The co-owner of a Longmont wood processing yard told the Ironman 70.3 to go to hell this weekend — in big, red letters.

Raul Bustamante is the co-owner of United Wood Products Inc. along the Diagonal Highway between Airport Road and Niwot Road. Bustamante grew frustrated last year when use of the highway for the Ironman 70.3 half-triathlon made access to his business appear nearly impossible.

This year, Bustamante reached out to local law enforcement asking whether a sign could be put out letting passersby know local businesses along the road would still be open during the race. After chatting with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office and Colorado State Patrol, Bustamante felt reassured that this would be a simple fix.

But when he called to double check with Ironman race organizers that everything was set, his frustrations ballooned.

“She told me she was too busy and that she couldn’t do that,” Bustamante said of an Ironman representative. “She told me I needed to call somebody else, but she wouldn’t give their phone number. How am I supposed to contact them to make sure everything is OK?”

Bustamante offered to text his contact information for the Ironman organizer to pass on to her colleague.

“She said I could send it to her, but she didn’t think she’d have time to pass it along,” Bustamante said. “So I sent it.”

On Saturday, as cyclists shared the Diagonal Highway with vehicle traffic and once again made access seemingly impossible, there was nothing indicating that Bustamante’s business down the road was open.

Bustamante called the Ironman organizer back to voice his concerns.

“She said, ‘I’m busy right now and, anyway, we’ve got our special event permit and don’t need to address this,'” Bustamante said. “And that’s where she left it.”

That’s when Bustamante decided to hang a yellow sign across the length of his pickup truck that read, “Thanks Boulder Iron Man” with “Go To Hell” spelled out in red letters beneath it.

The sign was visible from the Diagonal.

“I sent her a text of the sign, but I didn’t hear back,” Bustamante said.

Dave Christen, operations manager for Ironman, said in a statement that his staff did its due diligence ahead of Saturday’s race.

“During the week prior to the event, Ironman became aware that the business owner contacted the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office about concerns they had,” Christen said. “At that time, Ironman did in fact organize accommodations for that business to more easily operate on August 5 (race day) that included the hiring of additional law enforcement officers and certified flaggers to assist staff and customers to get in and out of the business safely, all of which was shared and confirmed with the BCSO.”

“Direct contact made by United Wood to Ironman only took place on race day and Ironman responded by sending event staff to the business to ensure that people could in fact still operate and access the business, which was confirmed.”

Around 10 a.m. when the race already was underway, Bustamante said someone from Ironman came by his business to discuss the problem, but at that point, he said, it was too late.

“They came after I sent that picture of the truck,” Bustamante said. “But they didn’t do anything.”

Phone records provided by Bustamante show he was in contact with Ironman organizers on Friday.

Boulder County sheriff’s Cmdr. Kevin Parker said he understood Bustamante’s frustrations.

“I don’t blame Raul for being pretty upset about it,” he said. “It’s not fair to them to lose a whole day’s business on a weekend. That’s got to be pretty impactful.”

The access difficulty brought on by the cycling portion of the race did put a snare in business, Bustamante said. Two customers from Nederland and Grand Junction called the business trying to figure out how to reach it and several orders that were expected to be picked up never were, Bustamante said.

“I know it’s frustrating to run the gauntlet to figure out how to get here,” Bustamante said.

Parker said the sheriff’s office and Colorado State Patrol contacted Ironman to try to figure out a solution for the local business. Because the sheriff’s office handles traffic control on all county roadways and the Diagonal Highway is a state highway, State Patrol was in charge of managing traffic along the route.

“We were told last week by Ironman and State Patrol that there was a plan in place — that there would be a flagger there to flag his customers a certain route,” Parker said. “It does not sound like that occurred.”

Colorado State Patrol officials were not immediately available for comment.

“We are asked to provide access to United Wood and did that,” Christen wrote. “The county does not ask to provide specific notices for each individual business and its access.”

Christen wrote “those directly involved with or in the know of the counter measures/accommodations” were not aware of any earlier direct conversations prior to the event.

Bustamante was approached by a few folks inquiring about his sign, but he said once he explained the situation, everyone seemed to agree it was warranted. He has since taken the sign down.

“The biggest problem is for Ironman to tell me I need to talk someone but then won’t give me the contact information,” Bustamante said. “That’s the biggest thing. Hopefully whoever does it next year at least puts a sign up saying local businesses are open. That’s all they needed to do.”

Elizabeth Hernandez: 303-473-1106, hernandeze@dailycamera.com, twitter.com/ehernandez