Whew! That was fun!

Well, our first season of the XRC (Executive Road Cycling) series wrapped up, and boy, it was quite a year!
We kicked off in February with a 2-day stage-type event, composed of a prologue and road race on day one, then a criterium on day two. As you may have noticed from the pics from the earlier post, the roads in Subic are excellent. The only downer was the heat, which caused a number of teams to rethink their support strategies for future legs. A couple of water bottles per rider proved insufficient. But all in all, the feedback from the riders was extremely positive. Which just boosted our confidence about choosing Subic as the venue for the fourth and last leg of the 2007 XRC series.
But, in May, the series visited the popular cycling roads north of Laguna Lake, with the course rolling from the town of Pililia to Bugarin. And this is where the climbers showed the way.
By September, another record number of riders lined up for the 3rd leg in the former Clark Air Force Base in Pampanga, now known as the Clark Freeport. Since the stages used a number of the roads popular for triathlons, we were happy to see a bigger group of triathletes joining the dedicated roadies for some wheel-to-wheel racing. Secretly, we were very encouraged by the triathletes' presence, since they are usually a picky bunch when it comes to the races they compete in.
But the weather proved to be the spoiler, with monsoon-like conditions alternating with clear skies. This made the team time trial the next day a real lottery! It reminded me of Formula 1 qualifying in the rain, with the teams lucky enough to run during the sunny spells spanking the stronger teams who found themselves trying to ride through the downpours.

Then, before we knew it, December rolled around and the final leg proved to be a fitting climax. Back in Subic, the number of competitors soared past the 200 mark! A couple of new teams debuted and the criterium at the Subic International Raceway featured a few upsets and surprises!

It was a long year, full of challenges and lessons learned. But we proved we could raise the standard of non-professional cycling competition in the country. The smiles on the podium, the longer entry lists, the new teams and kind words from sponsors really made all the work worthwhile!