So yesterday, as I stepped backwards into the parking lot of Okie’s Corner, a tiny gas station somewhere in Oklahoma and started taking photographs of Brennan "the handyman" Wertz as he dealt with the air hissing out of our rental car tire, I wondered if this was an omen or a allegory or some sort of Type 2 fun.
It is okay to suggest Brennan or I are not exactly handy when it comes to automobiles, but somehow Big Brennan Wertz’s years of flatting his gravel bike has triggered a natural instinct to pull a tire plug from his bike and plug our leaking truck tire.
And as if by some blessing from the gravel gods, the plug actually works on the first try and we’re back on the road.
We finished Gravellocos in Hico, Texas yesterday, packed ourselves out of the lovely La Quinta hotel and decided to make the trip north to Emporia in one shot.
Alright, let me just back up a smidge. After having landed in Dallas a couple days before Gravellocos, we are immediately hit with the heat and humidity of Central Texas the minute we step onto the jetway and our soft Northern California bodies are confused.
Now if you have been following the latest science news in cycling, then you know heat training has just about peaked in popularity. I mean, Ted King has been riding in some sort of hazmat suit to simulate heat training while on his trainer in Vermont. And if wearing a hazmat suit is good heat training for the pros, then riding in Central Texas for five days is scientifically beneficial. The shakeout rides was sweltering and race day was nothing short of scorching.
Brennan went it in the early break with two other riders and it was great to see him give it a go out front for 50 or 60 miles.
When we, me and the other photographers, saw him the first time at about mile marker 29 he shouted “how big is the gap?” and it took me a second to realize I could actually tell him. He was the first rider I saw and I wouldn’t see how big the gap was until the second group on the road came through. I wasn’t sure if I was better off yelling “you got thirty seconds” or shouting “you’re at 29 minutes,” so I just went with “way to go, big fella.”
I know this wasn’t much help, but at least it was accurate.
At this point they had about 3:15 on the big chase group, so when I saw him again at mile 59 or so, I just shouted “last time I saw, you had about 3 minutes.”
And then we saw the riders just before the 90 mile aid station the break had been caught and Brennan was back in the group with the leaders.
We got in behind them for a little bit and on the late race rollers I could see Brennan drifting off the back and crawling back on. I knew his chance for glory was over. Still rolled in a respectable P9 and in good spirits.
Which brings us back to the present time. We are nestled into our little Emporia rental house, thankfully the temperature has dropped dramatically, but sadly the rain is pounding against the roof.
We’ve had our coffee and our cakes. The beautiful Scott Addict Gravel RC has been built, the chain lubed and tires inflated.
Now the only thing to do is either continue to stare at the weather forecast or kit up and get wet.
We’ll let you know what we decide in the next update.
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