Riding the Route

This afternoon, I rode what I’m pretty sure will be the route for the Taco Truck Time Trial. It took me about an hour and a half, including waiting for tacos at each of the trucks; so I’m thinking really fast riders, like Daniel Featherhead or Seth Horton (winner of the Patchkit Alleycat) will probably do it in around an hour.

I figured out how to make the course a bit more diabolical: there’s a nice steep hill following right after each taco truck; it will be interesting to see if this induces regurgitation in any of the racers. Having filled my belly with one taco at each of the trucks today, I did feel a bit dyspeptic after the climb following the third one, but nothing close to hurling. (Of course, I wasn’t really pushing it, not like I could imagine someone way more competitive than me might do.)

I thought the eats at each place were pretty good and I liked that every one had its own special touch. At one place, my veggie taco had whole beans; at another, a perfectly ripe avocado slice topped my order; at a third, a dollop of sour cream crowned my food.

I’m not entirely sure yet how I’ll make sure all the riders have a taco waiting for them when they arrive; from the point of view of conviviality, I don’t mind if folks have to stand around a bit and commingle as their orders are being filled; but it might skew the race a bit if some riders have to wait and others don’t—but maybe that adds an element of chance to things that could be fun.

I am, of course, giving way too much thought to this whole thing; I’ve found myself lying awake at night making plans and trying to figure out what will go where and how.

I’m having fun, though, with the preparations; hopefully riders will, too, when race day comes around.