We gonna Barbeque

18 hours of racing solo in the dark. I'll do some quick math for you:

1 hour/lap

18 laps

1500 feet of climbing/lap

That's somewhere around 27,000 feet of climbing over the course of the race.

In the dark.

In the cold.

By himself.

By contrast, and it is indeed a stark contrast, here's what the pit crew will be doing under my keen-eyed leadership:

Two grills and one smoker

two pig shoulders, a venison hindquarter, and some pork ribs.

around 3 gallons of barbeque sauce

space heaters

beanbags

cornbread

trek/VW jersey shaped beer coozies

piggy pops

the tertiary responsiblity of making sure Shawn's bikes are somewhat functional when he comes around the turn. Lights charged. Bottles full. OK, there's some responsiblity here, but in comparison to what he's doing to himself out there all night, we've got it pretty easy.

Racer Forecast:

Partly cloudy. Chance of showers. Snowdrifts in the 2 - 3 foot range. Suffering. 3 AM hallucinations. Intoxicated road hunters with high-powered rifles on the "adjacent" properties, shooting at anything that moves. Whining. Not wanting to take a pee break at midpoint of lap at 5AM because pecker is too cold. Etc.

It's going to be a long tough race. For Shawn.

I'll see you at the grill.