SCOLETRAIN

Bike, Lights, Organized?
For the next day or two I'll be trying to get ready for this weekends marathon race north of Green Bay along with continuing to go over my checklist for the 24 hours of 9-Mile. I finally cut my number plate off yesterday before riding the S-Works into work so I could cut down my handlebars. I haven't ridden my mountain bike since the FireCracker race. It's amazing how I forgot that cutting them down 25mm can make the bike handle so much better in single track. I would've done this months ago, but I'm lazy and it wasn't at the top of my to-do list. My FOX fork should be back from PUSH Industries all rebuilt for my back up bike either this week or early next week. After getting it back on the bike I'll try to make both bikes match set-up wise so that I can go back and forth during the race if needed. Last night was the start of the arduous process of charging and running the batteries down for my 24-9 NiteRider lights. It basically comes down to a window fan propped up on a large Rubbermaid storage box with all my lights lined up running on their brightest mode for anywhere from two to ten hours. The fan is the most important element to this operation as it keeps the headlamps cool and keeps them from being damaged from overheating and somewhat insures that I won't burn the house down. I'll run my batteries down and recharge anywhere from four to six times to the point where I feel comfortable and know that each battery will run to its max burn time during the race. This is one aspect of solo 24 hour racing that needs to be taken care of correctly. Having a light go out at three in the morning can cause wide spread panic in the dark woods and really piss you off when you've already been talking to yourself. What's scary is the fact that I may have this all done a week or more before the race which is very unlike me. My goal is to be able to relax the final week before the race with everything organized and ready go without running around like a crazy person and stressing out. Hopefully my plan works.