By WESLIE STRATTON
Moapa Valley Progress
More than 220 street bicycle racers came into town to participate in the third annual Valley of Fire Stage Race. The event had crowds of street cyclists zipping through the streets of Overton, nearly non-stop, on Saturday and Sunday.
The event began with Criterium races on Saturday. In this stage, racers in various categories and levels competed by racing on a one mile course through the neighborhood around Mack Lyon Middle School for 30 minutes each race.
On Sunday, a road race took competitors on a grueling 33 mile course. The race began on Overton’s main street and went south along Northshore Road to the Valley of Fire turnoff. It then wended its way through the State Park all the way to the Paiute Travel Plaza near exit 75 of Interstate 15. At this point, the racers then retraced the course back to downtown Overton to cross the finish line.
Cyclist Michael Chinn of Henderson competed in the event. He said that this is his first year as a competitive racer.
“It’s not recreational for me anymore,” he said.
On Saturday afternoon, Chinn said that he was looking forward to Sunday’s road race.
“Today is a learning curve,” he said of the Criterium race. “Tomorrow is my race.”
In contrast, Chinn’s race partner Aaron Driskill of Las Vegas said he used to race a little and is just “getting back into it.”
Driskill said that he had previously raced in the Valley Of Fire and was looking forward to the road race as well.
“It’s all kinds of fun!” he said.
Many racers were initially concerned about the weather forecast that had predicted rain on both race days. Race organizer Dirk Cowley of RaceDay Management said that numbers were down a little this year due to that forecast.
But the weather was beautiful both days. The rain held out until Sunday evening after the event was pretty much over.
“(The racers) go to weather.com and see that the weather would be bad so they don’t even show up,” he said of some racers that had shown interest early on. “But it was really great,” he said of how the weather turned out. “Both days were incredible!”
Jennifer Grube who was racing with a team of five was concerned about potential rainfall.
“Number one is safety,” she said of what she looks for in a race. “We’re looking for a safe race and weather is a factor.”
Grube’s team was made up of two returning racers and three who are new to cycling competitions.
“Trying to get girls to race is tricky,” she said, adding that the practice of teammates sticking together in a pack during Criterium races adds a risk factor.
“We’re just having fun being athletic,” she said.
Cowley said that there was a good mix of competition levels at the race.
“It was a very competitive race,” he said. “The guys who were there to win worked hard, Others came simply to enjoy a good race. I think they all had a really great time.”
Following the race Cowley said that it’s success could be accredited to community volunteers. The Moapa Valley Rotary Club coordinated the volunteer effort to supply lead cars, follow cars, supply vehicles and course marshalls to facilitate the race.
“It’s incredible how the community steps up and gets behind this event,” Cowley said.
Local resident Ley Soltis was among those who volunteered. He saw the race last year and decided to get involved this year, he said.
“I live right here so I volunteered to be a marshal,” Soltis said.
He explained that he used to work for a bike parts manufacturing company.
“I enjoy outdoor sports anyway,” he said.
Cowley said that the race would also not have been possible without the support of the Metro officers.
“Those guys are absolutely incredible,” he said. “They really do an incredible job. Without them I couldn’t have done this (race).”
He said that while this year’s race omitted a time trial he is looking to add it back in again for next year’s race.
“Our goal right now is to be back next year with three stages if not four,” he said.
