Hollywood

Yay.


Finally something to write about.


So sense my absence from the peloton I became team mechanic. Sense I wasn't able to help on the bike, I wanted to help as much as I could off the bike. I got busy washing bikes, changing cassettes, making sure our GC guy was happy with his bike along with all the other guys. I was stoaked to be able to help and not feel useless and help the team. It gives a different view on the race and what goes on.

On the next race day I got to ride in the team car. My duties were to change flats, give feeds, talk to com 1, keep track of breaks, and make sure Chann was happy. When the DS is happy the riders are happy.

The caravan is like Nascar, bumper to bumper. Always getting back in your spot when people get in front of you. making sure you don't hit riders when they come back from cracking or simply getting bottles.

There were times on twisty descents doing 40mph into and out of switch backs inch's from the car in front of us. It was some of the most fun I've had. Its such a rush , how often do you get to anything remotely close to that? Never. Its almost like there is a race in the caravan to see which DS can drive the best.

I cant count how many times Chann was flying around corners yelling "boogety boogety boogety, its race time boys" ( like that guy who announces for Nascar)

I was stoaked period cause I didn't have to ride these mountains. The climbs here are EPIC. Just insane, switch back after switch back, never ending only getting steeper. It was amazing to see some of these guys just dance up these ridiculous climbs.

When the "Peoples Champ" Chann McRae and Frankie Andreau say that this is the hardest race in the country, its no joking around. If this race had some sponsorship it would be huge, and would draw more Pro Tour teams than ever.

It was a blast riding in the car for a second day, on a easier, rolling course. I learned about how to be a good DS. I almost gave up riding the bike to venture in becoming a director or mechanic just so I could ride in the car, and scream tactics and make the guys suffer.

Dango mayne I love this sport.

On the other side, I put on the spandex today and raced a p,1,2,3 crit before the guys who can get over mountains. The field wasn't huge or completely stacked but had some strong guys who couldn't get there self over the mountains. Plus our mechanic for the week Billy "heavy hitter" Kurtz from Austin. He knows how to race a bike.

The race was short due to some bad time management, but none the less still pretty hard. The course was 3 corners, 2 right handers and a U-Turn. The back stretch was long and up and down headwind and the home stretch was a fast, wide to narrow slightly up-hill finish. The race started quick and attacks came and went.

Did I mention Cat 5's were on the course too? Oh yea, we started lapping them within a few laps. Super super fun.

With 5 to go a lone ranger goes on the attack for half lap, and them 4 more joined him. With about 10 seconds or so Billy bridges to them on the back stretch. I follow soon after cause the pack hesitated on Billy's so I figured they would let me go and they did. Once I caught the group I started chanting "drive it, drive it. Lets go boys, we got it". There was some hesitation on the home stretch and I went. As soon as I had a good gap Billy started to bridge. We hooked up never to be seen again. The pack hesitated to much and we went for the jugular. We team TT'd for 3 laps and in the end Billy led it out for me to take the win. We took 1, 2 which is exactly how we wanted to do it.

I'm not sure if there is a picture out there, but I'll look for it.

This past week has been a really good learning experience from all angles. Time to go home and suffer at Cats Hill, and prepare for Tulsa.