Signed myself up again to do mechanical support for this years Worlds Most Beautiful Bike Ride. You see allot of interesting stuff, meet some interesting people and get to work on your productivity at this event as there's plenty to do. It all adds up for one crazy day.
Doing support for this event goes like this: You get to the rest stop early. Set up. Then you wait. The first few riders come through. They NEVER need their bikes worked on. They are clearly "winning". You wait some more. Riders continue to come trickle through... then come the masses..... all 3,000 of them. It starts with a cut tire, then a shifter cable, a spoke..... the list goes on. In a period of about two hours you work on countless bikes doing repairs as fast as you can. People are waiting. Most are cool. Like a receding high tide or the setting of the sun things slow down. There's no longer a line of riders waiting for this or that. Some stragglers come through. You wonder if they'll make the whole 100 miles. Then it's over. You pack up and go home.
Thanks to the couple from Philadelphia who shared their lunch of pizza and beers towards the end of the day. This couple won't set any speed records on this ride, but I guarantee they had the best attitude and a really good time on this ride..... just the way it should be.
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