The Coalition

On my long list of places I'd like to post-doc, in fact somewhere towards the top of the list, is University of Delaware. Mostly because of this place - especially this guy.

Another big big part of the balance sheet is the Delaware Cross Coalition of Delaware. Ever heard of them? They're at every race, wearing black shirts that simply read "CROSS". You can't miss 'em.

I've been saying for years that Granogue is easily in my top 3 races, and while the other two change from season to season (new this year: Cycle Smart Int'l), Granogue is always up there. Well, guess who runs Granogue? The DCCoD.

The cast of characters that makes up this team is well-known to those who race, and my non-cyclist readers have no idea who the hell I'm talking about. Describing them could be fun, but then this post would risk becoming a giant piece of ass-kissing fluff, and nobody wants that. This weekend, on the other hand, was description-worthy.

So, this weekend was muddy, in case you didn't already know. Brutally muddy. Anyone who had access to a spare bike was getting a fresh bike every half-lap (ie, as frequently as possible). This meant that their Pit Guy was charged with turning a muddy mess into a good-as-new machine every few minutes.

Blake, photo by Gabe Lloyd

It costs the racers very little time to take a new bike - in fact, on this course, it was actually faster to ride through the pit! - but by the time the drivetrain has been gunked-up, they can gain significant ground on rivals who didn't exchange bikes. So it's tough work, but it's what needs to be done on a muddy day.

I won't sugar-coat it: it SUCKS to be in the pit. Courses aren't exactly designed to give Pit Guys a good view of the course. During the few minutes after an exchange, you don't see the race at all. Instead, you sprint to the wash station, get soaked with cold, muddy water, then sprint back, hoping you haven't missed your racer. Anyone who says they wouldn't rather be spectating is a liar... and probably a dirty communist.

From what I could tell, most of the racers had one guy in the pit, and the rest of their friends/family/team were elsewhere on the course. The top-tier guys had a small army of mechanics and multiple spare bikes. Eric and I worked together today, with help from Wade, which was two more than I'd had on Saturday.

The DCCoD was in the next pit stall, and theirs was an impressive operation. They must've had about 10 guys working for 5 racers, but rather than act in autonomous pairs like me and Eric, they were coordinated. From what I could tell, they had an assembly line - one station to catch the old bike, one to hand up the new bike, one to run to the wash station, one to clean in the pit. One supervising. FatMarc as Free Safety. And most impressively, it was flexible, with DCCoDers jumping from station to station with all the fluidity and purpose of a colony of ants.

When I was alone in the pit on Saturday and during today's Women's race, they sent somebody to help with my exchanges.

Here's the take home message... The DCCoD had nearly a dozen people working together when half that number would've sufficed. Rather than enjoy the pleasantness of spectating, they toiled. That is rare.

I have this terrible feeling that this post reeks of sycophantism. That's not its purpose. Instead, all I'm saying is this:

If I wasn't with Rutgers, I'd want to roll with the DCCoD.