Well okay I'm kinda happy, but still kinda sad.
The good news is that things went off without a hitch!
As planned.
Like a well oiled machine.
Or something.
We got started early this morning:
The tent for the stage was already up by the time I got there.
I had already gone off and set up another small tent for the ride to the Marine base.
Things were a bit chaotic in the beginning, but then it all settled down and set up went smoothly.
Folks lined up for the 5k run:
These folks, for the most part, were our crowd.
We were busiest in the first two hours since we had the runners and all the bicycle clubs.
In fact, I thought we were starting off really well:
We had bicycles!
Of course we had regular type bicycles too.
Then, it all just sort of wound down.
I had hoped for at least a couple hundred more people, but from what I heard, word just didn't get out.
Most folks said we did good for the first one, but I had higher expectations.
All of the vendors said they did well but I felt sort of bad that crowds didn't appear like I had hoped.
They did have fun though:
Myself, I spent most of the day checking on things, making sure all was going well.
I did ride my bicycle around the parking lot after we were done, you know, sort of a victory lap.
Okay not really.
A victory lap I mean.
I don't really consider this a success.
I was encouraged by a couple of folks who said we need to keep doing this, and that hopefully this isn't the last one.
Well after today, there's a lot we need to fix and do better.
As I said earlier, lot o'folks said we did good for a first event, seeing how things went so smoothly.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about that.
It just seemed like it sort of went unnoticed, community wise.
Anyways, I learned a lot and met some nice folks.
Being around other bicycle people is always good and I got eat some great food.
I'm sure I'll feel better about this down the road.
If I ever get back on the road.
If you know what I mean.
