13 days and counting

Wow the 24 hour of Summer Solstice is right around the corner. Man does time fly. I'm hoping Rick has been putting in as much seat time as I have. Tag Team is a whole new experience. Think of doing an O Cup race atleast 10 times in a row with only an hour recovery. Its one thing to be really fast but you also need to contine with those times for 24 hours without much sleep or even rest. This is where I never have to worry about Rick. The guy is a bull.


I've already be researching to see who we will be playing against. I know for sure that our biggest threat is Jeff Shikaze. I'm assuming that he is racing with his brother. They are both extremely fast and mentally tough. They will be tough to beat. There is a crew coming out of Misfit Pcyles. I don't think that they will to much of a problem. Single speed for 24 hours just plain hurts and there is alot of fast sections on this course.

I'm hoping to get a night ride in before the race. Its been a long year not playing in the dark. We are coming into this race setup beyond the last 2 years. Rick is on a new ride this year. This will be a huge difference for him. This also means that I have my backup NRS for me. I might even ride it once. Also his lighting systems have been updated. This is definatly important. Can't ride fast if you can't see.

Long range forcast are showing no rain for the next 2 weeks. That is a bad thing as the course will be crazy dry. It's also hard on gear with fine dust floating in the air. Hell sucks on the lungs to. I thought I hacked up enough of it after the 8 hour.

I'm hoping Craig's training is coming together. Hopefully he isn't getting stressed out. We are sharing a campsite with him this year which is pretty cool. We also have the regular Ottawa teams surrounding us. Either the Chico Racing guys are great at getting us our favorite spot or they like to keep us in the corner away from everyone else!!!!! We don't smeel the bad at the end of the race do we?

Tips for tag team. Control!!!! Like all 24 hour races nothing is won or lost until it gets dark. Usually around 3-4 am you will see the layout of the top 5 teams. Its the opposite of solo riding as you basiclly need to hammer every lap as hard as you can but reserving enough to go again and again and again. We watched one year as teams went full out and we were in the middle pack and by midnight most of them went and curled up in the fetile position from exhaustion. Its just as much a mental game to. As it gets later into the night the course seems to clear up which is where you can gain lots of time. Everyone slows down in the night. Some more than others and this is where you need to be strong. I usually only lose 4-5 minutes in the dark. Rick with his new system should be very close to that. I'm hoping.