Letter: She was impressed with hillclimb event in Bay City

TO THE EDITOR: On Sunday Sept. 4, the Valley Springs Hillclimb (home of the 500 ft. hill) hosted their first event in 20 years in Bay City and what a day it was.

Putting any event together is difficult, but Sue Gerdes and family along with countless locals made this a day to remember.

This was my first time attending such an event, even though I’m fortunate enough to work with one of the finest female hillclimbers in the nation, Casey Wood. My expectations were unclear as were many I’m sure of how well this event was going to go.

The positives outweigh the negatives, so I’d like to state what made a first-timer’s impression of a hillclimb so memorable. It really comes down to the things I didn’t see, like the ambulance not being used, no fights, arguing, excessive drinking, matter of fact, I don’t recall even hearing a swear word. I didn’t see an officer on duty, but most impressively I didn’t see any immaturity by any of the riders. These riders ranged in ages of four-years-old to probably 40-something. I was located in an area where I could see the “behind the scene” action and saw no act of bad behavior.

What I did witness was a lot of families together having lunch, spending time together doing something they loved, supporting each other’s rides, and mingling with friends in the crowd of probably 2,000 spectators. The people of Bay City should be proud of themselves for putting on such an impressive event and I personally don’t see why Bay City couldn’t host next year’s National Hillclimb event.

To end a perfect day, I got to meet a local favorite, Justin Hoyer, who displayed nothing but class, a true leader in his industry.

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