This past week has been full tilt with little sleep in preparation for my graduation and moving our stuff into storage for our trip. To cap off an already sleep deprived week, I thought it would be a great idea to do a 12 hour race solo. I did really well last year and thought I could repeat. For some reason, I figured my lack of sleep and training would have little effect on the outcome. Another reason was that this seemed a lot more fun than joining all the other Tech grads for the graduation ceremony.
Before I get to the race, a little history on Goats. Goats are terrible creatures and are considered bad luck in drag racing. While I was working on a top fuel dragster, goats became the reason anything broke. We were convince there lurked a great goat conspiracy behind the scenes and we swore we could always hear goat laughter whenever a connecting rod broke, the car spontaneously caught fire, a valve failed, anything. The goat conspiracy continues in all forms of racing but nobody has really figured it out yet. But I know! And I intend to expose these goats for what they are, trouble makers with an appetite for destruction.
When Goats attack race cars:
So back to the race. Everything went well until lap three when the bike stopped shifting. Turns out a goat had chewed through a shifter cable rendering the entire system useless. After struggling with the bike to finish the lap and get in the pits, I realized that I had no freakin tools. In my haste and desire to pack "light" I did not bring any tools or spare parts. I did not mind my 7P's. Fortunately, Eddie O'Dea (www.55nineperformace.com) had a spare shifter cable and some tools that I was able to get everything rigged back together. Nuth'n quite like rednek engi-neer'n. During this, I went a lap down but I got back underway. This angered the goats and got them scheme'n on better ways to slow me down. This was done by way of complete front brake failure entering a high speed muddy corner. The goats finished my fate by kicking out the rear wheel with a hoof and sending the rest of me crashing into the ground. Bruised but otherwise okay, I completed the lap, came back into the pits and started working on the front brake. I was now two laps down and tired. I sat down, ate and then figured there's not much point in continuing past exhaustion. I did one more lap, enjoyed the being in the woods and called it a day. Even a bad day mountain biking beats any graduation walk.
Lee
Th 7P's are
Prior Proper Planning Prevents P*@s Poor Performance
- Virgil Hartman former owner of Fram and Prestone Top Fuel Dragsters
2 comments:
Lee,
cool story, thanks.
what front brakes are you running that failed? Cable or hydraulic? sounds scary. I just bought a used 03 Specialized Enduro, it currently has Avid Juicy 5's. Riding about every other day now.
I hope y'all have a fantastic trip, I'll stay tuned to the blogs. It would be cool to meet up somewhere in Colorado!
Will,
The front brakes were 4-piston XT hydraulic that are about 5 years old. The reason they failed was because it still has the original set of brake pads. I finally wore them out. I knew they were getting close and have a set of brand new ones but I figured there was enough to last and I didn't want to go changing things around at the last minute. Those pads have been in every race and every mountain bike ride over the past 5 years so I guess I got my money out of them! So it had nothing to do with the design or brand. Hydraulic brakes are self adjusting and so you never know when they go, until they go.
I put about 800 miles a year on the mountain bike, 2700 on the road to give you some idea of wear life. They were metallic pads.
Lee
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