rob mccarthy

Super bummed i missed it

Henry Abel

Two days ago I got a call that SSCXWC had a great idea for a shortcut and needed a big bus to make it happen. Honestly, I was a little uncertain - given the vague description of how it would work - and the fact that it involved both strippers and hundreds of cross racers. Would this be tasteful? Probably not. Would it be fun? Hopefully. Plus there would be spectators and their families.

Let's at least make sure and put it on the back section of the course.

Long story short, that was amazingly fun and entertaining, to say the least. And I owe some thank yous to a lot of people that joined in to help make it happen.

Thank you to Kevin, my boss, and owner of WebCyclery for letting me borrow the bus for the weekend. Especially for something as risky as this.

Thank you to the guys from Yakima for everything from streamers to duct tape.

I'd like to give a big thank you to Nick and his amazing mobile sound system equipped Surly Big Dummy. He made our day by bringing the music and bacon hot dogs to the WebCyclery bus and the Stripper Short Cut.

And thank you to head WebCyclery mechanic, Justin, for directing traffic inside the bus. Justin had the one job that over 50 people has asked me for. Being the one person to be in the bus during the whole race to make sure that everybody was having fun, tipping well, and on their best behavior.

Evidently (and thankfully) the word got out and we were a little overwhelmed with the number of riders, both male and female, eagerly coming thru the short cut with muddy dollar bills in hand. At least 5 people from the crowd helped me out by climbing over the course tape and directing muddy racers and catching muddy bikes as riders (now runners) took the short cut thru the WebCyclery bus and back out onto the course to meet their bike at the back door. And thanks to the crowd for your participation in enforcing the short cut rules. No dollar for the strippers, then no short cut.

And, it really was a great short cut! Definitely worth the dollar. I bet it took a good 40 seconds or more off the the longest loop on the course. Even if you spent too much time and money in the bus, you could still not lose much ground by the time you got back on your bike after getting off the back door of the bus.

The whole thing was hilariously fun and while I didn't get a chance to thank all of you for you help - wanted to let you know how much we appreciated you jumping in and helping make cross racing history!

Thanks to our two entertainers for putting on a great show, and for taking part in what they called the strangest and most fun gig that they'd ever done. And it was COLD! They got excellent tips, and they totally earned them.

I'd also like to thank my Amy for not only putting up with this, but eagerly participating in a 9 hour round trip bus ride from Bend to PIR and back in a giant, muddy, bus with no heater. For the sole purpose of providing something known as the Stripper Shortcut.

You are the best girlfriend ever!

Henry

PS: Hope you enjoyed this part of the race yesterday. If not, please direct all complaints directly to Henry@WebCyclery.com