World Record
Today was the downtown criterium. On the plus side it was a short stage. Since it was considerably less mileage than yesterday, then theoretically there would be less potential for problems/failures/flats. On the minus side it is a criterium and thus the potential for crashes can magnify the work load. Fortunate for Erik and I we had no mechanical problems.
The other minus for today’s stage is that it starts and ends late in the day. One of my goals in life as a team mechanic is that I like to try to finish my work before dark. Sometimes that is impossible. Today that was the case. No matter how fast Erik and I worked we were probably going to finish in the dark.
I don’t like to brag about the fact that I try to work fast. If I did, I think it would slap me back in the face when I get the inevitable mechanical failure. I can hear it now. Vince forgot to tighten a bolt and something failed because he was trying to go fast so he would not have to work in the dark. Today, I was just plain in the zone. I started washing a bike as did Erik. After I did one bike I went straight to prepping the bikes for tomorrow. Erik Kept washing as I did bikes. After checking the bikes thoroughly and changing all the cogs necessary for tomorrow we finished our work in what felt like a world record. We have 8 riders here (maximum for Redlands) and Kenny. Kenny is doing the Non stage race criterium. So after finishing all 8 team bikes AND going over Kenny’s bike, I looked at my watch to see that we finished all of our work in 1 hour 8 minutes. I was not trying to set a record it just sort of happened.