The Round n' Round weekend ended up being a good weekend of saddle time. The wifer and I did it as a team (duo) and I was a little anxious to see how it would all play out. It had the potential to blow up in our faces considering it involved riding, sleep deprivation and all that goes with sleep deprivation (grumpiness, inability to think, etc).
All in all, it turned out well. We had a couple of logistical challenges to sort through (as to be expected).
I rolled into Spokane on Friday morning and secured a good camp-spot with the Airstream right next to the course so it made it easy to coordinate during the race. Perhaps the only minor tweak would have been to set up camp on the other side of the course/road in order to try to minimize the dust. For whatever reason, the dust from the riders kicked up and floated our way and we quickly realized everything would be covered in a layer of dirt. We were super psyched to be in the Airstream as it gave us some additional comfort and privacy.
The wifer rolled into town late on Friday and I was pleasantly surprised at just how relatively quite the race area was that night. People were mostly considerate in prep for the start on Saturday.
The madness kicked off at noon on Saturday and ended at noon on Sunday. Each team is required to do a 4hr shift of volunteering at the race. This poses a bit of a problem for duo team because it means that 1 rider will be unavailable for riding for 4 hrs...Our idea was to try to get a good shift (shift options were determined based on when you signed up for the race - so the earlier you signed up, the better shot you had at a better slot for volunteering). By the time I got to the sign up sheet, the only slots available were the undesirable ones like 12:00-4:00 a.m., etc...With a bit of luck there was a page that the organizers had forgotten about and happened to notice when I showed up to sign up. We were able to get a cherry shift from 12:00-4:00 p.m. on Saturday. This meant the wifer would have to pick up the first 4 hours of riding while I fulfilled our volunteer duties. The plan was she would ride for 4 hrs, then I would ride for the next 4 hrs...and then we would alternate laps until night time when we would try to stack a couple laps together in order to try to get some sleep.
Lady luck was smiling on us that day because when I went to check in for my volunteer duty, I asked if there was any way we could split the shift such that I did 2 hrs and then the wifer picked up 2 hrs in order to break up the volunteer and ride shifts. As luck would have it, there was a lady there who was looking for a volunteer job at the time I was having this conversation with the race organizer and the race organizer promptly coordinated for her to take our shift and let us off the hook!
By this time it was about 15 minutes until the start and the wifer was ready for the lemans start (they made everyone run a 600 yd lap before hopping on the bikes). The lemans start was intended to try to thin out the herd at the start of the race. Our new plan was to for the wifer to do the lemans start and the first 2 laps at which point we would switch off and I would pick up the next 2 laps and we would then alternate laps until dark.
Day turned to night and it got COLD COLD COLD. As in low 30's! I was totally unprepared for this and ended up getting so cold on my 2nd night lap that I had wooden blocks for feet. The missus got super dehydrated on her 2nd night lap and had to stop to recover for a while. A while turned into about 6hrs later....so long story short is between my wooden blocks for feet and her spinning dehydrated head, we got some shut eye. It took about an hour for me to 'warm' up again as I lay shivering in my sleeping bag trying to coax one of the dogs to come give me some body heat. The goofballs were having none of it as they were plenty toasty sharing their mama's bed and blankets, so I was on my own to shiver away for a bit.
The wifer rallied at about 6 and we were back on task to alternate laps until the finish at noon.
Long story short, we each did 7 laps on a very fast 15 mile course. We got in a total of 14 laps as a team and shared a few lessons learned from the experience. It was a great event and we ended up meeting a bunch of really interesting people.
Lap stats:
All in all, it turned out well. We had a couple of logistical challenges to sort through (as to be expected).
I rolled into Spokane on Friday morning and secured a good camp-spot with the Airstream right next to the course so it made it easy to coordinate during the race. Perhaps the only minor tweak would have been to set up camp on the other side of the course/road in order to try to minimize the dust. For whatever reason, the dust from the riders kicked up and floated our way and we quickly realized everything would be covered in a layer of dirt. We were super psyched to be in the Airstream as it gave us some additional comfort and privacy.
The wifer rolled into town late on Friday and I was pleasantly surprised at just how relatively quite the race area was that night. People were mostly considerate in prep for the start on Saturday.
The madness kicked off at noon on Saturday and ended at noon on Sunday. Each team is required to do a 4hr shift of volunteering at the race. This poses a bit of a problem for duo team because it means that 1 rider will be unavailable for riding for 4 hrs...Our idea was to try to get a good shift (shift options were determined based on when you signed up for the race - so the earlier you signed up, the better shot you had at a better slot for volunteering). By the time I got to the sign up sheet, the only slots available were the undesirable ones like 12:00-4:00 a.m., etc...With a bit of luck there was a page that the organizers had forgotten about and happened to notice when I showed up to sign up. We were able to get a cherry shift from 12:00-4:00 p.m. on Saturday. This meant the wifer would have to pick up the first 4 hours of riding while I fulfilled our volunteer duties. The plan was she would ride for 4 hrs, then I would ride for the next 4 hrs...and then we would alternate laps until night time when we would try to stack a couple laps together in order to try to get some sleep.
Lady luck was smiling on us that day because when I went to check in for my volunteer duty, I asked if there was any way we could split the shift such that I did 2 hrs and then the wifer picked up 2 hrs in order to break up the volunteer and ride shifts. As luck would have it, there was a lady there who was looking for a volunteer job at the time I was having this conversation with the race organizer and the race organizer promptly coordinated for her to take our shift and let us off the hook!
By this time it was about 15 minutes until the start and the wifer was ready for the lemans start (they made everyone run a 600 yd lap before hopping on the bikes). The lemans start was intended to try to thin out the herd at the start of the race. Our new plan was to for the wifer to do the lemans start and the first 2 laps at which point we would switch off and I would pick up the next 2 laps and we would then alternate laps until dark.
Day turned to night and it got COLD COLD COLD. As in low 30's! I was totally unprepared for this and ended up getting so cold on my 2nd night lap that I had wooden blocks for feet. The missus got super dehydrated on her 2nd night lap and had to stop to recover for a while. A while turned into about 6hrs later....so long story short is between my wooden blocks for feet and her spinning dehydrated head, we got some shut eye. It took about an hour for me to 'warm' up again as I lay shivering in my sleeping bag trying to coax one of the dogs to come give me some body heat. The goofballs were having none of it as they were plenty toasty sharing their mama's bed and blankets, so I was on my own to shiver away for a bit.
The wifer rallied at about 6 and we were back on task to alternate laps until the finish at noon.
Long story short, we each did 7 laps on a very fast 15 mile course. We got in a total of 14 laps as a team and shared a few lessons learned from the experience. It was a great event and we ended up meeting a bunch of really interesting people.
Lap stats:
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