Down in Austin for the F1

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That title isn’t exactly, completely true. I’m not down here only for the Formula 1 race on Sunday. I really just like Austin in general and don’t need much of an excuse to make my way down here.

Yesterday, we loaded up the van and drove to Dallas. I have both my cross bikes, plus my MTB bike. Trudi only brought her road bike. We stayed in Richardson at Sue’s mom’s house. I spent a lot of time there this summer, so it was good. Bromont has his favorite places there, so he is in dog heaven there.

Today, we drove down to Austin. I got here around 2 pm and called my friend, Robbie Robinette, to ride. I thought he was a no-show, but after I got dressed and got lost a bit trying to find the start of the Greenbelt, low and behold, my phone rings and Robbie is nearly ready to ride. I was only a couple miles from his house, so I made a U-turn and rode over.

Robbie is the overlord of the Greenbelt here. He nearly lives in the place. He had a Specialized full suspension bike with a ton of travel, perfect for the Greenbelt. There are so many rocks there, it is pretty intimidating at first. I put a little more pressure in my tires at the start, thinking that I was on my own and had to ride back to South Austin later. I regretted that early on.

Anyway, I had a pretty great time riding with Robbie for a couple hours. It is nice as the longer I rode, the more skills that I have stuck away somewhere, slowly appeared. Towards the end, I wasn’t in the pitiful category any more. Thanks for allowing me to follow you around yesterday Robbie.

I only had 20 minutes before sunset to get from the river to Circle C, which is south by the Veloway. I rode nearly the whole way on Mopac. It was at 5:15 and the traffic was super heavy. It was pretty stopped until 360 and then it was fast. Crossing the exits for 71 and such wasn’t too enjoyable, but the tailwind from the cars passing at 70 mph was good. I made it to George’s, where I am staying, just at dark.

We went downtown to eat at Z Tejas on 6th. Supposedly that is where Lance, and a few of his buddies, came up with the idea of Livestong. Then we went back to the car, got Bromont and walked the whole downtown for a couple hours. They are closing Congress for the expo for the F1 and 6th street was going. It is pretty great people watching. It was a very eclectic, locals mixed with F1 glamour. There are supposedly 300,000 people coming here for the F1 this weekend. And thee are lots of police around for some reason. We walked by the W hotel and heard Willie Nelson singing, but couldn’t see him. Finally, around midnight, I had to call out Uncle. My legs were done after we had walked for close to 2 hours, plus the 40 miles I’d ridden earlier.

I’m not sure what the schedule is today. We have tickets to all three days. Today is practice, tomorrow qualifying and then the race on Sunday. I’m going to ride my bike so I don’t get stuck over there all day. I assume it is going to be very loud, but Trudi bought a ton of ear plugs, so we’re covered there. It should be very good people watching, to say the least.

PS-It is reported that Hostess, from Irving Texas, is going to file for bankruptcy and close up shop, so no more Twinkies and Ho Ho’s. They had quite a run.

Here are some photos from yesterday.

This is from Common Grounds, a super cool coffeeshop in Waco.

This was on the drive down to Austin from Dallas.

Sue’s mom and Bromont on the couch in Richardson.

The Greenbelt here in Austin is pretty rocky, technical, but wonderful.

Robbie explaining something to me.

This sign really means, Cyclists, Stay Out of Westlake Hills.

Don, Sue, Bromont, and Trudi walking on 6th at midnight.

And finally, this is a photo I saw on the internet of Catherine, who won Jeff Unruh’s cyclo-x race last Saturday night at Heartland Park in Topeka. I thought it was very artsy.

Can’t Be Two Places at Once

This entry was posted in Racing on by .

This isn’t the first Formula 1 I’ve been too. I raced in a bicycle race on the track of the Long Beach Gran Prix way back in the late 70’s, during qualifying. I was more interesting in the bike racing than the car racing at that point. I am still, but I’m at a car race this weekend, not a bike race.

The F1 practice was awesome yesterday. We rode our bikes over to the bike corral just South of the airport and then took a shuttle to the track from there. Even just practice is unbelievable at a Formula 1 race. It seemed like the place was packed and it was only Friday for practice. On Sunday, it is going to be way more unbelievable. The amount of people will be many more times the amount there today, and it was already nuts. I doubt there is a chance that I will see much of the race, but the life experiences will be good for sure.

The crowd yesterday at the practice was super eclectic, just like the night before down on Congress in downtown. It is a very strange collection of people from all over the world. And, they have at least one thing in common, the love of cars going very fast.

After the practice by the F1 cars, they had a practice for the Ferrari race. The Ferrari guys looked like they were hauling ass, but their times were around a minute slower per lap than the F1 guys. That is pretty unreal.

What is weird to think is that the financing of a Formula one team would pay for about 5 or more Pro Tour teams. The money involved in F1 is off the charts. The helicopters flying back on forth between Austin and the track was never ending. I don’t know where they all came from.

I’m skipping the race today, which is qualifying. It is going to be an all day affair tomorrow, with a ton of waiting in lines. There were lines 200 meters long yesterday for hotdogs. The food at the race is about 3X the price of normal. A beer is $9, but they have a captive audience.

I’m going for a longish ride and try to make my legs feel better after standing around for 5 hours yesterday. We walked a whole perimeter of the race track, but there was still a ton of standing. Cyclists in general are horrible standers. I am no exception there.

Okay, I wish I could be two places at once. The Jingle Cross up in Iowa City is happening already. I love that race. But, it is a UCI event and I can’t really race those races with any enthusiasm because I can’t finish in the top ten, or 15, depending on whether it is a C1 or C2 race. But, the way I’m riding, it would be a gift finishing 11th there. Good luck to all the guys running up Mt. Krumpet this weekend.

We rode our bikes over to the bike corral just South of the airport and then took a shuttle to the track from there.

The bike corral early. Sunday I think it will be jam packed.

Even the tickets seem special.

It was really, really loud.

This guy was the smartest guy at the race.

There were people everywhere.

After the races, we went down south of Buda to look at a Ferrari. Don has been looking for a 308 for the past year. This one is nearly perfect. 22, 000 miles on a ’78. It still has the original tires on it.

There was an antique pedal car in the morton building where the car was stored. I tried to buy the pedals from the guy, but he wanted to keep the car complete. They were Campy track pedals.