Friday, October 12, 2007

free advice...

...for future furnace creek 508 4x relay teams.

and worth the price, i might add...

> the car to bring is a minivan with the middle seat removed and half the rear seat folded down. that makes for a cyclist on the road, a driver, a navigator/bottle passer, and gives a little slack to the team member in the back of the car to sleep, eat, change, clean up, whatever.

> even with that slack, there really isn't much down time for anybody on the team. sleep is a gift from the cycling gods, and they are fickle. two of us went straight through with zero sleep, and the others didn't get much. after 7am sunday, the driver should feel free to call for a ten-minute catnap.

> this is one event, not two separate stages. you must, and i mean ya GOTTA plan your recovery between stages. i didn't and rode my second stage completely in a bonk. that sucked a mop. plus it added an hour or more to the ordeal.

> the rider with the most civilized riding schedule should act like a crew chief and be responsible for most of the thinking.

> a step stool would be nice for getting bikes off the roof.

> you can save real time by planning the rider changes. think ahead, and talk about it in the car before you get to the time station.

> you can save twenty minutes by getting into time station 2 before the rules change at 6pm. if you don't have to follow your rider in, you can jump ahead, gas up, let everybody pee, and get your third rider ready to go. but that requires 17 mph for 2 stages totalling 153 miles with 10200' vertical. that's a stretch for me and the crowd i ride with.

> i'd only do this event with riders i know well and am comfortable with. two days in close quarters with people pushing themselves to physical extremes means you're going to get to know your teammates better than you might like to. leave your delicate sensibilities at the starting line. privacy is a luxury.

> more to come...

1 comment:

Mindy said...

Bring a toothbrush and tooth paste. It was so nice to brush my teeth! Also, comfortable off-bike clothes are important, as well as a good mix of salty and sweet foods. Chad kept asking for non-caffeinated drinks, and all we had was water and sports drink. Juice would be a good addition.