Jeff was the first to quote Dickens to describe yesterday’s Crusher. Conditions were generally good for the early finishers with cool drizzly weather. Greg and Jeff both finished before the big storms hit. Chris and I were caught out in persistent heavy rain and hail that made finishing at all seem like a life and death struggle. The only Rexburg locals at the Crusher this year were me, Jeff, Greg Roach, and Chris Babb riding his first Crusher. Our old friend Robbie Stone, pictured in the yellow and white jersey, was there as well.
The personalized nameplate was my recognition for finishing my fifth Crusher last year. Jeff finished his fifth yesterday and will be rewarded with the same nameplate upon his next participation. Greg and I both took new bikes to the Crusher, Greg a brand new Kelson and me the Trek Boone that Joe built up earlier this spring. My new bike was pretty great. I was especially happy to have the disc brakes on the long gritty downhills. The first year that I rode the Crusher, my lowest gear was a 34:28. That was the first thing I updated before returning. Since then, I have been reasonably successful with a 1:1 gearing ratio (36:36 on the new bike), but I did not have the legs for a 1:1 ratio yesterday. Greg’s new Kelson is geared more like the newest generation of Crusher bikes with a single chainring drivetrain and a low gear something like 38:46.
Readers of the blog will know that I am a fan of Surly. Even though they would not be my first choice for a race bike, I was happy to see a purple Straggler and a pea-green Cross-Check among the customs and exotics at the Crusher yesterday. At every Crusher, the generosity and helpfulness of the race volunteers is unparalleled. That was especially true in the bad weather yesterday.
*Here is a little post-script: Since Joe got me the Garmin, I have been able to see the steepness of a slope in real time. I did not watch this screen all the way up the Col, but the steepest grade that I noticed was 14%. That was not a big surprise, but the thing that was unexpected was to find that the steepest sustained grades in the Sarlacc Pit are 10%. The Sarlacc Pit was reasonably consolidated yesterday, but it was still the hottest part of the course and the only part untouched by the rain which fell pretty steadily in Beaver and the Tushar Mountains for a couple of days.
*Here is a little post-script: Since Joe got me the Garmin, I have been able to see the steepness of a slope in real time. I did not watch this screen all the way up the Col, but the steepest grade that I noticed was 14%. That was not a big surprise, but the thing that was unexpected was to find that the steepest sustained grades in the Sarlacc Pit are 10%. The Sarlacc Pit was reasonably consolidated yesterday, but it was still the hottest part of the course and the only part untouched by the rain which fell pretty steadily in Beaver and the Tushar Mountains for a couple of days.
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