An endurance race is usually punctuated with long bouts of difficulty. Weather, planning, mechanical durability, mental stress, preparedness, luck, all factor into successfully completing the journey. Winning, even in a such a low stakes venture as a moped race with no cash value and very little bragging rights, is still a towering achievement of grit. Day 3 of Bakers Dozen returns the teams to the promise of grueling miles. The path from Deal’s Gap, Tennessee to Ferguson, North Carolina is a 200 mile haul through the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In this part of the country, strait, flat roads do not exist and every mile is earned. Three days into a seven day race, 6 bikes are still in the running for the gold. Maitland, who voluntarily did not ride on the first day, will still be riding, bringing the total to 7 bikes for todays starting roster. The teams started with an important choice. Travel north, riding the Dragon, with it’s infamous 318 curves and taking the north route, or skipping it and taking the shorter, less heroic, southern route.
Maitland, Chad, and Jordan chose the path of glory and went north. The other 4 teams took the southern route, skipping the fabled road for a shorter, flatter, much quicker path. It is thirty miles shorter, but the weather would be an extra strain, with heavy rain mostly in the southern area. The northern road is flatter until it isn’t, ending with a crossing over Sugar Mountain toward the end. An almost 4,000 ft elevation climb with very steep grades. Neither choice today would prove to be easy.
Jose took an early lead, but it was not to last. At 12:30 he reported stopping to address a missing exhaust stud. That turned out to be a broken off exhaust stud, flush with the surface. Which then revealed the other stud was also broken. It didn’t take long to realize the root cause of the issue, the frame had sheared apart under the engine cradle. With no way to repair such a failure on the side of the road, he patched it together and limped to a muffler repair shop. They kindly let him use a mig welder to sick the frame back together. Alas only one stud of broken studs could be replaced, with the sub-flush one remaining in the cylinder. Jose eventually decided to just swap the cylinder completely. At 1:21, declaring he would never DNF over the groupme, he got to work. He rode into the camp grounds at 9:05pm, true to his word.
Team Clark faired slightly better. They broke their first pipe for the second time. Then realized they smoked a clutch. Somehow they patched the exhaust up and kept on trucking. But these little issues add up when there is nowhere to pull off and work and they didn’t roll into camp until 7:30, rain soaked and tired.
Meanwhile the northern route teams, riding in blissful sunshine, meandered their way through the mountains. Chad Burke kept a quiet day and just got to work. Turning a total time of 7 hours on the road, good enough for third place for the day. It is important to understand that this is a race in the loosest terms. There are no losers when it comes to the adventure. And some riders prioritize the adventure over the race. Maitland and Jordan stopped to smell plenty of roses and hotdogs along the way and rolled into camp at a leisurely 7:45pm. Reminding us all that it’s about the journey sometimes.
Two teams today did not get the reminder about enjoying the journey and instead raced hammer and tong to the finish. Team T3 and the QCB Bye Bike gave no quarter as they raced, actually raced, to an thrilling third day end. The Tylers+1 edged out the Bye Boys by 9 minutes at the line and moved into the overall lead with a total time of 13 hours and 14 minutes. Proving the efficiency of the southern route. Although the riders of the north route actually road the Dragon during the race and get 28 extra bonus points from me personally.
The unsung heros of any race will always be the many pit crew members that help the stars shine. They help with navigation, blocking traffic, and helping riders out when bikes break down. Many just join Bakers Dozen to tag along and just be helpful and for that I thank them. But even chase teams sometimes get in a little of that sweet moped disaster action as well. The Asian Amigo’s chase van locked their keys in the van while helping Jose during his initial stop for the broken exhaust stud. They remained stuck there after Jose moved onto the muffler shop. Eventually a tow truck arrived to pop the locks and they rejoined the group. Jeni Rae, chasing for Maitland, ran out of gas in the rain. With no cell reception in the area and unable to flag down anyone, she had to take a 5 mile walk in the rain to get help. Then she took a well earned power nap before joining up with Nina and having their own private van race to the finish line. Ensuring that on Bakers Dozen there are truly no bad days.