Thanks to all of you who encouraged the Lost Riders in their endurance mountain bike racing team debut. The race — 12 Hours of Disco — brought in dozens of riders from around the area, many of them more prepared than we were. When I say prepared, I mean physically prepared. We were by far the most prepared team on a number of different levels.
My teammates Lucy, Zephyr and Whitney (formerly known as K-Dog) and I met on at least one occasion for a pre-race meeting where we established 1) our riding order, 2) our press-on tattoo design, 3) our team jersey color, 4) our soundtrack, 5) our menu, and 6) cocktails. Our team tent was so elaborate, the announcer designated it a “public shade area.”

The Lost Riders @ 6:30 a.m. Saturday

Based on skill and which name got drawn out of a hat, Whitney kicked off the Lost Riders as our #1 rider. The race organizers explained they were doing a LeMans-style start which we had, of course, failed to practice. Best I can tell, a LeMans start is where everyone tosses their bike in a pile …

LeMans Bike Heap

then at the startling gun blast, riders run and jump on their bikes and ride in a circle away from the actual bike course.

The steely nerved Whitney played it cool.

Whitney (in red) waiting for the other riders to get the hellouttaherway.

Podunks don’t care much for congestion, so Whitney gave us what we needed most — a little elbow room.

The race is on!

As Whitney headed off into the wild blue yonder, Lucy, Zephyr and I re-arranged our lawn chairs and continued discussing strategy — hummus with rice cracker or Kashi multigrain?

To find out which snack cracker wins, you’ll have to read my next post, Lost Riders Select an Official Team Cracker.