The pre-race/captains meeting starts at ten a.m., and most of us head down for the revelry. 24 Hour Town is lined with several vendor tents, and a few of us stop at Pivot Cycles, BikeFlights, FairWheel Cycles, Tasco MTB and the coffee tent.
I meet a young guy standing nearby in a sling, and ask him what happened. He tells me, "I broke it yesterday on the pre-ride." "Holy shit!", I tell him. "I crashed on the pre-ride!"
"Ya", he says. "There's a little jumper on the last....", he didn't even need to tell me... "OMG!!! I crashed there tooooooo!!!!! We bond. CBFL. Crash buddies for life.
Several hundred riders have gathered for the pre-race talk and celebration. Ride organizers are sporting lucha libre masks while entertaining the crowd and dishing out ride details. Thanks are extended to the ride sponsors... swag is tossed out to the crowd... there's a reminder to use proper rider and trail etiquette... and the number one rule gets shouted out again, "BE NICE!" (And really, everyone was.)
There's also a warning** about the The Bitches and the jumper near the end, (which has apparently broken many collarbones), and la luchador points to my guy looking innocent in his sling and shouts, "It has already claimed its first victim". Awwwww.... my crash bro.
Race meeting over we head back up to camp for a team meeting. It's looking like it's going to be a great day for a race.
