Cycling Oklahoma
Cycling Oklahoma
"Stuff'n & Suck'n" - Chats with Drummond
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We catch up on life as a race mechanic, from a tightly run USA Cycling mountain bike camp in Bentonville to the long, chaotic days of the Redlands stage race. Along the way, we get into suspension basics, feed zone survival, and why local racing only stays alive if we actually show up.
• how USA Cycling camp works behind the scenes
• what mechanics do all day to keep athletes rolling
• suspension setup mistakes that kill traction
• tire pressure habits and why many riders go too high
• how a stage race support crew operates at Redlands
• feed zone and tech zone realities at race speed
• how day rates and event contracts work for staff
• why pro team service course organization is so intense
• OKXC schedule updates and what races are coming
• Maverick Crit practice night recap and race etiquette
• Tornado Alley Race Series dates and how to help keep it going
McMurtry this weekend, April 25th, come out, bring your kids.
No Agenda And Road Trip Talk
SPEAKER_00All right. We're recording.
SPEAKER_01This one's for Billy D.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. Billy stopped bugging us. Um, well, we've talked for an hour and we shared all the goods and all the stuff that we should have been recording but can't record.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, if you could have heard what we just talked about.
SPEAKER_00We decided that we could have made tens of dollars off of that episode. Maybe, maybe hundreds of dollars.
SPEAKER_01I think hundreds.
SPEAKER_00Hundreds. That was good stuff. Lots of details.
SPEAKER_01We would have got tips, if nothing else, from people. Or hits.
SPEAKER_00Somebody would have hit put a hit out on us for all the shit we just discussed. Um, we here's the thing. This episode, we have no agenda. Drummond is just getting ready to hit the road, and we wanted to have beers and hang out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I've been gone and back for a week, and I'm leaving again, so I just wanted to hang out with Ellis.
SPEAKER_00So well, we invited Dumber. Oh, Dumbest. Well, he's not here, so he'll be Dumbest. We invited Dumbest. Yeah. And he decided to put us off to go hang out with Billy and Spandex and look at him. He decided, he's like, no, I want to follow and get dropped by Billy on every climb. And so I'm not gonna hang out with you guys tonight. So Alan's no longer here, and we may fire him permanently.
SPEAKER_01He's not getting any of the cut.
SPEAKER_00None of it. Nope, he's out. Um, well, since you're in and out, let's just start with that. Where and what have you been doing? And let's talk about your um, I guess your new role in mechanic life. It's not new, but it's kind of more official.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's more official. I'm not just so what have you been doing? I'm not just hanging out and looking at being the dad that's helping out.
Inside USA Cycling MTB Camp
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so let's talk about what you've been doing.
SPEAKER_01Um well, I actually I started out doing um USA cycling uh mountain bike camp. That was back in March.
SPEAKER_00And that was in Bentonville, right? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I went over there and what so what is that was with USA cycling.
SPEAKER_00What is like their camp? Because you were there for like what, like a week, ten days?
SPEAKER_01The camp was yeah, it was about 10 days.
SPEAKER_00What what does a camp look like for a USA cycling mountain bike?
SPEAKER_01What they're doing over there, it's actually really cool because it's and it's kind of crazy how how well it runs with what they're doing. Because we had um eight U-23s. So there was supposed to be a U-23 camp in February that got snowed out, and this was gonna be a junior only, and it's kind of like an invite-only camp. Um but we had eight U-23s, I think, and then we had two groups of 15 juniors. Wow. So like the U-23s were there most of the time. The juniors came in four days, four-day camps. Okay. Um but yeah, daily, like what they provide for the athletes, um, they have like sports psychologists come in, they have nutritionists come in. Wow. Yeah, they they have like nightly like meat, like mandatory meetings. They just put them up in a house. So where where they were staying, you know, when you go down all American, uh-huh, those those like apartment type buildings, everyone was housed in those.
SPEAKER_00How cool is that?
SPEAKER_01So like some of the staff, I was in a different house like a couple blocks away, and some of the other staff was in a different house. The U-23s were in like the 21C motel, but all the juniors stayed um in those apartments, and some of the staff. We had one apartment that was like like the community house. Um, there was three chefs on hand. So every meal was like yeah, yeah, it was it was pretty nice. No kidding. Like we just went up for it, you know, we knew what time mealtime was, everything was ready. Man, like they they do it right for sure.
SPEAKER_00So everybody gets your license this year. Yeah, yeah. Wow, that's fantastic. That's like very professional.
Suspension Setup And Tire Pressure
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think I think they have, you know, they've got a good budget. The the Olympics are coming and the mountain bike program is crushing on the World Cup circuit. So like when things are going well, there's always more put into it. They've got like a full-time doctor on staff now, so he he came in for a few days and talked. Wow. Um, yeah, it's it's really it's not just them riding their bikes, it's kind of giving them all the tools they need to be successful. Um, and then and then on the riding days, they'll do mostly skill stuff. They have three or four different coaches come in. Um, like World Cup downhill guy comes in, Jill Kittner, who she's I think one or been to worlds in every discipline other than cross country, probably. Um and then Rich Drew, who's who just does coaching stuff over there. He's kind of tied in and does a lot of the camp stuff. But um, yeah, I mean they'll they'll get up, you know, it was like 8:30 breakfast and they're rolling at 9, 9.30. Um, they would go do some days they would do like a full-day skill session basically in a parking lot, just cones and ramps and stuff like that, just to work. I mean, it was really surprising to me the few days I wasn't at every session, we were kind of bouncing around, but how I know some of these kids are good, like they they get good results, and then you watch like some of the stuff that you and I have worked on, like they don't have those skills. They just have big engines that well they have yeah, I mean they have pretty much, I guess. Like they have skills, they're good mountain bikers, but like when you break down the basic techniques, a lot of them would struggle at first, like learning how to do it, or maybe they just don't think a lot about what they do, but um yeah, I think because I kind of saw the curriculum and I'm like, is this really necessary for this level of athlete? And most of them needed it, uh and most of them got a lot out of it. Um where where we came in as mechanics is you know, mostly we're there to make sure bikes are running, like they go on these things every day and their bikes have no problems because otherwise we gotta run out and help them or they they don't get what they need out of it. Right. What we did notice is a lot of them suspension setup.
SPEAKER_00That's what I was gonna ask.
SPEAKER_01They don't not I'm I'm not gonna say all of them, but a lot of them don't really know that stuff. Um setting up their cockpit, like their bike fits are pretty good, but like their lever position and shifter position. Really? Like we kind of went through that stuff. I mean, it's I think even at that level, there's just not people that put that attention into those little details. That's so interesting. Those are shocking. Yeah. I had I had one kid. I was well, and flight attendant. Like every kid there had flight attendant, and I think most of them didn't know how to use it and didn't have it set up right, and just had no clue. They just put on their bike and ran a remote lockout button and didn't use the automatic feature. Uh one girl was like, I hate it, I hate it. And I'm like asking her questions, and I realized like you just can't get that in depth with every athlete with that many. But one kid had like we needed to work on his suspension, and he's and I start checking it, and this kid's probably 140 pounds, and he had I think he had like 160 pounds of air in his fork and like 240 pounds of air in his shock.
SPEAKER_00He had he was riding it rigid.
SPEAKER_01I was like, all right, like I started questioning him. He's like, Well, I'm used to road bikes and gravel bikes. I'm like, this is supposed to move. That's what you're riding here. So congratulations. You have electronic suspension so that it will get firm when you need it. So basically, I reset all of his stuff, and he was just blown away. Like that his bike had traction climbing hills.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say he couldn't believe how much traction he got.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so that's like for us, you don't have a lot of connection with the athletes because you're just like churning through bikes, but it's cool to like make a difference in that way.
SPEAKER_00That must be way more fun for you as a mechanic that you're like educating, talking, communicating, working with, and like seeing a difference instead of just like they dump their bikes, you're washing, cleaning, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01And that's what most of it is because you just literally don't have the time because they're you know, they all have their own separate houses. You know, they do a really good job because of safe sport and all that. It's like nobody's in nobody's allowed in anyone else's house ever for any reason. Uh they have a curfew, they're in their house by curfew. That's cool. So it's it's really well run and organized, and the expectations laid out really well of of what what they're supposed to do. So they're not just kind of hanging out where we're hanging out a lot. Yeah. So they'll come down, you know, they'll do breakfast, you know, they're done by nine and they're riding at 9.15, 9.20. So that's when they walk out to get their bikes. We're doing tire pressure, and like it's chaotic. So actually getting to go through that stuff, there's not a lot of time. Um, Jill was doing a lot of suspension stuff, and so I I kind of told her, I was like, there should be there should be a night where that's one of the talks.
SPEAKER_00For sure. Like it's a big topic.
SPEAKER_01You should tell them, you know, have like there's a SRAM tech rep that lives in Bentonville. It's like you should have him come over and just go through like what is suspension, how does it work, what does it do? Um, because it's like, man, that's the fact how little they knew was surprising to me.
SPEAKER_00That is surprising at that level. Yeah. Yeah. Because I feel like that's such I feel like at even at my level, that's such massive low-hanging fruit. Yeah. Like just even the basics, you don't have to get crazy with it, but just basics.
SPEAKER_01And some of the kids, when they I would ask them what tire pressure, and they would tell me, I'm like, really? Like I didn't question them because it's like there's not time for that. Do you do you want to?
SPEAKER_00Okay, so let's ask that as a tip for people. Do you see most people run too high of tire pressure or too low?
SPEAKER_01Um, I think most people probably run too high. Like those athletes, and some of them were like world class, like some of the U23s, and would give me really weird tire pressures. And so I'm like, oh, I'm not gonna question them. Right. They're on like legit World Cup teams, but they would run like five pounds more in the front tire than the rear. That's fine. And and both of them were higher than I would run. And I thought it was really strange, but they give a reason why? I didn't ask. Sometimes like you can kind of tell the athlete that they like they have a reason they want this. So you like you don't want to be the guy coming in trying to just like that's not my job.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's fair enough. Yeah, they probably have a mechanic in Europe that set them up this way. Yeah, yeah. It's it's really strange, but it was pretty fun. I mean That's a cool experience. It it was at first like most of that staff works together year round, and I don't, so it's like kind of getting to know everybody, but by the end it was pretty fun. Like we we got to go race go-karts one night. Not not everybody, but like the U-23 and the staff. So that's fine. And I and I won. So I came in under the radar. They had all their picks, it was gonna be fast. Uh-huh. Not not the dirty, not the grease monkey. To be fair, I had raced the the course before when we lived there, so I had some advanced.
SPEAKER_00You don't need to tell them that. Nope, that's another business.
Redlands Stage Race Mechanic Life
SPEAKER_01But that was fun. And then I came, I was only home for two days, and then I I went to drove to California for the Redlands stage race for competitive edge, which is kind of what I'm doing. I call it full time.
SPEAKER_00I'm full-time with the team, but it's not like a it's not every day that you're yeah, sometimes it's 15 days in a row, some days it's sometimes it's two days in a row or three, but so with competitive edge, you are are you the only mechanic or are there more than you and how what does it look like at a race?
SPEAKER_01I feel like I I feel like currently I'm the consistent mechanic, but there will be two at every race. Okay. So you have like a men's director, a women's director, a men's mechanic, women's mechanic for staff.
SPEAKER_00Um and you have how many racers on each team? Like when a redlands, what'd you guys have? We had you had men's and women's there.
SPEAKER_01I think we had seven and six or eight and six. Okay. And then we had two go out with injuries. Oh, okay. So and then we had like a couple, like, you know, you get someone gets time cut. Like it kind of whittles down if if things aren't going perfect. So like the second day we had two go out with injuries.
SPEAKER_00From wrecks? Uh yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Two of the guys went down, one was okay, one was a broken collarbone and ribs, and then two of the women went down. These were both like they went down in the same crashes together, and the other it was a mild concussion, so not terribly bad, but bad enough. And we had we had one guy get time cut. Um the time cut's really weird there. Like, I've heard that's a thing at that race.
SPEAKER_00So Redlands is uh it's one of the biggest races in the country, left.
SPEAKER_01It's one of the few existing stage races, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so how many stages is it? Five. Four, five, five, five? Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_01So they have a TT, they have a crit somewhere in there, and they're a TT, they had a road race with a big climb that they couldn't do this year. Okay. For some reason, I don't remember what it was. So they did a it was uh it was a circuit race, but it was like between a circuit and a big crit. It was really weird, and that was like that was kind of a hard day because they had road race rules. But like if you flatted, you were gonna get lapped. Oh because it was it was short enough that Yeah, that's weird. Like they should have done crit rules that day and called it a circuit, but and then they they had another road race the next day that had like some some gravel in it because you gotta have gravel.
SPEAKER_00It's yeah, gotta do that now. So as you as a mechanic being in a situation like that, are you like completely like swapping out gear and like gearing or tires and like no, you're not doing there's some races where you'll kind of mess with gearing.
SPEAKER_01Like I worked one last year and we were we were changing maybe cassettes or chainrings, like depending on is all that supplied by sponsors, or do the athletes have to bring it? So the the team's sponsored by Shimano. Okay, so it's not like we have everything Shimano offers in unlimited quantity, but we have a good selection. Like all the bikes are durace bikes. Uh they're all like the men's are set up with you know, like 54-tooth chainrings and the same cassettes as the women have, but the women have 52s. Okay. Uh TT bikes have different different gearing.
SPEAKER_00Do you have a trailer that you work out of, or is it just like kind of a tent?
SPEAKER_01Uh we the van, so I have the team van that it stayed at our house all winter after Cross National. So that's what I drove out, and it's it's just like a full-size van that's really full. Like a sprinter van? No. Okay, just like the team has a sprinter van and a trailer, but that stuff's in Massachusetts. So that the this van, basically what we did out there is we I drove that van out. It was like completely packed with all the race wheels, um, some spare parts, but the team owner Tyler, he flew out with like this big plastic pack out case that had like all of our spare parts that's now in the van. Um but then we rented a U-Haul and we rented like a rental, like a minivan. Like the U-Haul, we put like fork mounts, we just screwed them to the existing slats and just used that to get the bikes back and forth. So like myself and the other mechanic would just leave early in the U-Haul, take all the bikes, then like the men would drive out in the van, the women were at a different house and would drive out. Okay. Um, but no, we're not switching a lot of equipment. We're we're basically like, you know, if the bikes we don't wash the bikes every day if we don't have to. Like if they're a little dusty, we give them a wipe down. If they race in the rain or they got slobber drink mix on them, the bikes get washed, uh, run through everything, charge batteries, make sure everything, you know, check all the bolts. Yeah, you you don't want to be the reason that they have a bad result.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_01Um, check tires.
SPEAKER_00I say do they all have specific tire pressures that you have to keep track of and all that kind of stuff?
SPEAKER_01And yeah, but it's like we use WhatsApp. Oh. So we'll have like a men's chat and a women's chat. Okay. And like I was the women's mechanic, so it'd be like uh Caroline Mani used like a former French national champion of Cyclacross. She's a very decorated racer. She was the women's director. Okay. Um, she was really on top of it and would like send me everyone's dire pressure in the morning. If if I don't get it, I usually ask for it because they're all you don't want to be asking them when they're trying to get ready. Because they'll show up in time to, you know, kind of get their clothes on and their bikes are on the trainer and they're ready and then that that's it.
SPEAKER_00So they get to act, I mean, it's it's so for one, it's it's weird that the two drumming kids are on this team. You know, I just still see them as like the drumming kids. Yeah. And but they're grown-ass adults at this point. Yeah. And but they're real professionals. It's not like they're just showing up to like the weekly crit and like wanting to like ride play bicycles. This is like the real this is business.
SPEAKER_01Chris Carlson actually re I posted a story because like Ryan was, I think one day the early on, he was like fourth in the green jersey, and Aubrey was tenth. Yeah, he's like, he's like, I'm having a hard and he he's been doing it for a long time. He's like, that's pretty cool to have a brother and sister in red lens and a brother and sister in the top ten of green jersey. Wild.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's like crazy.
SPEAKER_01I was like, I didn't really think about it, but no, it's like weird. You kind of get into it, you're just in it, you're just doing the job, right? Like, I appreciate the cool things that I see, but like that those types of things I didn't really think about. He said he could think of maybe one or two other brother sisters ever that were kind of in that situation.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and no, it's it's it's wild like when you're not inside of it, yeah, in the ropes, yeah, you know, and you're just like living it every day. You're like, yeah, that's my kids, like we just ride bicycles and that's what we do. But it's it's odd. Yeah, yeah, it's like phenomenal. Yeah, and then so and then it's weird to think of them living this life as like a legit pro, not because what we think around here is you know, you're just like, oh, they're good on they're on a team, quote, air quotes on a team, yeah. Um, on a team here is like you just get a jersey that you pay for at a discounted rate, but like that's like the real it's business, like it's the real thing there. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean it's it's definitely like I think people probably think I'm like hanging on the couch with my kids, and yeah, it's like I don't even talk to them, right? I the only time I saw Aubrey because we stayed in different houses, like I would see her when she showed up when she was in race mode, and then I wouldn't really see her after because I would be running like the tech zone for the men still. I mean, because there's enough like you're running a feed zone and a tech zone in one spot, so you're doing feeds, you need at least two people because like if you're doing feeds and then like you have wheels and uh a spare bike and all that stuff in case they have a technical problem. So I I didn't see her after the race, I would see her for like I don't know, maybe 20 minutes a day. Crazy. And then when I'm in the house with Ryan, but I I try really hard to turn dad off. Like I don't I'll like mess with him and talk with him some, but it's like he's doing his thing with with his teammates. Right. I'm there to do a job as well. So it's like I I would talk about it later. Yeah, I mean like later being after the race is over.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, when we get home, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Which it's like it's it's still cool because I can still watch them race and still be a part of it in that way and like not just get a phone call after and they kind of tell me about the race, and I'm trying to like visualize how it went. I'm getting to watch it, but yeah, it's like I'm there doing a job, they're there doing a job.
SPEAKER_00Was Vanessa there with USA cycling?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I barely saw her. Like I would see her in the feed zones. Uh-huh. She stayed at our house like the first night. It was me and her and the team owner, and then she went to her house, but she's too busy doing her thing, too. Like sometimes I'd see in the feed, but it would be kind of like get away from me, because like I'm feeding comp Edge, she's feeding USAC, uh-huh, and you kind of need your space. They're coming through at 25 miles an hour if they're going slow to grab a bottle.
Feed Zones And Bottle Chaos
SPEAKER_00Crazy. Crazy. The feed zone's pretty insane. Well, and I was watching, um was uh well, I was watching on the trainer yesterday the stuff from Sea Otter. And so I watched Finstwall stuff and I watched uh Alexi and Avery stuff, and what dude coming through feed is I'm shocked there's not massive pile-ups in feed zones.
SPEAKER_01That's that's actually where the guys crash. Oh, yeah, it was from people being stupid, it wasn't from like a feed, but yeah, it's it's like you're they're coming through full gas, you really don't want to miss their feed. If they're wanting to take a bottle, they want a bottle. And you're trying to pick your guy out, and and sometimes there's two of them and they're a couple bikes apart. And if if you don't have enough people, it's like I'm I'm usually holding I'm holding like four bottles. Right. I've got one in my hand, and I'm like, as soon as that goes, it's just like you're trying to rapid fire them out to get to have enough. Um, Ryan gets teased on the team about his really long fingers and arms. And there was we did a feed where my arm, because I have long arms, I was over someone's head and he reached because he couldn't get over far enough, but like we reached over the top of this guy and he took a bottle.
SPEAKER_00What a fantastic picture that would have been. That would have been awesome.
SPEAKER_01And they all have so they've got these arrow bottle cages and bottles that they don't like to toss. I think they're afraid they're gonna lose them, but right. And that's what their like high carb is in. So they all will take these bottles, chug them, and throw them. So then you gotta walk to the end of the feed zone and find the bottle somewhere.
SPEAKER_02Uh huh.
SPEAKER_01So it's like every lap, you walk all the way down, you're looking. Luckily, we have bottles that say trek on them. They're easy to identify.
SPEAKER_00You guys So here's something that I noticed, and I thought this was weird, because whenever. Well, and I ended up not going, but whenever I was gonna do feed zone for Saxby at the Unbound, I was like, We're tying balloons on me. I'm gonna put balloons on me. So when he comes around the corner, it's instant. He never has to because you're so cognitively screwed anyways. Yeah. And especially if there's chaos, it's even worse. And then and your feed zones are crazy, yeah, you know, and everybody looks the same. Everybody kinda has the same kits. And I noticed it in the Alexi and Avery uh episode. I'm like, everybody here like oh, I was watching um an EF, and we're gonna talk about Rubay in a bit. I was watching EF um race TV for Rebe, and they were talking they showed a lot of stuff in the feed zones and stuff. And I'm like, they kinda I mean they'll wear their team kits, but like they all all the team kits look the same. Why does someone not wear like Mickey Mouse ears or like a like a legit yellow vest like with reflectors on it?
SPEAKER_01Well, well, so like the team actually has their rain jackets they got this year or neon yellow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And Tyler told me that he had feed zone vests. So I don't know.
SPEAKER_00We we didn't have those at Redlands, so maybe they're I was wearing I don't know why everyone doesn't have like some like crazy wild thing that no one else would have. It would make it so much better for the riders.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. We just had team vests, yeah. And just try to like I think they're kind of looking, but they're really if there's a bottle, they'll grab it. So like I'm watching the rider and I will put it uh put it in front of them. Like I'll hold mine up because if you just hold it out, someone will just take it.
SPEAKER_00Just anybody will take it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, if they see a bottle and they need a bottle, they'll take it. So like I would hold mine high, uh-huh. And when I saw a rider, I would, you know, you drop it down and and then they can grab it.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, it's like it's like I'm gonna tie a balloon on my wrist. So when he comes around, he's there's not gonna be a and and this is what's fantastic because I bought all of them before I realized I couldn't go because I had a sick dog emergency. Is I bought all of my balloons said inappropriate like things on them. I went down to like party galaxy or whatever. I'm like, what are the most inappropriate balloons that would go to Saxby at a race? Yeah, and that's the ones I bought because I want him to come around and be like, Jesus, I know that one's mine. And I'm like, why didn't more people not do this?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean it's make it so much easier.
SPEAKER_00It's tough, yeah. It looks crazy.
SPEAKER_01Because like you'll you kind of get in a spot and you're like, all right, I got space in front, because you don't want to be right next to someone, right? And then someone like walks and stands in front of you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh and it's like, I don't know, it usually ends up working out. They don't take feeds every time.
SPEAKER_00Well, how okay, so when the race ends, how late is the mechanic's day? Like how long? How much how many hours do you work back?
SPEAKER_01We would leave the house depending on the day. I think the earliest we left was 5 a.m. Okay. Um but like the the latest we probably left was like 6 30. Um 6 30 or 7. The crit day was the the best day.
SPEAKER_00You set them up on trainers and all the stuff or rollers or whatever.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like well, we'd get out mainly to get get a good parking spot. Then we yeah, we unload it, we get the A-frames out, get the bikes out, get the women's trainers out because they're gonna be there first. Um kind of just so that when they get there, they don't have to do anything but get on their bike. Um but yeah, then it's kind of a weird day because it's like you it's a it's a hurry up and wait. Like you hurry up, you get there, you unload everything, and then you wait. There's really nothing to do until they get there, and then you like do that part, get them off trainers. I went to of the two of us, I went to more of the feed zone, tech zone. Because someone has to stay at the truck to like get the men on the trainers and off the trainers. Yeah, uh, and you just don't want to leave that stuff laying around. So that would be that job on trainers, off trainers, putting out any fires that might happen. So um but then I would, you know, maybe you're in the tech zone, you don't do a lot. You don't do a lot of feeds. Like I had on the gravel day, I was purely a tech zone. I wasn't a feed zone, and nobody flatted. So I was there from 7 30 in the morning to good mechanicking right there. Yeah, call it whatever you want. I was there until probably I don't know, two. I was there all day. Oh my gosh. And I didn't do anything. But like that's what you want.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's dreamed of it.
SPEAKER_01It's boring, but it's like what you want for the team. But then we go back, load all the bikes up, drive back however long that takes. The longest was probably an hour, the shortest was probably 30 minutes. Um, unload everything, you know, get bottles, all the empty bottles out. Like the riders helped a lot with that part.
SPEAKER_00Do they do their own bottles every day? Yeah, like so.
SPEAKER_01If you have a soigneur, which we didn't, then that that job's kind of split. So the guy, like the guys, I don't know what happened at the girls' house. The guys cook for themselves. Okay. They cooked just enough pretty much every day that the mechanics didn't have enough food. Which is like every day they would be like, Are you guys eating with us? I'm like, I would like to, but you guys need to eat enough. Yeah. So if there's not enough, we don't have to. Right. There's plenty. This happened three days in a row. Plenty of food. They make their plates, and I see them looking at us, and I'm like, There's not enough, is there? Mm-hmm. Like, like every day, why don't you guys just make more than you made before? You're dealing with young boys. Yeah. So then we would like get to a point, like, let's go eat. And we go, we go grab food. But yeah, I mean, we're probably like laying down by 10, 10, 30. And it's not like you're full gas that whole time, but you're up kind of on alert that whole time. And yeah, and then you're back up at five in the morning. That's rough. It's like you get used to it, but like it's not, I don't think it's what people think it is when they see my Instagram that I'm just like hanging out at the races. It's like like it's I don't want to say it's not fun, uh-huh, but it's work.
SPEAKER_00It's work.
SPEAKER_01Like you're working a job.
SPEAKER_00And I don't I don't want to know specifics, but like so like racers, all of their pay is different. Some are actually getting paid, and some are just getting like travel paid for and like whatever. Um, so that varies and has its own thing. And then for the staff itself, not just you, but like whenever you do have a Swan Year, and whenever you do have, like you said, there was a performance coach that was there, and like different things like that. Like, how is that? Are you guys just like 1099 employees of the team? Yeah. Is that how that works? Yeah, just contracts. And they just give you a flat rate for per event.
SPEAKER_01It's a day rate.
SPEAKER_00Oh, they give you a day rate. Okay, gotcha. Huh. And then is that like they just come to you and be like, hey, we want to hire the mechanic day rate? Like, pretty much every mechanic for the most part across most teams are kind of it's kind of industry standard.
SPEAKER_01There's kind of I well, I think there's probably people that have a higher max.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But there's kind of a pretty standard because most teams that are there are kind of all in the same ballpark, I would guess. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01The only one that I would say maybe in a different ballpark's the modern adventure pro cycling, which is like Hinkappy's new Pro Tour team.
SPEAKER_00Gotcha.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I like I know their riders are making they had guys out there? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh.
SPEAKER_01They didn't win a single stage.
SPEAKER_00Really? Because I listened to a box.
SPEAKER_01Which I was surprised. I'm like, these guys are gonna freaking crudge a team at Roubaix. Yeah, so they have, I guess this was like maybe their C team. Okay. Um, but I've heard that team, the writers are paid really well and the staff's paid really well. There's a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00I listened to a podcast with him just the other day, and he like went into it, like how they're like they're trying to do it like real, like the way that a world too is.
Driving West And Fuel Fear
SPEAKER_01It's a good looking setup, but I was shocked that even the C team won nothing. I think they won best team because it's like a cumulative uh like point kind of thing. Yeah, I don't know if it's time or points, I don't remember, but they did win that, but not a single stage, which is surprising. Yeah. Um but yeah, there's there's kind of like a range for the day rates, depending on like experience and what and what you gotcha. I think what that person wants to pay you. I think cop edge is pretty across the board because they they pay well because they expect to have good people, but um but yeah, it's just a day rate. So like every day you work, like when I travel, that counts. Like driving across the country counted.
SPEAKER_00You did drive across the country. Come in, go.
SPEAKER_01Honestly, man, it was really nice.
SPEAKER_00You get to see some beautiful areas, yeah. Yeah, have you ever driven that route before? No, because we were texting while you were driving. I was like, oh, you're about to hit something beautiful, it's amazing. So, like that New Mexico-Arizona border, gorgeous.
SPEAKER_01Well, the bonus was I went I went straight out 40, but then I had to go to Denver on the way back and fly home. So you got so I got both, yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. Like I'm I'm glad I did because I'd never been to any of that area by car.
SPEAKER_00So it's beautiful, and like, man, I hope I don't have an issue.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you're like I was talking to Vanessa because she she drove to Colorado Springs the day before I left. And then like, so she's driving through Utah while I'm driving I-40. So I kept calling her. It's like, well, I know she's not doing anything. Yeah. And we're just like, man, this is like the freaking it's gorgeous. You're in the wilderness. It's you're out there when you leave. It's not safe out here. It's not safe out there.
SPEAKER_00There's a stretch, especially the so you went out to Flagstaff, and then from Flagstaff, where did you go? Did you go to Lake Havasu and then up?
SPEAKER_01I went to uh Barstow. Okay. Then south. Okay. So I went near Havasu.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh. But that stretch through there, dude. You're dreaming and hoping that nothing happens. I was it's like I kind of got to a point and I was like It's like Mars.
SPEAKER_01It wasn't quite lunchtime for me, but it was close. And I was like, I'll get lunch somewhere.
SPEAKER_00There is nothing.
SPEAKER_01And then I'm like, I type in like lunch spots and it's stuff in Barstow. No, it was like 140 miles. Yeah. And I was like, well, I'm not waiting. I think I was gonna eat at an In N Out. There's not even a convenience store. And it said there was one in Barstow, and I was like, I'll eat before then. I ate lunch in Barstow. Yeah. 140 miles later. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I remember driving, I drove to LA one time, and it was that same thing. I got to whatever that is, like around Havasu, like you get about the California border, and I remember seeing a sign is like next like next exit, like 97 miles or whatever it was. And I was like, I think I need to stop and get gas. And I went out there in the summertime, and I'm like, if I have a flat tire or a mechanical issue, yeah, yeah, and sometimes you have cell reception and sometimes you don't. What do you do? Like, I don't it's scary because it's like 120 outside, and you're just like, This is the this is Mars. If something happens, I'm in deep shit out here. Like, yeah, yeah, it's scary.
SPEAKER_01I think I had a I pulled in Aubrey Aubrey like freaks out about the low fuel light. As soon as it comes on, she's got to get gas. And I like to like push the limits just to make her uncomfortable. And I pulled into a gas station and I had like 14 miles. Oh, that's scary out there. I sent her a picture.
SPEAKER_00That's not good.
SPEAKER_01I wasn't quite out there yet, but like on the way back, so we so we had a rough, kind of a rougher drive back because we Ryan rode with me and we had to take um everyone to the airport, and they all had 5 30 flights. We had 30-minute drive. We got up at 2 30 in the morning.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01And then we like got everyone in the we had to take the U-Haul and the rental. And so we like Ryan drove one, I drove one, we dropped everyone off, and then we got in the same car, drove back, and then we had to get we had to make it to Denver or Littleton is the house we were going to that night, and it was like 14 hours. So we go back, load up all the the bikes that weren't flying on the on the vehicle and and drive. And uh that was a little more little more rough, and then there were spots where I wasn't sure, so I was like, I'm getting gas. Like, we're not doing this too.
SPEAKER_00No, you can't take a chance because if you take a chance and you're wrong, yeah, you're real screwed. You're unloading bike. Yeah, like it might be like a little mom and pop on the side of the highway. Yeah, yeah. But it's gorgeous out there.
SPEAKER_01So like if we stop, we got gas. 100%.
SPEAKER_00Even if we're like half tank, we're we're topping off. Yeah. What was your favorite spot driving?
SPEAKER_01Um I would say so. A lot of the stuff in California was really cool for me because I was in the area, like all the areas we were in when I like the videos I grew up watching, moto videos. Oh, yeah. It was like all these places I had seen for my whole life, but I'd never actually seen. And it wasn't like I was seeing actual riding spots, right? But it like all you were in the area. There was trails everywhere, and it was it was really cool. Like, man, it would be so much fun to come out here and ride. I know. Because it's just endless, endless, and it seems like public land that you could just go ride on. But like Utah was was pretty incredible, and then like it doesn't Grand Junction area, like the was it Grand Mesa, is that what they call it? It was pretty insane. And then just past that, we were just outside of Vale. It was starting to get dark, but like I wish we would have driven through that area in the daylight because the little bit we saw, it was like you're you're like deep in the mountains, there's like rivers running next to the road.
SPEAKER_00Deep trees. Yeah, yeah. There's parts of Colorado where you're like, oh, it's kind of high desert, kind of like, okay, whatever. And then there's parts that you're like, there's a lot of trees. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that drive you kind of drive through everything. Everything. Yeah. But yeah, there was there was just so much, and I'm just like trying to keep it on the road, but it's like you gotta you gotta learn. There's so many turns. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00You're always going up or down and turning.
SPEAKER_01And I'm just like, can't stop staring at that stuff.
SPEAKER_00It's beautiful.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was a really cool drive. Yeah, it was way better than the Missouri Turnpike that I normally travel on. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, going to Benville is pretty and all, but it ain't driving through the desert.
SPEAKER_01Going through Uranus, the fudge factory. Oh, the fudge factory, yeah. Yeah, it's fun the first couple times. It's funny.
SPEAKER_00Have you stopped there? Yeah. Oh, I haven't stopped there yet.
SPEAKER_01It's it's we stopped one time. It's funny. Like, we actually, it was when I quit working at Allied. I was like, all right, well, I and so I had like time because I was gonna go to Mountain Bike Nationals and then I was flying from there to Chicago to work for Aubrey's team. So it's like we had a little more time than normal. And so we stopped, it was me and Ryan and Hammond.
SPEAKER_00That's in Missouri, middle of Missouri, right? Yeah, yeah. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01But like you go in the there's all this like weird shit set up, but you go in there like shop because they have like all kinds of candy and stuff, and as soon as you walk in, welcome to Uranus. Like everyone, they love getting it in. And like everything is in there. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I you should stop sometime.
SPEAKER_00I don't know why I drove up there. I don't remember what race I was going to or what I was going to, but I drove by and I was like, this is hilarious. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You should stop sometime.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Yeah, it's I know it's remember it's in the middle of Missouri.
SPEAKER_01I mean, you only need like 30 minutes. Yeah. You don't need much more than that.
SPEAKER_00No, you just go in and like look at the thing.
SPEAKER_01I think we bought some moonshine in there.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's a good one to buy in Uranus.
SPEAKER_01I drank it on the rest of the drive. That's right. Yeah.
Potty Break Then Cycling YouTube
SPEAKER_00Help me get through the day. Uh-huh. Uh, I need to take a potty break. I'm about to pee in my pants. And then we're going to come back and we're going to talk OKXC and we're going to talk about the crits that happened last night because I think we have one left that gets us to the Maverick crits. And so we're going to bring this back local and we're going to go there. But I'm about to pee my pants.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00All right. We're back. Potty break. Cracker break. We're good to go. Um, we're just talking about before we get into local stuff, YouTube uh videos and things that we watch. And I watch the EF stuff, race TV. I think it's fantastic. You uh you watch uh the Visma stuff?
SPEAKER_01I don't know what their team's called anymore.
SPEAKER_00I don't either.
SPEAKER_01I do watch the UAE stuff a lot, but I watch the Visma stuff for Rubay.
SPEAKER_00Agree. I watch both of those. Yeah. The UAE stuff.
SPEAKER_01And you know who else does a really good one? And it's not a I don't know if the team does, but Tibor Del Grasso that rides for Alpeson. He does his own. And he does, he'll like go, he'll like have a GoPro, like team, team camp rides. He'll he'll like put his training peaks thing up. Like, this is the workout I'm doing today. That's cool. This is like he details his day by day, like on team camp. Huh. It's like he shows a lot more of the team lets him do it. Yeah, I mean, but his is really good. Like he's he's one of those.
SPEAKER_00Is it just under his name?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01One of those Dutch superstar kids, and I'm like, this kid's a freaking robot. But then I like I wasn't a big fan because he seems like a robot when he's riding, like no, no expression, just smashing. But then I watch it and I'm like, I'm a fan now. Yeah. Because he's like, it's super entertaining. It is. Seems like a fun guy. Like you get to see the personality a little, but that's a good one.
SPEAKER_00I think Visma really broke open last year with um what's his name that does he would always do the he's the leadout guy.
SPEAKER_01Oh um, who is it? The one the one that he wears like the arrow helmet.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, him and uh the American guy.
SPEAKER_01Jorgensen?
SPEAKER_00Him and Jorgensen would always do their like fun facts at the tour and that kind of stuff. Blanking on the other. I am too, but they were that's kind of a breakout for them. That was good. Yeah. But yeah, Visma's good stuff. Uh UAE, I was shocked of how relaxed they are. And exactly like what you said, Teddy or Teddy, Teddy seems that's the most Oklahoma thing ever. Oh, Teddy Pagotchi, Teddy Mogachar. Yeah. He seems like he's like seems like he's having fun. Yeah. He doesn't seem like the greatest of all time who's like in their moment, like I'm focused and I'm what like this is all that matters. He's like having a good time with his buddies. He just happens to ride faster than them. Yeah. That seems like his attitude.
Roubaix Mechanics And Service Course Logistics
SPEAKER_01You see that a lot with Vanderpool in the T-Bores also, because they're like screwing around on team rides. Which is awesome. You get to see a lot of personality.
SPEAKER_00I like that. But the reason I brought all this up was because on the race TV, the Roubaix one, they it's like it's it's a longer one. It's maybe like 30 minutes long. Usually they're not that long. And they cover men's and women's team or whatever, but they talk to the mechanics. And I have never felt so bad for a guy in my life. He's standing in this trailer, and all you can see is wheels. And he is just like, yeah, man, it's a lot of work for our mechanics, and uh, you know, it's because we can't ever get to them, you know, so we gotta have to have all these wheels ready, and because they just go out on the course. And so I just started thinking about that. I'm like, this poor guy has to get, I think it was like 40 something sets of wheels ready, plus the bikes that they're all gonna be riding, because he never saw a rider, and they only gave out X number, I think they only gave out like I don't remember what it was, like four or five wheels because everybody just takes a new bike. So he has got to get all the bikes ready, plus all of these wheels ready, and all of them just get torn apart and never used. And like, I'm like, this poor fella. That's rough.
SPEAKER_01Tyler from Comp Edge was telling me, like, those guys, I don't know this guy, but he's he is a mechanic for Visma. Um, and apparently they have like I think two people, full-time staff, that their job is just to deal with tubeless tires. Like, like, because you don't want like old sealing in there, you want to make sure they have sealing in there, like that they just they just screw with tire ceiling pretty much.
SPEAKER_00It's insane. Yeah. Like when you see this and they do the behind the scenes, and they and race TV, they do a lot of cool stuff sometimes where they'll do a whole episode just with mechanics, just on the service course, and the whole episode's about the service course, and to see how much just the organization of the nutrition for the year, because they have it all there, and they're like, this isn't for the year, this is just the shipment for the first part of the year, yeah, and this will all get restocked again and the warehouse and how it's like organized and laid out, and then all the cars, and they're like, Okay, well, this is gonna go these races and this is gonna go this race. I'm just like these, because they have a guy who's just in charge of the service course, right? And just the logistics of everything, unbelievable. Like, I love that part of the racing, like the racing, like the athletes, like that's cool, like whatever, but like that stuff I think is the best.
SPEAKER_01I think it gives you a much better perspective of how much goes into making that happen. So insane. I mean, the level we do it at is very small compared to what they're doing, and I'm like, like the logistics of what we do is insane.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's why I like to keep asking you all these questions because I like it blows me away that it's like that on such a small local level. And it's not a small local level, but it is relative to big leagues. Yeah, yeah, it's cool. I think it's so I think that stuff is so cool. Yeah, yeah, that's way more interesting than the actual race.
SPEAKER_01I feel like the team's really well prepared and it like how much it takes to be really well prepared.
SPEAKER_00And and that's why you see why they're always struggling financially. Like every team is always looking for a new sponsor, and that's where you're like, well, that's where the money goes. I mean, like, there's just so many logistics and pieces and parts, and like what the USA cycling and them coming out there, like that's just in their housing, how much it costs to house everybody and feed everybody. It's incredible.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the food, the food alone.
SPEAKER_00Project.
SPEAKER_01I had not been to like a bigger stage race with the team and Vanessa's like, You're gonna be you're gonna be kinda blown away at how much food they eat. Yeah, I had like I'd bought some groceries the day before the team got in. She's like, You should hide that in your room. And I was like, whatever. She's like, no, hide it. And I did. Because if it's out, it's gone. I mean, we like you're talking like a couple loaves of bread a day, a couple like packages of bagels, like the 18 pack, like 18 carton of eggs. Oh my god. We had like a bag of rice, like a five-pound bag of rice. It's like all fucking gone in two days. I'm like, where did like you know? Normally you're like, this food's here, so in the morning I'm gonna eat this. Uh-huh. And then you go in the morning and it's gone. Where did that food go? Like, they just eat the amount of gels. Oh, like I took all the nutrition with me.
SPEAKER_00Are y'all sponsored by somebody on gels? No. Okay.
SPEAKER_01But like it runs through a shop. So but like the nutrition ship to my house, and I took it, and like the amount of gels we had and the amount of gels we left with, I'm like, oh my god.
SPEAKER_00It's unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But it's like that's what it takes. That's what it takes. Like one of the one of the guys made a I would call it a midday snack because they did a spin. It wasn't, I don't think it was his lunch, and it was like a plate of rice bigger than I've ever seen. Like it was a normal size plate, and it was probably two and a half inches tall of all rice with eggs on top of it.
SPEAKER_00And that was like his snack after the Well, I'm watching the Alexi uh channel the other day, and he had was eating like a pound of rice. Yeah. And I'm like, a pound of rice, a lot of rice. Yeah. Like, that's a lot.
SPEAKER_01But it's just like, how many carbs can I cram in before tomorrow? And when it's a stage race and you're, you know, you have to do that every day. Right. Like it just gets worse every day.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's uh that's an eating context.
SPEAKER_01I'm kind of glad they didn't cook enough for us. Because the rice gets old. Yeah, that does get old. They use a lot of hot sauce and soy sauce.
SPEAKER_00You just got to flavor it up shoving it in. Shoving it in. Who was I listening to the other day? Oh, it was uh as a good podcast with uh Woods. I don't even remember his first name. Canadian guy.
SPEAKER_01Rusty. Rusty or Mike? I think it I think you went by both.
SPEAKER_00He did go by both. Yeah. Yeah. So it was a podcast about him. He just recently retired from EF and blah, blah, blah. And he was talking, but he was talking about because he he raced for like 10 years roughly. So they were asking him, like, you got to see the old school and you got to see the new school. Like, what where do you see the differences? And he's like, nutrition. He's like, I remember watching when I first came onto a team, and I don't even remember the team, it's some team I never heard of. He goes, That guy was getting ready for the Giro. He's like, our GC leader was getting ready for the Giro. He's like, We did a one-day race, 200k. He goes, and the guy, the Giro was in a couple of weeks or whatever, so he was trying to get down to weight. He goes, I remember watching that. He did his normal race, like we finished. When we got done, he had his recovery shake right when we crossed the line, and then he rode 50k, like made a 50k route back to the hotel. And when we got to the hotel, he ate an apple and went to bed.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00He goes, That's what you did. That's how that's how it was. Because he needed to get ready for the giro. He goes, and now he's like, you can't eat enough food every single day. Like you just how many carbs can you shove in?
SPEAKER_01Crazy.
SPEAKER_00Crazy.
SPEAKER_01Like, how do you like surely he wasn't sleeping? No, there's no way.
SPEAKER_00His hormones and everything had to just been like, yeah. That's the thing. He's like, he goes, and that's the difference now. He called it uh hunger flat instead of bonking. He's like, yeah. He goes, back then it was just who would get hunger flat and when did they get their flat? And so it was just a survival of being on your bicycle. Who's gonna basically gonna die and who's not gonna die? And now he goes, This some guy doesn't you don't even know, I've never even seen who's like 20 years old is elbowing you out of position off of a wheel like three, four, five hours into a race. He goes, That was never the case. It was always who was just left. Yeah, and I'm like, he's like, that's what's changed.
SPEAKER_01I was like, that's super that's what you hear from a lot of people is like the nutrition part of it's changed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's just strange.
SPEAKER_01I think being able to drink so many grams of carbs, yeah, yeah.
Oklahoma MTB Racing Dates And Hype
SPEAKER_00And it sits on your they have it figured out where it doesn't destroy your guts and stuff, yeah. It's interesting. But when he said that, I was like, I can't fathom the discipline. I think I'd quit that day. The discipline of that is insane. Yeah, and be like, yeah, I'm just getting ready for my next suffer fest. Like wild. All right, let's talk about uh some local stuff. We got OKXE. It's been and I think I mean even Tour de Dirt, like it's been a it's been a springtime like last year where everything's rained out. Everything's rained out. We've had OKXE has had one race, Tour de Dirt's had one race. We've re- OKXC has rescheduled two and completely canceled one at this point, I think. I think Bales is done. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Rescheduled twice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, been rescheduled twice. Uh Moser Hollow has been rescheduled to June. Um, I know Tour de Dirt rescheduled uh Med Park. I don't remember when that's rescheduled to, but they've had to reschedule, so it's another springtime of rain, which sucks.
SPEAKER_01But I think there might be is there a chance of rain?
SPEAKER_00There's a chance to rain tonight all the way through Sunday. Like so who knows if McMurtry is gonna happen this weekend. So we're recording this on uh Thursday, the 23rd, McMurtry's on the 25th. This podcast will probably come out either tonight or tomorrow. So um McMurtry, if you want to race, it's in Stillwater, it's gonna be fantastic. Um Dave Weaver with Nica is gonna be putting on, so I think it's gonna be a fantastic course. I think it's gonna be really fun.
SPEAKER_01If it's even close to what we raced earlier in the year, that was a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00That was a fun course with the um the marathon race. Yeah, that was a fun course. I think it's a I'm assuming it's in the same area. It's gotta be it's gotta be the same course, very similar, but not the same.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's kind of the same loop we always used to race. I agree.
SPEAKER_00It's saying I'm the only one you can race out there. Yeah, yeah. So Mercury this weekend uh on the 25th, come out, bring your kids. I think it's gonna be great.
SPEAKER_01Bring your vintage bike.
SPEAKER_00Bring your vintage bike. Yep, we'll have that going. Um, yeah, it'll be fun. It'll be a good race. Uh the next one's Keystone. If you're scared of rocks, you can still come to Keystone if you're from Oklahoma City.
SPEAKER_01Hey, I saw a lot of reroutes that they have built that I wasn't necessarily happy with because I like those sections. But I think for most people, like for everyone to get have a good time, yeah. It it's a good call.
SPEAKER_00Agree. Because Keystone's super rocky. It's so rocky, but it's fantastic.
SPEAKER_01I remember going there when Ray was like laying the course out.
SPEAKER_00And he was like making it the worst it could be.
SPEAKER_01Well, he was laying it out and he was paying a lot of money, uh, and he made it as hard as he could, and it was miserable. And he I think he won. Shocking. Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00Weird how that works. So Keystone is gonna be tamed. It's May 9th, and that will be tamed down. So Oklahoma City people, it's not bad. You can survive it. Like it's not even survivable, it's not even like a survival thing, it's gonna be like a fun mountain bike course. Yeah, yeah. Um, and he's done the promoters at Keystone, they're doing a really good job of trying to promote this, and we want people to come out, and so we need to support that. And then May 30th, which is also Maverick Crit, which that'll lead us into our next conversation uh weekend, is uh the OKXC crown at Arcadia Lake, and that will be a one-day state championship. So mountain bike state championship. There's only one in the state, there's only one true state championship. It's the one-day race. There is gonna be an OKXC series champion, there's gonna be a Tour de Dirt series champion, there's going to only be one state champion, and that is gonna happen May 30th, and that's gonna be at Arcadia.
SPEAKER_01I I can't make it again.
SPEAKER_00Ah, because of the Mav Crit. Because you gotta work. Yeah, that sucks for you. So open. It's open in the open division.
SPEAKER_01And you could also go crit race on Sunday.
SPEAKER_00You can, and they have a fondo, and a fondo, you know.
SPEAKER_01Fondo race.
SPEAKER_00Fondo on Thursday or Friday. I can't remember. But anyways, look it up. You have a fondo on Thursday or Friday and Mavcrit. You can race Mavcrit on Saturday, you can win a state championship on Sunday in mountain biking. So is it on a Sunday? Oh, it's on Saturday. It's on Saturday. But the Mavcrit's on Saturday and Sunday. Yeah, the crit's two days. Yeah. So Mavcrit on Saturday is at OU campus, and then Sunday is in downtown Norman. So the fondo is on Friday. So you can have a full weekend of racing or riding your bicycle.
SPEAKER_01You could ride or race every day, though.
Maverick Practice Crit Recap
SPEAKER_00That would be fantastic. Yeah. So um, and then like I said, Moser Hollow, which is in Tulsa, and that trail is so ridiculously fun. I've never ridden it, so it's it's my it's awesome. It's like all the fun, the fun, flowy, ish rock on Turkey. It's that. It's so fun. There's not rock, there's just like rocks in the ground, but it's not rocks. And part of it is they're gonna do with um what's the other trail that's right there? Moser, uh, Lubel. Yeah. I think part of it goes over to Lubell. Lubel's like skip. Yeah. So think about skip, but a little bit more turny kind of, I guess, is what you would consider Moser. Like it's it's that's like a couple rocks here and there. Maybe. Yeah. It's super fast. It's like how fast can you pedal? Yeah. Yeah. So it's nothing to be scared of. So McMurtry this weekend, April 25th, Keystone, May 9th, Arcadia, the 30th, Moser, which is basically Turkey Mountain on June 13th. So that's it. Um you did the practice crit or the crit last night. Yeah, the Maverick crit. And we have another one. I'm gonna look that up while we're talking about it. Um how was that last night? Because it was at the airport in Norman, is that right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's kind of between the YMCA and the airport, I think. Okay. Not not knowing the lay of the land, the same piece of land. Same area.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Yeah, I mean it was Did they have a decent turnout?
SPEAKER_01I would say decent.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean ten ish. Ten to maybe fifteen in each race.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Um kind of about how Wheeler was? Fields.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Okay. About and and the course was the course felt similar to the the old the original Wheeler. Oh.
SPEAKER_00Like Okay. Like the big kind of square.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, there wasn't like any like technical type corners. It was pretty wide open. It's just like four straightaways. Um yeah, I mean, everything ran on time. It was it was what it was. I mean, as a practice race, it was fun.
SPEAKER_00Who won Y'all's race?
SPEAKER_01Dempsey.
SPEAKER_00Dempsey won Perkins, got second. Perkins got second. Uh-huh. And then Dimsey got only thanks to his coaching.
SPEAKER_01None of his skill.
SPEAKER_00That makes total sense, shockingly. And then uh who got third? Emerson. Emerson got third. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then I saw it was kind of a I I stayed in as long as I could, and it was kind of like a sitting on Dempsey or Emerson. They surprisingly were good sports and didn't really stop pulling. I think they were tired of no one pulling, but I was refusing because sitting on was hard enough. And then I think with two to go, Dempsey st tried to he actually got out of zone two and put about 20 seconds on everybody, and then came down to a field sprint for second and third and fourth.
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm gonna let you um who who won the other races?
SPEAKER_01I wasn't paying really close attention to the C race because I was walking the course and sweeping.
SPEAKER_00Steven won that one.
SPEAKER_01Steven won it, okay. Steven won that one. I was sweeping rocks off the course.
SPEAKER_00Do you know who won the B race?
SPEAKER_01That's uh Kopak, Kevin Kopak and Clay McCombell.
SPEAKER_00And then Heather got third. Yeah. Okay, gotcha. Um, well, that's good. Well, the next race that they're having down there. I just had that pulled up. Where did I put it? Um I think it was the 13th. Yeah. May May 13th. Uh is the next one. Get out there. Do it.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's cheap. It's a it's a good workout. Like I got dropped 25-ish minutes in. And so I just rolled around until they came back around. And it's kind of it's kind of that true practice crit. Like, we got to warm up. I'll I will do this PSA for those that it pertains to. If you're warming up in a race that you're not registered in, you should stay behind the race. You shouldn't go to the front and try to coach.
SPEAKER_00Shut up. Um, that should never happen.
SPEAKER_01You shouldn't be riding at the front the whole time. You shouldn't tell people what to do.
SPEAKER_00As you're warming up?
SPEAKER_01You're not registered. You're just in the race to warm up. So I'll just leave that.
SPEAKER_00We'll we'll talk about that. That'll be another conversation off the mic.
SPEAKER_01Because if if you don't do that, then pretty soon they say you can't warm up. Like it's nice to be able to just ride the course and warm up. Yeah, just ride it back, man. You just stay out of the way. Just stay on the way. You don't affect the race. It's not your race anyway. But we we got to do that. We warmed up in the B race for the A race.
SPEAKER_00Whoever you are, you're an asshole. I'll say it. I wasn't there. I'll say it. Yeah. I don't know who it was. I have no concept, and it's the first time I've heard of it. If you're screwing with a race that you're not involved in, you're an asshole.
SPEAKER_01You nailed it.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I don't know who it was, but that's exactly what it is.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, like I got dropped as I expected I would, and so I just waited until they came around and jumped back on. Like it's a practice race. Yeah, I mean, it's like you go out there and race if you go have fun.
SPEAKER_00It's what it is.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was talking to one of the guys that I coached, and he's nervous about what race to do. I'm like, the worst thing that happens is you're gonna get dropped. And then that yeah, it happened to me. It happened to everybody, happens, everybody gets dropped. So, like, yeah, put the pride aside, go support an event that's trying to support local racing, and I think it's like what 15 bucks maybe to go get a good workout in. Yeah, I don't know. Troy got dropped, and he said, you know, I'm just gonna keep riding until I get 15 miles, and then you pulled off.
SPEAKER_00That sounds like Troy. That sounds like Troy. Sounds perfect. Uh, and then I think that we have the Tulsa crits that are going on right now as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't know much about them. Like I don't either. John and Shelby have been going up to them, and I wish I would have had that prepared.
SPEAKER_00I should have had that prepared on the dates and times, but look it up.
SPEAKER_01There are a bunch because I know they're the sunset spin-off, which I think is the crit, and they have the Osage Grand Prix, which is kind of a circuit race. We've got a lot of stuff going on up there. If I mean you want to carpool up and get some racing in.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, go race, man. Like support our local stuff that's happening because that's the only way it continues, because if nobody supports it, it dies. Um and the TARS happened this past weekend, which is yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, that like I didn't go, but uh um I had something else going, but it's free.
SPEAKER_00It's free.
SPEAKER_01And if you get in, like, just go right around the lake.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's at it's at Lake Draper. So anybody in Tulsa listening to this, it's an it's kind of the I guess Southish side of Oklahoma City. Super easy to get to if you're coming down the highway. Yeah. Uh it's free road race, essentially.
SPEAKER_01You have to register, but you don't pay anything. Yeah. You pin a number on, and it's a it's a points-based race. There's intermediate sprint, so it's not you're not just racing for the finish. Um, like Perkins won it, but he didn't win. I don't think he won the finish sprint, but he won the point sprints.
SPEAKER_00So it's kind of like you kind of have to play the game to win the race, which is but also makes it well, if I can't I know I can't win at the end, but I can go for this. It makes it exciting for everybody.
SPEAKER_01It makes it way more interesting than riding around waiting for the finish. Yes, because that's what's gonna happen. It's it's super fun. Like I I kind of had something else, and I saw that it was pretty much two people signed up in the A race. And I'm like, well, I know exactly how this is gonna go. It's a bummer that more people don't do the A race. The B race was huge. Oh, really?
SPEAKER_00That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01I I wish the numbers were there for the others because I think I mean it's it's that problem where you know we talked about mountain bikes. Yep. Well, no one's going, so I'm not going. Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00So which sucks.
SPEAKER_01But at least in a mountain bike race, you can ride a mountain bike.
SPEAKER_00You can still at least go ride. I was trying to see if I can pull up where the TARS info was, but I can't really.
SPEAKER_01Uh we do have an Instagram page. Okay, I'll try to Tornado Alley race series.
SPEAKER_00I'll find that in a second. Just uh wrap up the Mav crit. First off, so this the next Mav crit, it first off, it's at Max Westheimer. Westheimer Airport, uh, which is in Norman. The C race starts at 5 45, the B race starts at 6 20, and the A race starts at 7 05. And I mean, it's simple. Just come out, it's pretty simple situation. Um, and it is on uh son of a gun. May 13th is the next race and the final race before the MAF crit. The MAF crit is May 30th and 31st. It's in Norman. They have a 5k run, they're gonna have uh we did a whole episode on it. Go back and listen to that. But they have a fondo, the huge payouts. Yeah, huge payouts. Yeah, um, they have everything, and it's and it's the real deal.
SPEAKER_01Really good courses. I mean, sometimes with a crit you don't know what you're getting, but it's like the courses are both insanely professionally done.
SPEAKER_00Like for the second year, I can't wait to see what they do because the first year was very professional. So that was that was great to see. What'd you say the Tornado Alley was? The what do you mean? Their Instagram?
Support Local Racing And Wrap
SPEAKER_01Is it Tars? Tornado Tornado Alley race series? Uh I don't know. I follow them. I just don't know exactly.
SPEAKER_00That's how I am too. I follow it and I see it on my stuff, but I don't I don't know. Well, just look it up. I can't find it. I'm an old man over here and um and can't find it. But you can find their information there, but it's a free OKC Tars. Well, give us the info. When's the next one? Well, this is riveting.
SPEAKER_01May 17th, okay, June 21st, July 19th, August 16th, and September 20th.
SPEAKER_00Wow, goes all the way through September. Fantastic.
SPEAKER_01And I think I think they accumulate like it's a series. So series point there's a series winner.
SPEAKER_00Okay, cool. Well, come race that man. Like, I mean, we have we have a lot of racing.
SPEAKER_01Or volunteer. I saw they needed volunteers. Like they need people to kind of watch and record the intermediate sprints. So if you just want to cool go be a part of it, you can help.
SPEAKER_00I mean, the thing is, we have plenty of racing around here, but people have to support it for us to continue to have racing. Um, so uh, is there anything else you want to talk about? I mean, we've rambled on about a whole lot of nonsense this whole time.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, I don't know. It's getting late.
SPEAKER_00It's getting it's past your bedtime, it's 8 30.
SPEAKER_01I I still haven't I'm still kind of on the West Coast time. I've been staying up late, like 9 30, 10.
SPEAKER_00West Coast?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Family's going to bed before me now.
SPEAKER_00What do you have coming up? Do you have anything exciting?
SPEAKER_01Um a lot of traveling.
SPEAKER_00Because you have New Mexico coming up.
SPEAKER_01I'm going to New Mexico for Torhila on Sunday. Um that's a stage race with a team. Yeah. I'll drive back from that. I'll fly out, drive back to the city. Where is that at?
SPEAKER_00Where's that at?
SPEAKER_01Silver City.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Which I hear there's not really anything else there.
SPEAKER_00Well, uh any town in New Mexico, there's nothing else there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, it's just tons of travel. I'm doing that. Um I'll miss the next race, which is just a one day. They don't really need me forwards up in uh New York. And then I'll do the GP of New York. And then I'll drive I think I'm doing two other smaller races while I'm up there. Then I'll drive back to do neutral support from Maverick.
SPEAKER_00And then long drives.
SPEAKER_01Pro Road Nationals.
SPEAKER_00Where's that at?
SPEAKER_01That's in. I don't remember.
SPEAKER_00That's how you know I don't know where it's that's how you know you're traveling too much. Yeah. And when you don't know where you're going. I don't remember where it is.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Um, and then we're going to Romania. Shore of Romania.
SPEAKER_00No way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01And then we're doing Tour Guadalupe.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_01And then we're doing those are both men's races only. And then the women are doing Guatemala.
SPEAKER_00Dude, you're getting some good stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I think in between that I'm doing mountain bike nationals for a mountain bike team.
SPEAKER_00Wow. You're like the you're like the real like a professional mechanic.
SPEAKER_01I'm getting close.
SPEAKER_00You're like you're like almost real.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, then there's like there's a few more races to that's awesome. Road season and then cross season.
SPEAKER_00Super cool.
SPEAKER_01Some season will be some travel, but it I mean it'll be Okay.
SPEAKER_00Let me ask you this. But with all because I know you were kind of had the thoughts and goals of maybe getting back on the bike for you. Is that even possible? It ain't possible with that much travel.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, it's not in a real sense. No.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_01No, I mean like I I rode I rode like mid-March a couple days, and then I didn't ride until I got back from California. And and I could feel it last night.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, hence how I got dropped.
SPEAKER_01I thought I might make it. And I no. That's wild. Pretty rough.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I've been trying to I've been trying to make myself run when I'm on these trips just so I can exercise.
SPEAKER_00Excuse me. Do you wear short socks? No. Pull them up. You know who does? Teddy. Teddy.
SPEAKER_01I'm trying to run. I'm trying to get into it because I have time to run. I've got like 20 minutes.
SPEAKER_00That's the thing, is you can throw on shoes and go out for 30 minutes and get smoked and get all you want. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Even if I'm used a bike, I don't really have time to get a worthwhile ride in. Yeah. So yeah, I don't know. I mean, I've done that. I would like to get in shape and race bikes, but there's other things to do.
SPEAKER_00It's the phase of life, it is.
SPEAKER_01I got other things going on.
SPEAKER_00And they're kind of really fun and exciting. Yeah, I like that.
SPEAKER_01So I'll ride when I can ride.
SPEAKER_00And yeah, we got uh you're not doing a rule three.
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I got rule of three coming next month, like three-ish weeks away. And then the week after that, Oz stage race, which will be Look Out. Watch out, mid-packers. I'm coming for you. Whoever isn't 50 percentile, you're on my radar. Right or back. That's right.
SPEAKER_01Coming into town. You're gonna be dinging your bell. That's it.
SPEAKER_00I uh want to finish 49th percentile, so that's the goal. Um yeah, and I think it's gonna be That'll be a fun one to hear about the other. It will be it'll be fun. I think they're gonna do a fantastic job, and I hope uh people support that because I think it's gonna be a big deal at some point. I think it'll be a good one. So um yeah, that's all I got. I don't have anything else.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00This is pretty low key, and sorry, it's just a bunch of if Billy didn't like it.
SPEAKER_01Well, who cares?
SPEAKER_00Billy's Billy's the one listener that'll listen to this episode, so shout out to you, Billy. This is for you.
SPEAKER_01This will get him to an hour of his work day.
SPEAKER_00Uh an hour and uh eight minutes. So yeah, he's not working, so he's doing this. So, all right. I appreciate it.