As soon as we hit the road in the rental, we plugged in the gps and found the closest Taco Cabana. Yum! Fajitas and chips and queso! Then off to Dripping Springs. Shey's mom had set us up at his little sister's house and she stayed with us, so there was fresh fruit and other good snacks already there when we arrived there around midnight. :>)
The next day we drove to Suzanne's friends house to pick up the bikes. One of the bikes was shipped from Monterey, to Dripping Springs, back to Monterey, then back to Dripping Springs. We were thankful it made it there in time for the race, but the box had seen better days.
Building bikes. Jansen has had great luck with his two Giant bikes this year. Love them!
Suzanne sat in her lawn chair and gave instructions on building the bikes......he-he, actually she was trying to figure out if her phone would take pictures upside down......
The pro race was on Saturday, so they were finishing up the mens podium when we arrived for the pre-ride. Ryan Woodall had a great race and is on the far right. I didn't recognize him with the moustache....it kind-of looks like it's glued on.......:>)
(Krista also had a great race and was top five in the women's pro field. She is having another great year.)
The guys really liked the course but Jansen flatted about half-way into his pre-ride and we headed back to the house to take care of that situation.
I had to borrow some more Stans from some of the pro mech guys. They insisted their payment had to be something unusual and it had to be there the next day. Then they said in unison, "And it can't be a painted rock!" So, we stopped and picked up some water guns and a sports illustrated swimsuit edition, which both went over very well with the guys the next day.
The next morning the Lindners lined up and were ready to race. My parents and Shey's mom and dad came out to watch. They found a great tree to sit under just past the start line. It was windy, but not too hot.
Shey, me and his dad, Glenn.
Jansen on the start.
Jansen had a great start, had a 30 second lead in the single track and was feeling very strong when he flatted. (The sharp rocks all over the course warranted a different selection of tires, so we will hit the Kenda catalog in preparation for the course next year. Kenda has a huge selection of tires for every course and now that we know what we are up against, we can choose wisely.) He did his best to fix the flat, but the sharp rocks in the area finished his race. Bummer. Shey stopped to see what had happened and he was pretty bummed that Jansen was out.
Shey at the start.
He started waaaay too far back and had to do a lot of passing through riders who weren't riding the technical sections, well.
Love this tall grass.
Shey on the course. It's hard to write-up a race when there is a mechanical, as we rarely have dnfs in this family and we all get pretty bummed when we aren't able to finish a race.
Jansen still trying to figure out how to correct his situation and finish the race after riding in to the pit area on a flat, with CO2 used up.
After the race and after the guys wandered around mumbling about rocks, flats and passing, we headed into town for hamburgers and a chance to visit with our parents. Next, it was back to the house to get a good night's sleep.
The next day, Shey shipped off the bikes, then we headed into Austin to Mellow Johnny's bike shop.
Shey doing his thing.
They really liked the black box with a motor that lifts this bike up by cables! Ooooh, would be good for the shop AND the house!
The shop also had a little cafe that served snacks and coffee. I got us a Nutella milkshake to share and it was AWESOME!!!!!!
We hit Taco Cabana one more time before heading home. Yummy!!
I wish I had raced and I wish the guys had had better luck, but we are excited to head back there next year and kick it GA style! It was really nice to see all of our family together at one race.
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