Steve Tilford, RIP

Steve and his longtime girlfriend, Trudi, in a photo I snapped at nationals in 2008.

We all knew this day was coming. In fact, some of us thought Steve might not survive a high-speed crash last fall when he was sprinting in a group ride and crashed on his head – while not wearing a helmet.

But Steve survived that traumatic brain injury and was showing great signs of getting back to normal. Just a few days ago, he rode 100 miles on gravel in California. He was headed back to Topeka early Wednesday morning when a semi in front of him overturned. He and his good friend, Vincent Davis, crashed into it, but were not seriously hurt. They were out surveying the damage and the wreckage when a second semi came upon them and smashed into the first accident. Steve was killed.

Vincent posted a few photos of the accident:

This is the original accident scene, an overturned semi, blocking the road.

The overturned semi looks to be carrying electronics equipment.

The sprinter van that Steve and Vincent were in, with wreckage from the semi they struck.

That is Steve, at right, in the last photo snapped before his death.

I have known Steve since my early days of racing in the mid-80s. I got to know him even better while officiating many races in the Midwest, including the Tour of Kansas City, in the early 90s through to 2007.  I often ran into him at races when I was working for the BMC Racing Team, which his longtime girlfriend and partner, Trudi, still works for as a soigneur.

One the legendary stories about Steve – that I had the pleasure of writing – happened in 2008 when he crashed into a frozen pond in 2006. The headline: "Tilford goes for a swim, comes back to win." I was officiating the race that day and saw it all happened. When I learned photographer Kurt Jambretz had photos, I called up Cyclingnews and VeloNews and told them I had a great story to share.

Steve was unlike any other the sport of cycling has ever seen. He had longevity, knowledge, strength, an uncanny sense of writing that made his blog so popular with so many. He was a bit of a gypsy, traveling around the country in his van, racing and riding his bike. And nearly always with a dog – either Bromont or lately, Tucker.

Mountain Bike Hall of Fame member, multi-time national champion in road racing and cyclocross, endurance athlete, ambassador for the sport, great man, super cyclist and good friend. You will be missed, Steve.

KDXU, News Talk 890: UHP reports two fatalities on I-70
Cyclingnews: Steve Tilford dies in car accident
VeloNews: Cycling world mourns Steve Tilford's death
Cyclocross Magazine: R.I.P. Steve Tilford
KSNT: Accident claims life of prominent bicyclist from Topeka
Bicycle Retailer: Veteran Pro Racer Steve Tilford Dies in Highway Accident

Welcome To The Worlds: Richmond 2015

There was a decent crowd at the start of the women's team time trial.

I am back at the world road championships – for the first time since 1986, when Colorado Springs hosted the event. Back then, the track and the road championships were combined. There was no individual time trial (though there was a 100-kilometer team time trial, apparently) so I only attend the final day of racing at the U.S. Air Force Academy grounds.

Today, I was at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond for the start of the team time trial. When I arrived, the women were starting. The men's teams will be starting for about two hours, which means the wind could be a factor. There is already a nice crowd here. Contrast that with about an estimated 15,000 fans who watched the men's elite road race on Labor Day weekend 29 years ago.

And there they go!

Cyclocross Nationals: The First Day

We took our officials crew picture before we left the hotel.
Verona, Wis. – Another quick entry, as the long days of officiating simply clash with my ability to get client work done.

So, in no particular order, here are the highlights (and lowlights) of the opening day of the USA Cycling national cyclocross championships:

- I broke the bell (the clapper flew off in mid-ring), which required an in-race fix-it job (photo at right.

- The venue is a park somewhere near our hotel. I'm not sure how far it is because (like all officiating crews do) we stopped for coffee on the way there.

- Parking is $5 or $15 for the duration of the event. No admission is charged. Team space is $200.

- It was cold in the morning when we first arrived, but warmed up nicely. But shortly after chief referee Carla Geyer shed one of her layers, the sun went behind the clouds, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped.

- The pizza parlor we drove to in Madison was nice. It made up for the lunch of a single bean burrito (with nothing to drink because the burrito was $6 - the entire value of our meal voucher).

- Simply sitting or standing outside for eight hours sure takes its toll. I felt like I had been through a 10-round prize fight when we got back to the hotel.

- There were tons of Post Grape-Nuts cereal boxes at the team hotel. And they were giving it out (with milk) in the food tent as part of the sponsorship deal. I wonder how long it'll be before we grow tired of hearing about it. It's really a natural sponsorship, as is UnitedHealthcare (though we're waiting to hear the extent of involvement on that one).

This photo was shot before we lifted the plastic windshield
on the judges tent. The lap counter and bell were my responsibility.

Ice had to chipped off the finishing straight.

Readying the finish line truss – which shows off the new
major sponsors of USA Cycling (unveiled this week).

Photo for Julia. That's ice melt in the portalet reservoir.

Distributing radios was our first task once on-site.

Tom Schuler (left), my former boss at Team Type 1, is the
event director. It's always great to work with him. I have him
to thank for introducing me to the BMC Racing Team.

Dave Fowkes and Carla Geyer at the rider staging.

And here's what staging looks like moments before the start.

This guy, in the last race of the day, and to run his bike
the last kilometer or so after something on it broke.

A look at my paltry scoring sheet for the women's singlespeed.

Pizza for dinner. This wasn't mine. (I had pepperoni.)

So This Is Madison

Here's the view from my hotel window. Not exactly Denia.
I'm on the road again. This time for the USA Cycling national cyclocross championships. I don't know that I've been to Madison, Wis., before. But I am sure I will get to know it because I'm spending nearly a week here. Temperatures are expected to be cold, but not too cold (30s and 40s) and there's no snow in the forecast.

Hopefully I can keep the entries coming daily, as I did when I was officiating cyclocross nationals in 2009 in Bend, Ore. (See my gallery and report from that year here.)

The YD Christmas-turned-New Year's letter is going out today.

I threw the airport shuttle guy for a loop when my flight showed
up an hour early at Dane County Regional Airport in Madison.

Epic System Corp's Intergalatic Headquarters are in Madison.
Amazing campus and buildings. Read up on them here.

Yes, my room has a doorbell. (Insert your own joke
about it being the "room for handicapped.")

I'm not sure why my bags were tagged "priority" but I'll take it.

Here's the room I'll be sharing for six days. Good wifi (and free).

This is a big change. No black in my closet.

My roommate, Rich Weiss, showed me his scoring system.
He got his official's license in 1975. I was eight.

Each guest at the hotel gets these
directional sheets when they check in.

We had our first officials meeting tonight in the lobby.
That's chief referee Carla Geyer on the left.

The late Reggie White's jersey hangs in the sports bar
across the street from my hotel.

Thousands Of Miles Away

A year ago, I was in Bend to officiate cyclocross nationals.
This morning, I'm staying up in the middle of the night
to watch the races on UStream.

Cyclocross Nationals Recap

The "official" officials crew photo (at Starbucks, of course).
Better late than never, here is a look back at my five days in Bend, Ore., while officiating the 2009 USA Cycling national cyclocross championships.

My in-flight meal on Alaska Airlines. I was supposed to be on Northwest
but I missed my connection out of Minneapolis due to a blizzard.

The "sisters" mountains that overlook Bend.

This pretty much sums up my four days of officiating:
scoring races from the finish line trailer.

Bend is even more beautiful in the winter. It was about a
100-degree temperature difference from the weather in July.

A look at my scoring for one of the races.

I couldn't resist a photo with Oregon's mascot.

The other half of my job: ringing the "last lap" bell.
The bell was handed down to me from the estate of the late Sue Hefle.

I had a stopover in Salt Lake City on the way back.

I would not have had the chance to take this photo had my plane
not been forced to circle Eppley for some unknown reason.

The 'Snowpocolypse'

Looks like very few people went to work today.
It's five degrees here in Omaha as I type this. And in Bend, Ore., where I am headed, it's -11. Whoa.

I was scheduled to be on a plane to Oregon at five o'clock this morning. But the storm that dumped nearly a foot of snow on Omaha between yesterday morning and this morning canceled my flight. When I learned of this last night, I immediately re-booked. Now I leave at 3:05 p.m. with a scheduled arrival in Redmond, Ore., at five minutes to midnight.

I will be officiating the USA Cycling national cyclocross championships this week/weekend. It promises to be ultra cold and likely quite snowy, too. It's my goal to post updates every day. We'll see how I do.


The three-and-a-half foot drift on my porch.

Back In The Saddle

My race number included the number 16
– fitting since I last raced 16 years ago.
So I took the plunge today and ventured back into the side of bicycle racing I had not experienced since 1993. The decision to race Saturday in the Twin Bing Classic originated with Craig Harding, Team Type 1's regional team director, and was finalized when my brother-in-law, Jon Brooks, told me "you should do it!"

So there I was, early Saturday morning, getting things ready to go. Harding and Nancy Stirek picked me up (thanks!) and we made the 90-minute-or-so drive north to Climbing Hill, Iowa.

My expectations for the race were pretty simple: finish, don't crash and have fun. The Category "B" race was only 42 miles, but advertised as "having plenty of hills." Geez, they weren't kidding. The climb out of town to the finish line (about 3 km) was a gradual uphill with a steep kicker (10 percent, perhaps?). I knew getting dropped right off the bat would mean starting the climb at the front and slowly going backwards.

Two funny things happened before the race. First, the registration folks were thoroughly impressed with my pre-printed athlete waiver (thanks PDF Pen!) - which nearly caused them to forget to collect my $20 check. The other "classic Sean" moment came as we were getting ready to line up. The 72(!) people in the field were staged, then lined up on the road. I told Craig to hang way back (I think he was a little nervous about doing so, particularly since I hadn't been at this for some time) and then we'd dash up to the front. And that's precisely what I did - riding through the grass, around a mailbox and to "pole position" for the start before you could say, "Boo." Mission accomplished.

That first climb, though, was a leg-breaker. Or more precisely, gut-wrenching. I was warmed up - or so I thought - but didn't feel good at all. I was pretty "blocked" and went from front of the line to right at the back once over the top. It was going to be a long day. It got longer when the group I was chasing missed a right-hand turn. Five miles later, we figured out we were going the wrong way.

From there, we chased back to get back on course. It wasn't long before we hit more hills and I was off the back again. UGH. Roller after roller put the hurt on, but it was getting warmer (probably up to about 50 degrees) so that was nice. Eventually, I caught the remnants of my group and worked together with them as we got back to town.

Heading out for a second lap of the course was pretty much out the window, though, as I didn't want the race officials to be there until 4 or 5 p.m. waiting for "Mr. Slow" to make it around again. So I did my good deed for the day and told the officials I was "retiring" and headed back to the car. (Click here to see the official results.)

I met a lot of great people and it was kind of nice to be a little incognito at a bike race (as much as I can lay low). Of course I'm a little tired, but have some great memories.

It was pretty chilly at the start.

Kitted up and ready to go.
(Yes, I need a Louis Garneau helmet.)

Check out the lead vehicle for the "A" race.

Cyclocross Nationals: What A Day

We were all smiles on the drive down to Kansas City -
before the cold front swept in and made it a bone-chilling day.
Kansas City, Mo. - It's not very often that a world-class cycling event goes off in your backyard. So I just had to go down to Kansas City and watch the elite men's and women's National Cyclocross Championships Sunday in Tiffany Springs, Mo.

Along for the ride was my brother-in-law, Jon, and my twin (six years apart) sister, Bridget. I was pleasantly surprised they opted to take me up on the invitation to go, considering we had to leave around 7 a.m.

When we left Omaha, the temperature was in the 40s. On the way down to Kansas City, we stopped at a rest stop south of St. Joseph and the temperature was 52 - but we knew a cold front was not far behind. It was 58 degrees when we arrived at the venue but we pulled on our winter coats and hats, to the disbelief of a few people who had no idea what was coming. Sure enough, fewer than five minutes later the wind came up and the temperature plummeted - probably about 25 degrees in 10 minutes. You had to feel sorry for the collegiate women, who were moments from starting their race (many of them wearing short sleeves and shorts).

I'll let the pictures tell much of the rest of the story. It was great to catch up with so many familiar faces - and I certainly appreciated the "shout outs" from race announcers John Lefler Jr. and Dave Towle. I felt pretty important, as you might imagine. After all, who am I? I haven't raced a bike in years.

The starting grid is a crazy area minutes before the start.

The start of a cyclocross race is always an all-out sprint.

Steve Tilford and his girlfriend (and soigneur) Trudi.

Posing with Team Type 1's Chris Jones before the start.

Diane Fortini was the chief referee.

I still can't figure out who was riding this Rock Racing bike.

Pabst Blue Ribbon as a sponsor? And "Mafia Racing?" Weird.

Bridget and Jon pose by the Team Clif Bar (school) bus.

It was great to catch up with my Utah friend Rachel Cieslewicz.

Sydney Brown was back at it after finishing third on Friday.

Jesse Anthony of Team Type 1 finished fourth. Wow.

Jon and Bridget pose near the Chamois Butt'r barriers.

My good friend Gina Poertner, who is a fixture at races in Kansas.

This sign was very, very strange. Not funny. Just strange.

By the way, my intent to get in a finish line picture succeeded. Look for me in my Team Type 1 gear and black hat here.

Random thought: Did you catch the Nebraska volleyball team's victory that advanced it on to the volleyball Final Four, which will be held at Qwest Center Omaha? I didn't, but saw the highlights. Pretty amazing stuff, coming back from a 9-3 deficit (when you only play to 15) in the final game.

And one final thought: the New York Giants seem to be in a bit of trouble after losing to the Dallas Cowboys tonight. I know a lot of people who are rooting for the Giants and they seemed confident earlier this year that the team would be back in the Super Bowl. Now it's not such a given.