Last time we caught up, team camp was still over a week away. That seems like a year ago. After camp, there were two days to organize new everythings back at the service course, inventory what we had too much of the critical things that we did not have at all, and then hit the road for the first round of racing.
It was a short distance to a small mansion closer to our first race, but it allowed us to test every aspect of the program. Despite all of the kinks being worked out on home bikes at camp, riders were seeing race bikes for the first time. TT bikes were still coming together, with one tiny but irreplaceable Amazon Prime package arriving at service course just as we rolled out.
After that first 2-day race, the team went straight to The Redlands Classic, where those TT bikes would be raced two days later.
Redlands was also the team’s first 2-mechanic race, and Carson Jones Wilkins flew in on Monday to help. At only 21, Carson is well-known at races, having worked with 303 Project, Gateway Harley-Davidson, and full time with Fort Lewis College. Collegiate teams are an incredible test for a mechanic, with large teams racing all disciplines on their own equipment. Imagine going to MTB Collegiate Nationals with 20 athletes, many with 3 bikes, and racing qualifiers and heats, semi-finals and finals from pre-dawn to dark for 5 days. That makes working on bikes in a horse barn and sleeping in an RV in the paddock seem like high cotton.
The team had two riders crash out, but only one weird electronic ‘mechanical’ in 5 days of racing. Work hours were the usual first light to dark, but we were not forced to find makeshift lighting. There was never a time that tubulars were not stretching or being glued, and only a couple of opportunities to sip coffee and enjoy the view from he legendary ranch house that the team has been hosted at for 19 years.
Having the first 8 TT bikes built was like winning the lottery. It took a little while to sink in. I’m tired of hearing myself think about it, so I won’t burden you. I had fantastic support from our sponsors and other mechanics as well as our own staff, and just didn’t give up. Now, we are into the ‘break stuff and fix it’ part of the season. One of our team crashed out of Redlands and I’ll be rebuilding that bike prior to San Dimas. We’re a wheel down, five tubulars, and some ersatz electronics, so there is never a lull.
Learned:
