Title 167

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="02c285a1erlcgo.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>REI Austin Cycling Team</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="REI Austin Cycling Team"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> back to  <A HREF="id164.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Race and Ride Reports"><U><B>Race and Ride Reports</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="02ad2c00dkelyh.gif"> <div> <A HREF="id164.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Race and Ride Reports"><U><IMG SRC="03b0e0e0.gif" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="up" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>   <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="14" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="14">     <A HREF="id209.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Title 167"><U><IMG SRC="02f0e0e0.gif" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="previous" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A>  <A HREF="id206.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Title 167"><U><IMG SRC="0300e0e0.gif" border=0 width="14" height="14" ALT="next" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <B>24 Hrs of Rocky Hill</B></div> <div> <B>... Zak White</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> I thank John Leader for asking me long ago if I would help out for </div> <div> this event. Thanks to everyone whom made a successful event. </div> <bR> <div> This event I have over heard stories of for a couple of years. Just </div> <div> stories though, nothing that would spark me as to go out and buy a </div> <div> mtn bike and swing my legs over the thing. On Friday night had no </div> <div> clue as to what I was going to do. This was after talking to Steve </div> <div> with a phone call. I just brought my sleeping bag and my back pack. </div> <bR> <div> Before leaving Austin I didn't know what jacket to bring. I went </div> <div> with the Gore Tex North Face. I have never been let down by my North </div> <div> Face Jacket. Boy! That was a great idea as the whole day Saturday </div> <div> was rain and drizzle.</div> <bR> <div> John had camped out the night before and had a couple of REI tents </div> <div> with assorted camping equipment he had brought out. Uh huh, Now </div> <div> were talking perks here being we have the sponsorship thru REI. One </div> <div> thing is for sure is that MTN bikers love to camp. Everywhere people </div> <div> had tents, RV's and little camps set up. Quite a bit of people had </div> <div> fires going. John brought some fire starter logs to get the fire </div> <div> started. Steve and I brought the wood from HEB in the morning from </div> <div> Bastop. Later on that evening we got the fire started. Pretty </div> <div> amazing to get that going as we pre built our fire and it had been </div> <div> rained on all day. None the less though I think John is an expert </div> <div> fire starter. I think he got that fire starter badge when he was in </div> <div> Cub scouts and still is proud to show off his skills. Teneil and Tom </div> <div> showed up later on in the morning. Cary sometime about noonish I </div> <div> think. </div> <bR> <div> We had the mtg and riders were off at noon. I noted how the coarse </div> <div> looked at that time and was wondering what conditions were going to </div> <div> be like as the racers came thru during the day. We were anxious for </div> <div> Steve to come thru and get things going in a routine. Steve didn't </div> <div> have much mud on him the first lap as compared to later on in the day </div> <div> and night riding. I took each riders bike and headed to the wash </div> <div> pit. Hosed the mud off and returned for the bikes had to be </div> <div> adjusted. Mainly it was deraileur and brakes. Brakes were important </div> <div> as about every other lap the brakes were toast. John had no back </div> <div> brakes on one occasion and hit his front brake to stop and had the </div> <div> Eat some mud session going on one of the night riding laps. I tell </div> <div> you it's something else to see racers pushing thru when it's pouring </div> <div> down rain, cold and mud conditions in prime condition for a pig </div> <div> farm. Still the spirit lived with in each racer to pass the PVC pipe </div> <div> (Batton) off thru out the night. </div> <bR> <div> We'd take a time note as the rider left and estimate his arrival </div> <div> time. The next racer would have to dress and I would prep them for </div> <div> the ride. Water in the Camel Bak, radio readied and night lighs with </div> <div> battery. Get the bike walk them to the table and have them log in. </div> <div> Racer in, grab the dirty bike head to wash pit and process repeats </div> <div> it's self. At about 8PM a heavy down pour started and Teniel was out </div> <div> on the coarse. After 2 hours she hadn't come in and I had concern. </div> <div> I walked about 2 miles in to the coarse and back out with out luck. </div> <div> She had come in as I left is what Nichole said. Nichole her friend </div> <div> had come out to support us. I tell you having Nichole bring that </div> <div> excellent pasta cold or hot was excellent. I hadn't really eaten </div> <div> much up till dark time. Even then it was hard to do cause as night </div> <div> came on more stuff had to be done cause now it's charge the batteries </div> <div> and deal with lighting stuff. Nothing stressful just doing what I </div> <div> could to get the riders on and off the bike. 8PM Wade came out for </div> <div> us and Cary went home. What made us so effecient was the support. I </div> <div> drank much beers starting at 10PM and ate plenty as it was too </div> <div> miserable to do anything else. Everyone was wet. Standing in the </div> <div> rain getting warm next to the fire..... Yep, that's me. After </div> <div> Teniel came in that was her last run cause it was a safety issue. </div> <div> Mud and hard to see and your tierd. Bummer, but John I think has </div> <div> this carma of keep on track and that is what he did for us. He had </div> <div> planned on making 2 laps to give a break to everyone. Still a brave </div> <div> thing to do, but his back was hurting is the word as Teniel and I </div> <div> were waiting upon his arrival at his estimated time thru with fresh </div> <div> batteries and his chemicals. No 2 lap heroism this time. He was the </div> <div> last one out at the 2:30AM pause rest period. Travis had come out at </div> <div> 2AM to help out and I was really waiting for him as I was going to </div> <div> bed. He was tierd too from working and typical stuff in his day. We </div> <div> called it a break till 5:30. I was up and out after Steve left. </div> <div> Steve left on his own. I checked the log and then got Tom up and </div> <div> readied him to start. Steve came in on a quick lap of 1:40 I think. </div> <div> Pretty descent being that I am standing in 6 inches of mud at the </div> <div> check in table. The lap length was 10 miles I think. </div> <bR> <div> The rotation went on till Steve took the last lap. Steve is a great </div> <div> guy and loves mud. We figuered start him first and finish him last. </div> <bR> <div> Now if you think your all THAT! Check this out. This event has a </div> <div> classification for Solo. Bret from Cycle 360 did 17 laps and was one </div> <div> of the many winners whom braved this event. That's like 170 miles of </div> <div> trudging thru mud and muck! John told me that is like doing 400 </div> <div> miles on the road. That makes my 128 miles on the road look like a </div> <div> walk in the park. </div> <bR> <div> We managed thru the hellacious condiditons, several brake pads , one </div> <div> chain and I have to tell you Johns bike is a tank cause it got thru </div> <div> in one piece. Only his chain broke. Well.....His rear hub has this </div> <div> sound it makes, but is still working. Something to do with the Pawls </div> <div> in the hub is what Wade says. I hope your front wheel is okay. John </div> <div> lost his front wheel driving home. Did the Jaime Slaughter Free ride </div> <div> venture on the way back to Austin. </div> <bR> <div> I told them all I would be back for next year in support only. I </div> <div> don't do the dirt/mud mountain bike thing. Just not for me. I will </div> <div> stick to road where I can see what is in front of me and not have to </div> <div> trudge thru mud, fall over on to trees cause a root popped up at the </div> <div> last moment. It's really a fun thing to do and I suggest it to </div> <div> anyone whom has some time to do this. I mean come on who really has </div> <div> anything to do now were off the bike transitioning in to our base </div> <div> mileage?</div> <bR> <div> Zak Attack! </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>