“RE: PMC Day Two: Bourne to the Provincetown Inn”

On 8/23/05, Chris said:

>Hey Seth! Chris, your friendly PMC Mechanic here.

Chris! I was wondering if you'd come around. I looked for you again this year on Friday night, but couldn't find you. Apparently the rest of the support staff doesn't know you as "Chris at barking dawg." Go figure. ;-)

>Congrats at another great ride!

Thanks, it was a great weekend.

>My Saturday was good.  Got in before the food tents closed for the first
>time in 10 years  (yea, it's been that long)

What time was that? I don't know when the food tents close, since I'm never there late on Saturday.

>Sunday wasn't so lucky.  Last rider didn't finish until 4pm.

Man that's a long day. Do you know what time he started?

>Older gent on a 3 wheel Delta Trike.  Averaged about 7-8 mph.  

Ouch.

>We skipped the side roads from Wellfleet to p-town heading up Rt. 6 to
>make it easier on him.  LONG day.  Never gave up.  Man has survived a
>gun shot wound, heart attack, cancer, and a stoke and still did well
>over 150 miles in two days.

Cool. I hope he wasn't feeling too much pressure, knowing he was so far behind....?

>AK0081 if you want to stick a little something in his kitty.

To everybody else: Chris is referring to the rider's eGift id, which you can use to make a small donation to his fundraising. His name is Art Kalbach, and he's only raised $910 so far.

Go here to donate something to his fundraising account.

I can tell you from experience that any amount is appreciated.

>His wife ride with him the whole way.  She'd go ahead, stop and let him
>catch up, move ahead...I use my bike to sweep the canal and rail trail,
>so after doing the rail trail, I just rode along with him to keep him
>company.  Rode with him all the way to Wellfleet.  Real family outing as
>his kids and her brother were also riding.  Team Generations.  

I've never ridden a Trike... are they much slower by nature? Obviously, a lot of it is attributed to his age, but some of it was the bike, right?

>When I'm that age, I hope I can still ride no matter what speed I do.  
> (^_^)

How old is he?

I've already said what I want to do in my old age. Did you catch it in my story of the weekend? I was serious! :-)

>By the way, next time you get bad water, just flag down a van, we all
>keep water and gatoraid on ice.  And I always have at least a case of
>both left over each year and I use the most of all the vans as I try to
>refresh the riders at the end between stops so that I can both get them
>fresh cold drinks and monitor their fluids.

OH MAN I wish I had known that!!! Thanks for the tip, I'll remember that for next year.

In fact, there are so many things I need to remember for next year, that what I really need to do is re-read the whole story just before next year's PMC. That would save me a few headaches. :-)

>Was a really wacky year for the mechanics.  Lots of odd repairs.  Never
>fixed one flat, but replaced a saddle,

You had to replace a saddle!? Did somebody crash, or just bring a bad one knowing they could get it replaced on the ride? I don't understand.

>derailer, many adjustments, and even a chain.

My chain almost completely wore out in my first PMC (2003), but the mechanic said there was nothing they could do for me. (Of course, this was the mechanic at the last water stop on Sunday, so he probably didn't want to 'donate' a chain just for 20 miles of riding.)

>Were 8 tire sidewall blowouts.  In the previous 9 years I've heard of
>one. Just all kinds of odd stuff.

There must have been some point along the ride with some really rough road, so people were scuffing their tires a lot? Or maybe it's just "one of those things."

>Knee healed well after last year,

Great!

>but broke my foot earlier this year.

Oh brother. How'd you do that?

>Still did my 50 mile hill ride for the few PMC riders in my area in
>early July - in the pouring rain!

Had to be early July... that's the only time it rained all Summer! (Not counting the night before the PMC.)

>Didn't have many happy riders on that trip.  I loved it.  Dress right,
>and rain isn't a big deal.  Then again, the only way to know is to do it.

I don't mind the rain anymore either, no matter how I'm dressed... I'm more worried about how the equipment is holding up. (One of the big rainy rides I did a few years ago, around the Quabbin Reservoir, was completely without brakes. Not fun.)

>Had to cater to Team 9 a little Saturday night ("yes, we'd like our
>bikes delivered to our hotel so we can start from here")

They were demanding, but at least they make up for it by being snooty. ;-)

>The four of us (2 guys, 2 girls) were way overtired when we delivered
>the bikes and helmets at 11pm.  (and yea I was up again at 4am)  as one
>of the girls said "I touched the saddle that touched the butt of Kurt
>Shilling's wife!"

When I skimmed this yesterday, I thought she had said, "I touched the saddle that touched the butt that touched the hand of Kurt Shilling!" Heh.

>Never met the riders (they are in bed already) but rather their hysteric
>personal assistant.  *sigh*  *think of the money they bring
>in...*Basically, your pretty normal PMC weekend.  (^_^)

Normal for the PMC is still rather extraordinary, though, isn't it?

Thanks for helping to make it such a great weekend, Chris! Stay in touch this year, will ya!?

Seth