Chocolate, Waffles & Cross: Getting schooled, and the importance of a well-oiled pit crew.
Despite the wicked snowstorm, which blanketed Colorado during the week, the energy leading up to the Blue Sky Velo Cup and the Boulder Cup was electric. Everyone was pumped and focused. ’Cross bikes were getting new tires, cables and last-minute adjustments for the pending muck and mud. Everyone was “taking it easy” so they could rest up for the double whammy of what was going to be two very hard days of ’cross racing. Everyone was planning to bring their “A” game. I was still searching for my “B” game, which I am still not sure I found.
Throughout the week we hosted few events at my shop to spread the gospel that is cyclocross. We held a free skills clinic, hosted a juniors-only tech night, a how to glue tubulars clinic and a meet the pros happy hour with a new Belgian Ale from my friends at Upslope Brewing. Yeah, it’s good beer.
So there I was during the final minutes of the biggest week on the Colorado cyclocross calendar, flailing through the sand with two laps to go in Sunday's Boulder Cup in a desperate attempt to claw my way into the top fifteen and score the final coveted UCI point and then I came to my senses. Why in the hell do I need a UCI point? So, I can start in the eleventh row at cyclocross nationals later this year, instead of the thirteenth row? Yeah, like that is really going to make a difference in my overall result in December.
Then for some stupid reason my ego got the better of me and I squeezed by one of the young racers I was drafting. After the pass was made, he yelled to me, “Hey man, how old are you?” For a second I thought to myself, “Alright, is this some smart alec way for this kid to tell me I’m old, that I should give up the ghost and relegate myself to the Masters category?”
So, I hollered back, “I’m 38!” Which was a lie because I’m actually 37 and my racing age is 38, but I wanted to let him know he was getting passed by someone old enough to be his history teacher. He replied, “Really?!?!”
I wasn’t sure whether to take this as a compliment or an insult, then realized he was a U-23 (under 23 years of age) racer wondering if I could potentially taking a podium spot away from him. You see, in the elite races, the riders who are under 23 years of age are actually racing against their peers in the same race with guys over 23. They get an overall race result and a U-23 result so they can see how they stack up with the whole field as well as competitors their own age. To make a long story short, he passed me, as did several others, and my UCI point was gone. Hey, I’m old, what do you expect?
Despite getting schooled by kids half my age, it was a great weekend of racing here in Colorado. We had some rarely seen mud at Saturday’s Blue Sky Velo Cup and classic dry and dusty conditions at Sunday’s Boulder Cup. The best part about Saturday's muddy race was I got to teach some members of the Boulder Cycle Sport club team how to work as an efficient cyclocross pit crew for several racers at a time.
In the Masters 35+ race we had four riders in contention for a top five finish and all of them were in need clean bikes every lap. I told the crew we needed one person to catch a dirty bike from each racer and one person to hold up a clean bike, so the racer could shoulder his clean rig through the muddy pit. Then we needed one person to shuttle bikes to our team power washer and one person to work the power washer all while watching to see who needed to be taken care of first.
I instructed the crew to put the bikes into an easy gear with the right pedal in the three o’clock position, so when the rider got back on the bike he could accelerate up to speed quickly. And, when handing off the bike to make sure their arms and hands didn’t get caught up in the bike. The Boulder Cycle Sport crew took to it like flies on, well, you know what I mean. They were dialed. Communicating to each other, working like a well oiled machine. It was awesome to see.
For as long as I have been racing, everyone I know who has worked a cyclocross pit during a muddy race has had a great time. Sure, they get filthy and ruin a nice pair of shoes, but it’s way more fun than sitting there twiddling thumbs for any hour watching guys in lycra whizz by lap after lap. When working a pit during a muddy race, you are part of the race. You need to work fast, get the bike as clean and dialed as possible so when your racer comes around on the next lap, the bike looks like it just came off the bike shop floor.
Having a good pit crew during a race can mean the difference between having a great race and a bad race. It’s similar to auto racing. Do you think Ricky Bobby would have been as successful as he was in Talladega Nights without an efficient pit crew? Hell no!
You want to know who has clean, crisp pit work down to a science? Katie Compton and husband Mark Legg. I know for a fact the couple uses these races to not only tune-up Katie’s race fitness, but to also dial in their team work in the pits in an effort to prepare for the relentless European mud.
I watched Katie race during Saturday’s mudfest and every time I saw her, the bike was spotless. Maybe it was because she was going so fast and was actually floating over the mud, but in reality kudos go to the pit crew. So, let this be a lesson to all you racers out there. Get a good pit crew and treat them well. Cold beer usually does the trick.
That’s all from the bubble that is the Republic of Boulder. I’m licking my wounds and getting ready for next weekend. Thanks for reading Chocolate, Waffles and Cross again. More to come from here on out.
Cheers,
-Brandon Dwight
Brandon Dwight lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his wife, Heather, and chocolate lab, Oban. He is part owner of Boulder Cycle Sport and the founder of Doperssuck.com. Sponsors include: Ridley Bicycles, SRAM components, Zipp, Crank Brothers, TRP Brakes, Shimano footwear, Clif Bar and PRO.