This...a 65ish km XC Marathon style race, held out at Beachburg, Ontario by the folks at Beachburg Off Road Cycling Association...(yeah, that's where the BORCA comes in)...
Or...
This...an 8 Hour MTB relay race (as many 7km loops as you can do in 8 hours)...the Spring race (there is a summer and a fall race too), is run by Chico Racing and is held out at Mansfield, Ontario.
Since it's virtually in my back yard...and I have been registered for weeks...I'll be doing the 8 Hour.
All the local regulars will be there...including ApexTed...to catch us all in our glory (whatever that really means...)
I think even Blaze will be there...making his comeback known to the public!!!
JeffS will be on a podium.
Will dskunk use this race as training for the Tour Divide??
Will Turbo use this race to train??
serious is registered on a team??? WTF? He joined the LapDogs and got soft?? I don't think so, actually...he is so scary he scared 13stone to a new team...and nobody scares 13stone...
Anyways the 8 Hrs have kind of become a tradition...
And so I have spent the week tapering training...
Yet to get my Cat5 gear bags packed and ready...
My messy ass gear rack
Guardians of the gear
They take shifts...
But the bike is shined up and ready...
Oooooh....shiny...(is it a genetic thing that I like shiny beads??)
See...it's my bike...
Tested out these babies to help clean and shine the Raijin...
Grease Monkey Wipes
I am not easily amazed (except by how fast my paddock started last weekend...), but these little units pack an impressive wallop!
The Raijin started this muddy...
Then after a simple garden hose rinse (and only my special thumb nozzle for power pressure), I determined to give the little wipe a proper test. Instead of a brush and soap/detergent/degreaser...I just used the wipe. Plowed it through the mud....
It fit in all the tight areas (no...not those tight areas...)
It cleaned the chain, cassette, jockey wheels, and even the wheel rims to gleaming!
Then with another hose rinse, towel dry, and lube...the Raijin is good to go, looking like new...ish!
I have to admit, I wasn't sure what to expect with these things...but I was sincerely amazed at how versatile and effective they were. Didn't matter if it was grease, mud, grass stain...it cleaned it...and one wipe survived all the scrubbing...and could have done more!
However I would not recommend using them on your baby's arse...and don't eat them. (I have to say both of those things, cuz Fig might do both...)
A real grease buster test will be to use them on my road bike. That bike is a grease magnet...I don't know why...I probably overlube the chain I guess. But the chain stays, seat stays, and the frame of the bottom bracket are coated in grease, that degreaser and scrubbing just spreads around....and doesn't remove. If the wipes can clean the grease off my road bike, it will be a miracle. But that is a test for another day...and another blog post. Sorry, I don't have the attention span required to clean two bikes at one go...
And my mind wanders easily...
Oooops! Sorry...see what I mean??
OK....back on track???
My messy ass bike shed...apparently no guardians though..they stay indoors...
Anyways, before this really gets out of hand, better call it done. Now that the bike is ready, I will be spending the rest of the week rest/recovery preparing myself for the 8 Hr. Hopefully I will feel more like I belong than I did at last weekend's race. Last weekend I felt kind of like this guy....
Except that he is too white, I guess...(although Lois doesn't think there can be such a thing...)...
I will use my special native camouflage skills to fit in like this guy...
See you didn't even notice him did you??
Dang...off track again...
OK...fingers crossed for a great weekend whichever race you are attending...
I will let you know how the 8hr went...till then...
Stay posted!
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