The Fouche Gap Road Race for bicycles was held Saturday. The race started about five miles back towards town, came out Huffaker Road and then up Fouche Gap Road. The course descended the back side of the mountain into Texas Valley and then looped around Rocky Mountain, in the center of the valley. Depending on the category of the rider, the course looped from one to three times and then climbed back up to the finish line at Fouche Gap. The total mileage was 28 to 81 miles depending on how many loops were ridden.

I did not ride. I did, however, walk down to finish line at the intersection of Fouche Gap Road and Lavender Trail to see some of the bicyclists finishing. The junior and female riders took the shortest course so they finished first.

A very nice BMW motorcycle accompanied the riders up the back side of the mountain to the finish line.

I walked down to the gap about 20 minutes before the first riders finished, so I spent the time talking to the wife of one of the racers and petting their dog. She expected her husband to finish a good bit after the first finishers since he was riding the two-lap course.

There was not a huge crowd at the finish line; of course it wouldn’t take many cars and people to make a huge crowd for the limited space at the top of the mountain.

There was a county police car, an ambulance and a catering truck from a local Italian restaurant. If you look carefully at the photo above, you can see Ava, the dog, right at the left edge of the group of people. The red BMW is parked at the left on Lavender Trail.

A couple of years ago I rode this course occasionally. It’s a nice ride. I’m not sure I looked quite as good when I reached the top as the first junior finisher.

There’s more information about the race at this Web site.