This report originally posted at DamhoffRacing.com
I hoped after last week’s race being partially cancelled due to hurricane force winds, my next race in Fort Davis, TX would go off according to plan. Little did I know that high winds would be the least of our worries when a much more threatening natural disaster blew into town resulting in a race (or lack thereof) that I won’t soon forget.
Fort Davis is a small town nestled in mountainous terrain at about 5,000 ft elevation (yes, in Texas...) and home of the annual “Hammerfest.” I have been looking forward to this event for some time, having heard good things about it and the fact that it includes some good climbing and a long time trial.
I headed down with my friend Chris from Silver City a day early to check out the courses and enjoy a couple days of camping in the Davis Mountains state park on the race course. We checked out each of the three courses beforehand, including a ride on the mostly uphill 16 mile mass start race, which kicks off the three stage event. After a day of scouting the courses, we grabbed dinner and headed back to our tents for a night of sleep (a recovery tactic sure to catch on amongst Protour riders soon) to rest up for tomorrow’s two stages.
I was up well before the dawn on Saturday, as the hill climb started just after sunrise. After breakfast at the campground and getting in a good warm up, we started the 16 mile hill climb. The first 10 miles were relatively flat, and the group largely stayed together until the last climb of the race. I didn’t win the stage, but finished in 5th place, which put me in a good position for the overall with a 16 mile time trial and a tough road race still to come. After riding back to the campground from the race finish at the McDonald Space Observatory, we grabbed some lunch at our favorite local cafe and rested up for the early afternoon time trial.
The individual time trial is where things begin to take a turn for the worst. Upon arriving at the start area, we wondered if the race was still taking place, as there was absolutely no one else in the parking lot. At this point, the winds were gusting up to 40 mph. We proceeded as usual, and found a good place to warm up tucked out of the wind behind a building. Finally, the masses slowly trickled in and it appeared the race would go on as usual. While waiting in line to start my TT, the wind was howling worse than ever and tumbleweeds were striking riders as they waited to race. A Pro/1 rider just ahead of me was literally blown off the road when a gust came up just as he attempted to start. I thought to myself, “this should be fun... nothing like starting a perfectly flat TT in the small ring.” The tailwind section was a little more enjoyable and I had a high speed of 45 mph on flat ground.
After returning from my time trial and getting ready to go for a cool down spin, I noticed the sky was becoming increasingly hazy off in the distance. After last week’s affair, I first chalked it up to just another dust storm; however, as the haze continually got worse, it became evident that a fire was headed our way. Soon even the city streets were becoming hazy--not good. When Chris got back from his TT, I already had the van loaded and we threw his bike in as fast as we could and headed towards our campground. As we drove through town, visibility was becoming very limited and it appeared the massive fire would hit the town directly. When we arrived at our campsite on the opposite side of a mountain ridge, the scene was not much better, and dense smoke was already rolling over the top of the ridge. We packed up our camping supplies and decided to drive up to the Space Observatory and survey the situation from higher ground. From the Observatory, we could see the full force of the fire. The entire sky to the east was filled with smoke and the fire appeared to be hitting the town directly. We watched the fire grow throughout the evening. Eventually, the flame came over the ridge outside of town, and burned down the state park we had been staying at just the night before.
The fire continued raging to the west, and we learned that the town had been evacuated and the race had indeed been cancelled. Luckily, we found another place to camp with a fellow fire-onlooker. We ended up with a great camping spot in the mountains and a night of good company. With Sunday’s road race being cancelled, we used our extra day to spend more time exploring Big Bend National Park and the Rio Grande before heading back to New Mexico. On the way back, we visited the charred remains of the time trial course and the town of Fort Davis. The fire had indeed blown right through the time trial course and staging area, and had burned several structures in the town. Amazingly, the majority of the town was saved, but many houses were burned in the area. Even as we passed through days later, the fire was still raging out of control.
Quite the bizarre weekend of racing. Not exactly what I was expecting, but going to Big Bend was a fun diversion from racing after finishing up another hard block of training. Now it’s back to preparing and resting up for the Tour of the Gila followed shortly by the Joe Martin Stage Race. The Tour of the Gila is just over a week away and it’s exciting to finally be competing in something I have been training for months for. Stay tuned, the next installment from the Gila will be coming soon. Hopefully my streak of bringing natural disasters to each race I attend has come to an end.
Ben
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