The third event of this year’s North Carolina Interscholastic Cycling League was held at Anglers Park in Danville, VA. My oldest daughter, Aubrey, rides for the Watauga Pioneers mountain bike team. These events draw teams from all over the state for a weekend of riding, racing, adventure games, and camping. We setup camp at one of the trailheads giving us some peace and quiet when we wanted it, but a quick ride down the trail to the Pit Zone where all the team tents and events are. Saturday, we took some time to warm up before hitting the trails for a preview of the race course. All of the volunteers put together a great course with lots of punchy climbs, some fast downhill sections, an alternative rock garden line, and a nice flowy run down to the finish line. After the ride, we hit the food trucks for some BBQ and hung out at the team tent for a while. Sunday was race day. With 500+ students racing, there’s always something going on so we watched a few waves start and finish before Aubrey’s race. She did well in her race placing 5th, despite the sunny 85 degree weather that had everyone exhausted by the end. After the race, we packed up camp and headed back in search of some cooler weather.
These are always fun events and certainly impactful from a design standpoint to see parks packed with people for large events. With this many users covering a park, problems with circulation, facilities, etc. become readily apparent. Also some great insight into thinking about outside-the-box uses of space – baseball fields become great camping spots and a clearing in the woods serves as a good space to setup spectators and photographers for a view of the trail.
