Raceday also began by waking up to a little bit of rain. Not too bad though. It was going to be a decent day to wear our required suit jacket and necktie.
As Todd and I left our hotel we saw Kevin, a rider we had met the previous evening. He was already starting to ride before we had cleared the front doors, so Todd and I hauled ass to catch up to him. After we caught up to him, we rode together to Lyndale Ave. & 34th St., the location of the race.
When we pulled up to the race, it was nice to see a lot of the familiar faces that we saw a day earlier. We also met a lot of new people, mostly locals. All told there were about 55 riders in the race, every one with a big smile on their face. The spectacle was truly grand and a sight to behold. We all gladly posed for pictures while we waited for the race to begin. The race was kinda formal in that a race official was brought in to oversee the event, but also kinda informal since we didn't have timing chips on our numbers. The only really important finishers were the top three (video was being taken in case replay was necessary).
If you are unfamiliar with the Brompton Championships, allow me to clue you in on the key points:
There is a Le Mans style start... our folded bikes are placed in a grid before the start of the race. When the race starts, we have to run to our Brommies, unfold them, then get going. I'm not sure if foot speed or unfolding speed is more important… they are probably equal. Probably the most important thing is to try to break out of the grid quickly, doing your best to get around riders who are slow to unfold or are just slow.
Once you get going, it's pretty much like any other bike sprint. Hang with the peloton if you can, then sprint at the end. This race is six miles long… six one-mile laps. Twelve turns. It's easy to lose track of which lap you are on. Here is my video footage that I put up in an earlier post.
I felt that I did pretty well, considering that I had a pulled hamstring two weeks prior and that I rode about 45 miles the day before (excuses, excuses!). Here are the winners of the race!
The winners of the Best Dressed category was announced after the race:
I had an absolute blast doing this and can't wait to do it again!
This is the summary of my race data:
| started | Jun 23, 2013, 10:06 AM |
| route | 06/23/2013 Minneapolis, MN |
| activity | Cycle |
| ride time | 20:02 |
| distance | 5.98 miles |
| average speed | 17.90 mph |
| fastest speed | 25.31 mph |
| calories | 336 |
Click here for my complete ride data.
Observations:
Racing Green is a really popular color.
Raw Lacquer, while greatly admired, was not very common.
The two-tone Brommies are awesome.
A Curious Endevour
Why I Ride
The Gear Junkie
Thanks again to Calhoun Cycles for their hospitality! If you were at the race and have any photos, please share them at the BUSC 2013 Flickr page!
The next post will be about the folding contest.
No comments:
Post a Comment