These were my brake pads about an hour and a half before the race start. Jeff, head of the very-best-pit-crew-at-Moab-ever (see below), decided to be a pal and change them for me....after I innocently asked him to ride my bike around and cop a feel of my front brake. Well, thanks, Jeff. I think the metallic sheen you see below would have turned into a big stinking problem not too long into the race. Thank god Jeff knew more about this than me...
Here you see a large dust cloud from the 306 rider/runners who took off, ran around a bush (?), and came back to claim their bikes. I am still coughing that crap out of my lungs.....and I didn't even do the run, thank you teammate Dax.
Here we have team 8-6's bike strategically placed for retrieval......right next to competitor Yuki Saito's of team Topeak-Ergon. Now that it's all said and done, how uncool is it to say we were scared? We were scared. OK, me. Me was scared.
But Dax Massey (Bach Builders) got things going right from the start. He wasn't scared and pulled out in the top 5 riders.
I thought I would make up for my uncool-scaredness by getting a shot of my bike alone on the racks, after the 306 racers had departed. It also eased my mind to know I had my bike staged waaay earlier than any normal human should have. I'm not convinced my cool points went up any. But at least I can say something geeked out about how much I love my Niner.
My very-best-pit-crew-in-Moab-ever, Jeff and Jason. I don't know what to say except I owe these dudes and they really rock. Jeff was the coolest thing since Flintstones vitamins and Jason was the source of all things vital- race data. Both provided an endless supply of positive vibe, jokes that I really tried to laugh at, and soup. Plus they understood that Dax's short lap times, while AWESOME, meant that my breaks were short too! Aack!
After one lap I was still smiling....but, do I look like I'm crying? Yeah, I might have been. I should delete this picture, it's terrible.
These smiles were genuine, though.
4 comments:
That looks like a shit tanker above yer hooded head, perhaps better yet a port o jon shitter vac/tank/diesel. Seriously, was there any shit in the desert to be hauled away? Go America, the finest nation in which we dwell under the light of the MOON.
wow, I really SHOULD delete that picture.....mer
Incredible job! Dax is a good teammate for sure, he knows how to hammer laps. Did you guys use both gears and SS to mix it up? Hope to see ya over the winter for SSAZ.
Congrats on a kick ass race!
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