Few things in my life have been consistent since 2012. I’ve had multiple jobs, started and finished a PhD, and moved apartments several times.

But, one thing has been consistent: I’ve always been race director for Grant’s Tomb Criterium (except in 2018 when I actually raced it on a full night of sleep and had a blast).

Grant’s Tomb, 2014. I’ve since refined my race director outfit and gotten a better race radio.

In many ways, my identity is wrapped up in being the race director for this fabulous annual event in which we shut down major roads so a bunch of people can play bikes around a national memorial. It has been an awesome responsibility. And for that same reason, I’ve now realized it’s finally time for me to give it up.

Grant’s 2022, racing during a summer month.

Let me be clear – I’ve never done it alone. I’ve always had the diligent help of race co-directors. Rockstars like Rod Millott, Joe Grgic, Matt Vandivort, Ted Teyber, and most recently, Alex Klafehn have been essential to the success of the event. Zooming out even further, CRCA (and pre 2013, Columbia University Cycling) has had the support of sponsors, countless volunteers, staff, NYSBRA, USAC officials, the NYPD 26th Precinct, and the NYC Parks Department. Of course, none of the events that CRCA does are up to one person. They’re always a beautiful coordinated effort that comes together to make one magnificent day.

But now, after directing my 8th Grant’s Tomb, I can really say that I’m finally ready to retire. My teammates will tease me, and point out that I’ve said this before. But this year, I really mean it! It’s time for me to pass the baton to someone else who I hope will love that beautiful asshole of a race as much as I do. It’s just too hard, too consuming, and too stressful to do year in and year out.

Grant’s Tomb, 2016. This is me and my favorite clipboard.

Being GT race director became a kind of addiction for me around 2014. I was reluctant to take it on in 2012, and in 2013, when CRCA took over the event from Columbia University Cycling, I grudgingly helped with that transition (that was also the year Rod single-handedly shoveled ice and snow from the course all night long). But by 2014, I found my stride. I felt like it was “my thing,” and I relished the idea of being an expert at something that made the cycling community so happy.

2014 was also my first year on the CRCA Board, and I was serving as VP of Racing. Even though I was technically only responsible for Club Races in that position, I loved helping out the Open Race Director, liaising with my pals at the 26th Precinct, and being the one to drag the barriers in the streets to shut them down. What power! What responsibility!

In 2015, I was elected CRCA President and again threw myself into race directing. By that point, there was no question that GT was my baby. I could direct volunteers on how to set up the course efficiently and swiftly, I knew which spots on the course needed marshals, I knew how to manage traffic in and out of the Riverside Church parking garage, I had relationships with USAC officials and knew which ones would be perfect for the event. GT was my gift to cycling, and my way to give back to the sport and community that had given me so much.

From where I sit now, in 2022, all the GTs run together in my head. I know one year it was rainy and cold (I think that was 2014), one year, I got pre-hypothermic (confusion, randomly falling asleep) because of the below-freezing temps. One year, when the course tear-down crew didn’t arrive to help us break down the course, I ended up taking all the race equipment home with me and it lived in my apartment for a week. One year, I tried to race and DNF’d to yell at a marshal who wasn’t paying attention (that was also the year I figured out it’s impossible for me to race and be a good race director!). Another year, our tear-down crew showed up with beer and I sat in the median on Riverside Drive long after the street had reopened to traffic, and got drunk from one beer, admiring the amazing day that had just happened.

The one year I brought Grant’s home with me.

As I alluded to, being the go-to GT race director has been hard! There are so many parts to coordinate not just on the day of the event but in the weeks and days leading up to it. Between securing neutral support, filling out an officiating crew, getting the sound permit, the parade permit, the street activity permit, and the NYC Parks permit, renting portable toilets, getting equipment from the CRCA trailer in the park to the race course,...(need I go on?), it's a HUGE job. And like I said, I’m thankful to have always had support. But I have to give myself some credit and acknowledge that over the last several years, I have been the institutional knowledge of Grant’s Tomb Criterium.

As my friend Corey once referred to it, Grant’s Tomb became my magnum opus.

This is nothing to say of working the event itself, which is a 14 hour day (at least) spent running around, coordinating staff, volunteers, and street closures. And every year it feels like it barely all comes together.

The difficulty though, is usually overshadowed by the high I get from running GT. There’s a moment that comes late morning or early afternoon when the race starts running itself, and I realize - wow, I made this happen. I made this beautiful thing happen.

Even though they all run together in my head, I’ll always remember 2022 for the year that the race came back from a COVID hiatus and the year we had got to play bikes around Grant’s Tomb during a summer month.

And, I’ll always remember it for being my last GT.

It’s time for me to say goodbye to RD duties, think about racing it, and let someone else experience the magic of race directing the best crit in NYC.