Furnace Creek 508

The Furnace Creek 508 and Interbike kept things insanely busy through the end of September till now. We met a lot of cool people at Interbike, and got to hangout with some old friends from across the country. The real highlight was the Elite Women's Crit hmostly because we got to watch Beatriz race and finish 11th in a really tough field of women. We got in a good pre-508 fixed ride in Red Rock Canyon. It was a good reminder of just how hot we'd be a week and a half later.

The 508 was kind of a thrown together event for us this year. We planned it out well enough to submit our resume/application on time (just!). Our team totem was 'Blue Footed Booby.' They are very cute birds that live in the Galapagos. They have blue feet, and there were a lot of booby jokes. We also had a sponsorship from Scott over at Level Components in conjunction with Orange 20 Bikes meaning we had really sweet wheels for the ride! I managed to talk 3 other women into riding fixed, and they all still seem to like me after the ride. Impressively enough we not only finished, but finished in 32 hours and 28 minutes. The only time we had to go off of was my previous team's record (Bonobo!) of 32 hours and 23 minutes. Not bad for a bunch of girls, eh? There was a fixed gear men's team on the course racing for the 40+ record. They were fun, and as I expected were near us from the start. They kept a close eye on us at the beginning as they were a bit a head of us, but once we got into the hills we made up the time. I was smart to find 2 women that are superior climbers, and they exceeded even my expectations there. The men finished at 32 hours and 57 minutes. They took the defeat in good stride, and let us get a nice finishing photo with them. I rode my first track bike (photos below) with the addition of the drilled fork from my Landshark road bike.


I have a bunch of new photos of bike projects and the ride, but my mini usb cable has gone missing. I made a joke about the dog eating it a couple weeks ago, but now I'm not sure it is a joke! I've figured out my new (old) Henry James jig, and should have a track bike built up for Beatriz in the next couple weeks. I'm taking things slowly between my regular LACBC job, riding, chiropractor and puppies. I'm also really excited about making bikes in my own house. It's really satisfying, and I've felt reassured that this is what I need to be doing with my time. It's nice to have something that keeps my attention for more than 30 minutes or so!