The Del Mar Crit was last Saturday. I kind of wish there had been more this year. Saturday's race was epic though. My day started at 7:00am, setting up the tent and my pit.

The first few races were junior races and they were pretty harmless (a few flats, a derailleur adjustment, etc.). Lots of friends stopped by throughout the day which is always good. Stubby and Vanilla stopped by during their ride. Chris Allen from Specialized, BigAss stopped by after the Swami's ride, TeeBag hung out with his camera most of the day and loads of our team riders (DeWalt, SDBC and Jensifer) hung out in the pit between races.

During the 45+ race one of the UCCyclery racers wrecked pretty hard. He was taken to the hospital. Unfortunately the ambulance had to return before the next race could commence. That left the 35+ riders to warm up on course for close to 45 minutes until the ambulance returned. 5pence flew in from Jersey (the island off UK) a couple days before and decided to do the race. In spectacular form he pulled a fourth place finish. Good job little man

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The Pro 1/2/3 race included a few Rock Racing guys, Jelly Belly and Toyota United. A Team Type 1 guy came into the pits looking for a neutral wheel, the pits are wheels in/ wheels out (riders bring a spare set of wheels to me, if they get a flat on course they ride to the pit and I change wheels for them). How can a pro show up at a race and not have a spare? It turned out he had his wheels at his car he just didn't want to use them. One of the Toyota United guys rolled in with a flat, also no spare. I offered him my trusty crappy 9spd spare. He was in the break so he took it. I rolled him back in and he stayed with the break. As soon as he was off I decided to fix his flat, it was a good thing he was back after 10 laps or so. I installed his wheel and rolled him in. He ended up getting third! 

I was completely surprised when he came by the pit after the race and thanked me for the help. That completely made my day.

It was a long day but, a good one.