very frugal town, where the mayor keeps vetoing bills that would enhance the downtown (which would invaritably attract tourists). Citizens outside the town have taken matters into their (her) own hands and have been able to sneak out some news about Jeffreyborough.

Jeff's Trips
Jeffrey likes to travel... a lot. Click on the link to his photo album to some trips he took without his wife.

Bike Race 2005
On the 4th of July, Jeffrey participated in his second cycling race since his return to the world of bikes. This race took place in Northfield, MN, a town about an hour and half south of the Twin Cities (where Dawn and Joel went to college). With the Malt-o-Meal plant at his back, Jeff embarked on the 30+ (age level) for 4&5 (skill level) race through the town on a .7 mile loop course. The number of laps for the race is determined by the pace of the riders. When they start, they're told that they'll race for 40 minutes. After 3-4 laps, the number of total laps is then determined by the average speed of the racers. For slower groups, the number of laps would be smaller. For the first batch of racers, the lap count was 20. For Jeff's circuit, the lap count was 22.

Jeff's skill level is a 5, which is the lowest level. This does not mean someone rated his riding ability as poor. It simply means that he hasn't competed in and finished enough races yet. If you compete in a lot of races, you can move up levels. If you finish so many of them, you can move up to level 4. If you place high enough in enough of them, you can move up to level 3. The "professional" level is 1.

Because the course is so small, slower riders get pulled from the race if they're in danger of being lapped. This is done for two reasons: the safety of the other riders and so that the officials can fairly determine who has done the proper amount of laps (when you have 60 riders, it's hard to keep track of those who've done 10 laps, those who've only done 9, etc). If they all do the same number, it's easier to officiate.

Unfortunately for Jeff, he was one of those riders. He was pulled after about 5 or 6 laps. The good thing is he didn't crash! While Jeff was out warming up, I watched one race by myself. I saw several horrible crashes. I heard one spectator ask another, "Why are there so many crashes?" Basically, the response was that the riders were young and inexperienced and were taking the tough corners too fast (or not sure how to interact with other riders so close by).

Below are two pictures of Jeff's race. The first one is the starting line. Since you don't really want to be the first in line (you want the benefit of the wind guards from those in front of you), Jeff positioned himself in the back of the crowd. He's on the right, about 5 rows back. The second picture is of Jeff in action.