Pantani Last Minute FAQ

Plenty of last minute questions rolling in via the various conduits of the interweb, many of which I felt worthy of response.  So I'll publish those here, if one might qualify hastily e-scribbling misinformation to be a form of publication.

1)  OK, seriously, what bike should I bring and what tires should I run?
I just can't say enough about this question.  Maybe it's the cold winter nights, the long trainer hours, and the uncertain nature of the idle human mind - but this one just keeps coming up.  For The Pantani Ride, I guess you could ride pretty much any bike, and it'll be the wrong bike for a significant portion of the ride.  But also the right bike in places.  The same could be said for most moderate tire selections, though I tend to believe that 23's are mostly too small, and 3.0's mostly too big.  So the middle 90% of bike-types and tire choices are probably what you want for 50% of the turf we'll be covering.  The other 50%?  You'll want something else.  So it's easy to overthink this, because dissatisfaction is a large part of the end result, whatever you choose.

When in doubt, rather than change anything, maybe do as Big John in the RIC recommends: "I think I'd dance with the girl that brung me."
Can't be more precise than that.

2)  Is there a store stop?
It's easy to brush this off with a simple "No."  Because there's isn't actually a store along the way.  But having bonked while over in that part of the world before, and having seen people bonk over there, I know how unpleasant the experience can become.  So I thought I'd publish here an "oh shit" store stop just in case your proverbial wheels (or the literal ones) come off.


Here it is.  The Dyke Store is just a scratch of flat road down bacon hollow from the base of Brokenback.  Less than a mile.  And you could pull the plug at that point and turn that store stop into a leisurely 7 mile paved ride back to the start if you have really imploded (and they happen to be open).  I personally once witnessed Danny Flow do just that thing, whilst consuming about 8,000 skittles in a fit of sugar depletion, and take nearly 2 hours to return to the farm from that same spot.  So if you've come unglued you know what to do.

Plus, they've got all the ingredients to make yourself the quintessential bonked-racer pick-me-up: A Peanut Pop.

(Those ingredients being: Peanuts, Pop.)

And just in case you've really reached the end, here's the recipe:
1)  Combine ingredients
2)  Consume vigorously
3)  Repeat as necessary

3)  Where, exactly are those KOM points?
Good question.  And I'm glad to see you've got Pink Glory on your head on your mind.
To recap, the KOM points are:
Fox Mountain KOM: 1 point
Blackwell's hollow KOM: 1 point
Mission Home KOM: 1 point
Simmon's Gap KOM: 1 point
Brokenback KOM: 1 point

With no points for second place. 

More or less, those locations are:
Fox Mtn KOM
Blackwell's Hollow KOM
Mission Home KOM (also the Greene county line)
Simmons Gap KOM (which I have a picture of, because once upon a time I could muster that kind of effort after arriving at the top.)
And finally, on the return after climbing back up brokenback, The mailboxes.

KOM #4

Keep in mind, however, that only one person gets a point for each one, so if you're not a part of the frenetic, painful scramble at the very front, those things really don't matter.

And even then, if Pink glory and comfort aren't on your agenda, they don't matter much.

And last but not least:
4) Looks like some snow on Saturday.  We still rolling?  
Why yes, Saturday might deposit an inch of snow down here, perhaps more at the top of the pop.  Sunday, though will see us get to the 40's, perhaps 50's by go time, and yes, at this point, We Still Rolling.

I'll take a little spin up to the top of the Fox tomorrow once the snow stops and report back.  Until then...

Up, up, up.