Jingle Cross Mud.

So, 3 days. 1 broken derailler hanger, a cross-threaded bb shell, about a dozen bike washes, some good tuning action, and nearly a bottle of chain lube. No biggie. It's back to life in the pit for me, and I don't mind too much.

Friday was the big catastrophe x2, or so it seemed. #1: We had put off replacing Ben's BBs with the Chris King bling that the team had sent over till the hotel room just 3 hrs before the race. Ben, Tim, and I were working together to try to get it done quickly. Pulled the old Shimano ones out, and began trying to get the Kings in... and they weren't threading happily. Ben went to work on one with a ratchet and threaded it all the way in only to find it not sitting flush. With the race staring us down just hours away and in a hotel room with no chaser or proper tools, he rightly sort of lost it. It was cross-threaded. I sent him away, called the friendly folks at Geoff's to make sure they had time, loaded up the bikes, and in no time they chased the threads and I got the lovely new gold King bb's in there, were ready to roll. That was a close call. No more waiting till the last minute!

Then, #2, during the race, Ben came running into the pit with a mudball of a bike that had the derailler wrapped around the rear triangle and into the wheel, with the chain twisted sideways in the derailler and jammed into the pulleys. It looked really bad... but it wasn't. Had to pull the wheel and unwrap the derailler to discover it was just a broken hanger. Pulled the back off the pulleys and sorted out the chain. Spokes made it through fine, and the derailler was still usable. Replace the hanger, re-hang the derailler, and it seemed ready to go but there was a strange hop when I was tuning it... looked to find a tooth on a pulley was bent. Easy peasy, bent it back, it tuned up fine. Crisis averted!

Aside from that, perfect hand-ups, no worries. It was c-c-c-cold, for sure, but not unbearable. Long wash lines, small pit.

I did lots of smack-talking, though, because, golly, there was lots of madness. As usual, there was one pit crew that just kept screwing stuff up, to the point where I saw it as a comedy of errors-- rider came in and reported a low rear tire, they replaced the front. They sent out the B bike and it came back next 1/2 lap with rider saying tires weren't properly inflated. Stuff like that. I'm really glad that's not me. I'm not a professional, but I try to be professional in the service Ben gets.

Friday night we had dinner and a few beers and passed out like nobody's business. Saturday, we had dinner with a big group of My Wife Inc and HAC and were joined by Wisconsin's superstars, Brian, Tristan, and Bill. After that we crashed the pool at the Holiday Inn and drank and played and then retired to our room where a group of 11 watched Up, and I fell asleep and didn't realize it and when I woke up for the credits complained that the movie was too short.

I love these weekends, I hate these weekends. Because of the differing schedule, we didn't get to see Ariel, Jacob, Chris, Tim, or Al race. Which sucks. But it was still a good time. Thanks to everyone who cheered Ben on, and to Half Acre for the beer, and to Rock Lobster for what is always the best equipment out there... Paul, Chris King, Shimano, Easton, Fizik, and of course... Rock Lobster!