As we expected we spent the entire day doing bikes. Joe worked on his clutch and I dinked with tires, brakes, front suspension and new graphics. We’re pretty close to the course and the dust was bad while the quads raced. I was wiping dust off the bike and tools most of the day.
Joe and fellow cheesehead Matt. My bike is the closest one - my graphics are yet to be done but the rest of the bike is set. Check out that dent in my pipe.
It’s warm here. 80 or so during the day. Been trying to keep on top of staying hydrated but who knows how that’s going. I’m peeing clear and still sweating is all I know.
We can see the start line from our camp and the scoring tent is just out of site. We’re a full farmer’s field away from the pit row. When we first started coming to these races our intention was always to be close to the action in the pits. We learned over time that its better to be a little ways off but not too far. There’s a bright mercury vapor lamp that runs all night at GNCCs and since our soft sided camper lets in a lot of light, we want to stay away from that light. The center of the village also has a ton of traffic so at a dusty venue like this you might be breathing that stuff all day long.
All those white posts mark start lines. We went up the hill then turned 180 degrees in the race.
It’s 7:30 in the evening as I write this. Dark enough to keep you from reading a newspaper but you can walk into the woods to pee with out a light. Warm still but that’s going to change. Last night we might have seen 40 degrees which felt pretty cold to me. We’ll run the generator to power the heater tonight.
I watched the start of the pro quads this afternoon. Bill Balance (who clinched his 9th consecutive title today) was the first rider through our pit area on the opening lap. He was full noise all the past us. The second place ride was 10 to 12 seconds behind but was forced to tiptoe past because the dust that Balance stirred up was so thick. Everyone that followed was forced to go even slower as more and more dust filled the air. Being near the front is going to be key tomorrow.
So, to that end, my clutch is worn to the point that it drags when in gear. Maybe it will get better when everything is up to operating temperature but I anticipate difficulties at the start. I’m going to have to focus pretty hard on kicking that thing hard when the green flag flies. I’ve rarely used a block to stand on at the start but I will tomorrow. Carley and Matt are here – maybe Carley can pick it up after I start and drag it back to Joe’s row…
Now it’s dark enough to have a sky full of stars. Time to start thinking about bed.
