A summary — probably meaningless — of a long day of riding

11.4.2013 | 11:29 am

The 25 Hours in Frog Hollow is over. The last big race of a big year of racing, now behind us.

And —I mean this seriously and with no irony at all — there could not have been a more incredibly perfect way to conclude the season. It’s going to be a big story to tell, with a lot of participants. So starting tomorrow, I’ll be taking up my multi-part race report format again, and telling this in as much detail as I need. 

Today I need to rest, catch up on some work, and get back home.

So for today’s entry, I’m just going to quickly jot down a bullet list of things I want to talk about in the coming days. That’s right, I’m about to give you the mother of all spoilers. Either read it and try to make sense of it, or ignore it and then come back in a couple weeks when I’ve finished the writeup. 

SPOILERS BELOW

  • Trash talking with Greg 
  • Trash talking with Kenny
  • Fear and trembling with The Hammer
  • The Hammer tells me to quit being such a baby about the race
  • The Hammer has predictions
  • The fastest warranty in the world
  • 24hr race philosophy
  • Our HQ location: the best there could be
  • Zach, Trish, Brooks: The best crew there could ever be
  • Fred
  • Couches
  • A microwave
  • Fire
  • Brats
  • Riding
  • Mechanics
  • 4 singlespeeds: 2 each
  • Start of the race – running with The Hammer. Surprise that Kenny was ahead of us
  • I try to be funny and probably ruin someone’s day
  • I talk with Jamon and do my best to get in his head
  • The woman who would not let me by
  • “See you in 6 hours” – the folly of The Hammer’s math
  • MST v Beijing time: Me and The Hammer’s course positions
  • The Hammer is a machine
  • Kenny takes the race very seriously. 
  • A ride with Zach
  • A fateful decision: wait, or not? 
  • Zach=Rambo
  • The Hammer, a cheerfully bloody mess
  • More awesomeness from the crew
    • Fixing a wheel
    • Changing cleats
    • Keeping bikes running perfectly
    • Dressing us
    • Keeping us warm with a  propane heater
  • Occasionally I do something that is absolutely positively right. 
  • 18! No, 16! No, 17! Yes, definitely 17! Oh, sorry, didn’t I tell you about the 17?
  • Pride in cleaning something, and then pride in cleaning something well. And later not being able to get it at all
  • Changing expectations: Maintaining 10mph avg. to 9 to whatever.
  • Nearly killing Heather and asking her to please slow down
  • Pain and my hands
  • spaghetti is good
  • Hot chocolate is good
  • mac and cheese is good or it’s not
  • Wanting to cheat
  • Nice to ride together
  • Watching the sun go down, knowing you’ll be there when it comes back up
  • The trail changes at night
  • NiteRider is awesome
  • You really get to know the trail
  • Proud of my secret line
  • Boombotix pros and cons
  • The dread and hope tension: excited to hang with the crew, dreading having to make a choice among the huge cornucopia we had brought
  • Boasting about The Hammer after surreptitiously gathering competitive intel
  • The Hammer expresses regret
  • I have no response to the question, “How are you doing?”
  • The final lap: harder than all previous laps combined
  • Surprising race results
  • Nearly killing us by falling asleep at the wheel
  • Post-race soreness
  • There you go. Everything — but really nothing — about the 25 Hours in Frog Hollow.

     

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