6.17.2005

06.17.05 - pre ride at big bear

just got done from a pre-ride on the 24 hour big bear course and grabbing some lunch.

here's the down low...

the pit area - sort of a fiasco if you ask me. OK for the teams, but solo riders are kind of screwed to get a pit near the start/finish. found a place right off the race course, right next to mark hendershot. i think we lucked out, but the other solo riders will have a hard time finding prime location.

the course - 80-90 percent dry, some wet sections here and there. 100% better then snowshoe in regards to mud. this stuff doesn't seem to be that sticky peanut butter thickness mud that was further south. course is fast, flowy - and somewhat long. just shy of 13 miles. and roots- there are none. but plenty o' rocks.

the other riders - there are only a few riders i am worried about, namely hendershot and cameron chambers. actually, the three of us talked today. i congratualed cameron on his win at nationals a few weeks back - he said it was kind of handed to him because of the heat. mark and i both agreed it was a little more than that. (mark and some others had to pull out due to extreme heat in spokane a few weeks back).

the venue - low key. no lighting. kind of minamal. seems OK - but i don't know how it will be for the mechanics/teams.

the weather - temps last night were chilly, down to 50 degrees. warmed up real fast this morning. hopefully the weather will hold up for the next few days and that wet stuff will stay away - guess there is a 30% chance of it happening. hoping it won't as it brought in some heavy fog last night.

other stuff - dan the man coming down tonight. bikes working good. i need to nap.

gotta run - pray for the sologoat to have good legs this weekend.

and when you go to sleep saturday night, pray for sologoat to stay awake.

and when you wake sunday morning, drink some extra coffee to keep me going.

and when you are eating lunch sunday, save some for me.

gotta run - update on the race monday'ish.

sologoat out

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey SoloGoat!

Hope your race at Big Bear went well. Karl Etzel here, I run ride424.com.

Drop me a line sometime, karl@ride424.com. Would like to chat with you about some co-promotion activities, etc.

Also I got you linked from my Links page, would appreciate if you do the same from your blog.

Cheers
Karl

Jeff Kerkove said...

Dude! Way to throw down at 24 Hrs of Big Bear! I raced the Snowshoe NORBA National a few years back, so I know how nasty the rocks and roots of the east coast are. No easy task. Looks like you are on fine form for World's! Recover well, and good luck at your next event.