What a day! Stephen and his creative ability to intertwine a course that causes the compass to point south has done it again. Sunday at Rio Bravo State Park was a maze of nice tight uphill turns, off camber downhills, and long straights, that promised recovery but gave nothing.
The day must have started with a full moon for some, or maybe the lack of Chimay the day before created mechanical incompetence for equipment. (Three bike swaps in one race? Is there a limit?)
Many more racers, and nice slow grass, made the day much more entertaining. The heckle zone on the hill, surrounding the barriers, was perfect! I didn't see any rotten fuit or vegetables being thrown.
Send in links to any photos you would like to share.
Three bike swaps is nothing. I think Patrick swapped bikes approximately 348 times in one race at Nationals.
I had not ever used the pit before Sunday. I did add a little air once, but no parts or bike swapping. I owe Brad a big thanks for the two bikes he put me on, until my rear wheel was swapped out. I got into bike racing in mtb, where you only use what you have on you at the start, so this pit thing is still a little odd for me, and especially with the 3 bike swaps.
Maybe we should be required to swap clothes too, or spit.
When the conditions are right the bike pit is a thing of beauty. Days like the first race last year, or some of the days at nationals, when the mud and grass are clogging everything up. The bike isn't broken but it weighs 200 pounds and the wheels don't want to turn. One year in Portland it was so muddy we were changing bikes twice per lap. It was almost more work to work the pit than to race (almost) because of the frenzy of trying to get as much mud as possible off the bike as quickly as possible when the good hoses were 200 yards away.