Join Me 3pm EDT / 12noon PDT for a Pre-Rockwell Relay Q&A

05.23.2014 | 9:09 am

Today at 3pm EDT / 2pm CDT / 1pm MDT / 12noon PDT (people in AZ are going to have to do their own time-related math), I’m going to be hosting a video Q&A about the Rockwell Relay on Spreecast. Now, I’ve talked about this race before. In fact, I’ve probably talked about it more than anyone else has, ever. 

But today, we’re going to talk tactics. And strategy. And gear. And other stuff. If you are considering doing this race or have already signed up, you should watch. Here, let me make things easy for you by embedding the viewer here:

You should know, though, that the whole experience is going to be better at the Spreecast site, where you can enter questions and stuff.

Oh, and speaking of questions, please, for the love of all that’s good in the world, start thinking of some questions you can ask, or this Spreecast will wind up being a very awkward ten minutes of people staring blankly at the screen, humming softly to themselves (i.e., ourselves).

And nobody wants to see that. Or maybe you do. But I hope not.

So Who’s Going To Be On the Panel?

For this chat, I thought I’d bring on a variety of folks to talk and answer — as well as ask — questions:

• Me: In spite of all my efforts, I seem to have become someone who actually knows something about this race. Weird.
• The Race Director: Tyler Servoss is race director for the Rockwell Relay, and so will be able to give actual official answers, as opposed to the answers which I will be pulling directly out of my butt. (Luckily for everyone, this will remain off-camera.)
• An Experienced Racer Guy: Spencer Story has done the Rockwell Relay before, and knows a thing or two about a thing or two. He’ll be a good person to ask questions if you expect a sane experienced perspective on the race, as a counterpoint to my perspective.
• The New Guy: Ted Twogood has never raced the Rockwell Relay, and should therefore have a lot of questions. It’s my hope that he’ll want to ask us these questions, in order to help us avoid the aforementioned awkward silence.

Questions I Think Someone Ought To Ask

OK, really this is just me writing some notes to myself for things I’d like to bring up. Please give me more ideas in the comments section, OK? I’m begging here.

• Why the staggered start? And how will it affect race tactics?
• Any course changes this year?
• How long will Dave Towle be commentating? For the entirety of the race? Because I think he may be the only person in the world who could commentate for 35+ hours straight.
• If Dave isn’t commentating for the whole thing, does he want to drive our van for us? If he’s on the clock, he ought to be doing something.
• What kind of riders are best suited for which stages? I’ve detailed probable weather conditions for each stage before, but it might not be a bad idea to talk about what the elevation profiles indicate, rider-type-wise.
• What kind of vibe should you expect at the Rockwell Relay?
• What are some clever food ideas? Load up on Paradox Pizza the night before and stow it in plastic bags, of course. But what else? 
• How do you keep your rider from catching fire? It gets kinda warm out there in the middle of the day.
• When do you need to register by? Registration closes June 1. So that’s probably going to be a pretty brief Q&A moment.
• What are things that people do that are against the rules? 
• What kinds of stuff — tools, clothes, other gear — should people bring?
• What if your team is having a crummy day? What are your options?
• Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?
• Will there be brats at packet pickup this year?
• How many teams raced last year? How many are registered this year?
• What if someone wants to do this race, but doesn’t have a team?

Oh, and how about one last question: Will Team Fatty employ new race strategies to defeat or at least confuse the sudden profusion of high-zoot coed teams? The short answer is “yes.” I’m not sure how much detail I’m going to go into, though. Let’s just say that the phrase “no shortcuts allowed” doesn’t appear anywhere in the race bible and leave it at that.