FM.24.07: what did you think?

this was my first FM24 race, and it was great. my teammates were fantastic, as was everybody else who came out. i have never waved at so many bikers on dekalb ave before.

the computer tracking thing was pretty awesome, and i'm really impressed at how well-organized everything was.

i liked the route, too - at first i thought it was too long, but then i realized that because there were so many options, it kept folks on their toes.

A+!
gold star!

and then some.

FM blows me away, man.

The only suggestion I would make is to try to make the prizes for the fastest women's team the same or equivalent to those of the fastest overall team. Given how strong TNT was this year, I think encouraging really competitive women's teams would be the right thing to do.

I for one am fucking pissed. I paid a reasonable entry fee for what I thought to be some form of hipster alleycat race. forty minutes tops. who's bright idea was it to stretch my dollar so damn far? thanks a lot assholes for soaking up my whole weekend. can't wait to do it again next year.

jerks.

the most fun I've had on a road bike. Well organized, especially the rfid cards and readers. Kudos. See you next year, if not sooner.

very well put together. and the tacos from across the street were delicious.

great race.

One question though: why no spoke cards? I had a bunch of people ask me why they didn't get one. I mean, for a $15 entry surely there could have been a spoke card... ?

i'm destroyed. fighting with the squid guys all day and night was exciting and they were really gracious and humble about it for probably actually being much faster riders than us.

the rfid was really really sweet. it was elegant, worked well, and gave all sorts of cool data. one of the best parts was having so many of my friends involved in the race just because they could watch it online and keep track of how things were going.

and mouhamed! that dude fuckin made it! everyone rallied behind him and loved him and what he did was incredible. he would come in after every single one of his laps and look like he was about to die. but he still went back out...

the time of year was pretty excellent too....so much better than last year. riding at 4 in the morning was bliss. even though it still might be kind of cool to do a 15month rotation the 24 race so you get a different season each year.

you guys pulled off something really amazing. i don't really have a lot of suggestions for improvements. the only thing i really noticed that sucked was that the portapotties smelled horrible. that's sort of out of your hands though.

and it's pretty funny that for how awesome it was, spirits around the area totally improved around like 10-10:30 as more and more people came in and realized that they didn't have anymore laps to do.

The RFID was fantastic, great camaraderie, well-organized, super sweet all around. A couple friendly suggestions:

1. Set up trash cans in the parking lots from race start to finish.

2. LCD projector + lappy = big realtime display of race info.

3. I think it was just a touch too early this year. The combination of the weather and proximity to dragoncon made it tough. I think Late September to mid-October would be a better time range.

[EDIT] On behalf of The Extraordinary Contraptions, The Lasch From Exile and DJ DVA, THANK YOU SO MUCH to everybody who came inside to have a listen Saturday night! Everybody put on a great show and had a blast doing it. And special thanks to the race organizers and Johnny's for hosting us all.

Band members, post a reply here with web page/myspace/gig info.

Extraordinary Contraptions: Listen to rehearsal recordings and check for upcoming gigs at http://www.myspace.com/theextraordinarycontraptions. Expect us back at Johnny's soon and hopefully at Lenny's in the near future too. We start recording our demo/ep this week and, of course, we will follow the Lasch's precedent and offer free samples at shows as soon as they're available! Lastly, send us a myspace message and let us know who/what you think we sound like, because we never know how to answer that question. And maybe you'll turn us on to some cool new tunes. (Maybe even people to play a show with!) Thanks again for prickin' yer ears up!

Well done!

The time of year was excellent: From a weather standpoint (I like the heat). Also from a student's standpoint (the semester hasn't transitioned into crazy-project-mode yet).

The longer lap distance was good because it kept the check in/out table clear even with lots of riders. Also it was good for teammates to have longer breaks between laps for drinking/sleep/whatever.

Only one complaint: I was fooled into looking 'across the street' for tacos, only to find out they were next door!

Needed:
=Signs pointing to RFID readers (good job Skate Escape). I saw some people were wandering early looking for them.

Would've been nice:
=A jar of earplugs (could've brought a pair myself but didn't realize the need)
=Basing the race out of the parking lot of a motel (with ample event parking, a pool and rooms with beds and showers) instead of a pizza chain parking lot. Well, assuming there is a motel in the city that is not full of weekly junkies and their needles or other nasty shit like that!!

Hads:
=Everything else you could possibly want. Fantastic job y'all!

...

The last Sunday of September is always the Six Gap Century. It's the biggest squid magnet in the region. The days are not as likely to be 90+, and the squids are mostly (2500 of them) up in Dahlonega.

I am trying to write up a race report for my blog, but until then I just want to say "Wow!" That was a blast! It hurt like hell, but it was a blast. The organization and set-up was top notch. I am assuming the system and card readers were all built from scratch? Worked flawlessly! The people I met and who were cheering me on were the some of the greatest and most positive people I have ever raced with. (Except whoever crapped on top of the lid in the porta pottie- completely not cool!)

Props to Mouhamed! That was fun as hell racing him. After we see-sawed and he took the lead in the early morning, I just could not reel him in. I gave it my all, but he had more. When I hobbled over the the Flying Biscuit before the awards ceremony for breakfast, it was all I could do not to pass out. I was hurting! The dude deserved the win. I just hope he hurt like I did! (Note for next year- do not try and follow that Mad Panda fucker on the first lap. To fast for a race that is going to last 24 hours!)

Props to the (One of?) defending solo champion Nasty Nate for being so supportive and helpful. The AVX guys were great, but they are funner when the are hauling 3 cases of beer on their backs up to Brasstown Bald. The guy at Skate Escape was super helpful and was giving out water- I will highly recommend that place. The race organizers were incredible. And those sweet hookers on Ponce....

For next year: Lights in the porta jons and maybe some cleaning supplies and scented candles. Lots of scented candles. A vending machine full of Coca Cola in the parking lot. Better awards for the top female team, to echo somebody else. Less cabbies?

Again, the race was fantastic and really a lot of fun. The people super. To paraphrase a buddy of mine- "I was feeling the love!" I love my messenger bag from NPC! (Edited to add, I found the website.) I'll be back, though maybe as part of a team, and I look forward to seeing everybody at CM and other FM events.

the race was awesome and fun and hard fought and i'm tired. the organizers did an amazing job with the RFID and applications (mobile was sweet).

all the solo guys did a great job - Mouhamed is just plain nuts! i couldn't rest after the race so i went up to Buckhead to watch the crits... Mouhamed literally RAN past me on the sidewalk as he was helping out one of his AVX teammates with a mechanical. he was still smiling.

I wanted to post from TNT to say "Thank you!" And we love FM!!!
-For starters, the RFID cards were fantastic! I know I probably asked Chris Kelly about our team's place at least 50 times over the weekend...sorry!
-The route was awesome! It required strategic route planning from Skate Escape to No Brakes and that really raised the bar.
-The camaraderie was what really kept me going. Everyone I passed around 4 am was so excited getting through the night was bearable.
-And finally to give some props to my team for a hard fought 6th place. Individually we all set some awesome records: Lisa with 7 laps under 50 mins, Stacey with 5 laps fixed-no brake (and 1 of those hauling a gallon of water), Shawn for trusting a bunch strange women and riding with positivity, Amy for racing a criterium in AL and then riding 4 midnite laps on her birthday!
-And to everyone that cheered us on, all the friends we made, and to all the sponsors & vendors!
The weekend left us all feeling an amazing sense of accomplishment & spirit about the Atlanta cycling community, FM's quality of races, & the increase in competitive women in a variety of cycling's arenas!

THANK YOU from TNT!!!

TNT=Tuesday Nights at the Track; women's & master's racing series put on by Melissa (mapatte@emory.edu for more information!)

The race was amazing yet brutal. Your hills could eat our tallest bridges. Besides the guy yelling racial slurs at me and throwing a bottle at my head everyone I met was really really great. Across the Street and Johnny's, I love you.

Things I would Change:

Spokecard.... I know you didn't know this before the race, but... I work in a photostudio/ printhouse. Next year if you need help getting more I can probably work something out.

A suit of armor... for Mouhamed to wear. passing him once would make me feel really good about myself

If you guys could level out the city a bit that would be cool, it would kind of level out the playing field for us Florida guys

Things I Loved:

All of you.. It's been great building a relationship between Tampa Bay and you guys

The prices at Johnny's

The RFID cards
Jes, Julian, Ben, Joe and all the rest of you guys who hooked us up with a place to sleep and answered your phones when I was lost in the city. Come see us in St.Pete

A pocket map for out-of-towner's.
And a I would have really enjoyed a spokecard.

here: spoke card template.

print and laminate to your broken emo hearts' content.

FM Folk: I stopped by the 24-hr.-scene 2x this weekend. Damn I was impressed! The esprit de corps, the festival atmosphere, the realization that a community of cyclists were fanned out all across our beautiful city (Dave Matthew-be damned) – all of these realities certainly have completely whetted this roadie’s appetite to do the race next year. It really looked like everyone was having such a righteously good time. I couldn’t stick around but all day long (and night) all I could think about: “Those kids are still at it!”

I’m not following the thread that well. So I don’t really know if y’all are hoping for more (or less) squid participation next year. If you want more, some thought should be given to not holding the event on the same weekend as the Grant Park Crit. I’m sure y’all heard, but there were hundreds of roadies in the park this past Saturday for Aarons Cycling’s Annual crit race. (Methinks it might be inherently unfair that fixies are competing against roadies on our faster machines. But I’m not sure what the prevailing attitude is among folk on this forum…)

Congrats on a job so obviously well done! Long may you ride! Sincerely, MP

First of all - Holy Shit a Bike!?!?! I can't believe I won a bike on my first race - you guys rock and thanks to Ami for it's history. fyi it's a 29yr old blue Stella 2gear free. Huffy was getting a little suspicious, so I promised to turn Stella into a fixie. This way my red and blue babies will get along, though I can already anticipate the RvsB jokes.

Man this weekend was incredible. To get this much support and see so much camaraderie on my first race, it really really moved me. Thank you to Christopher and Chris Kelly for working so hard to keep the tracking system working - Mobile instant stats were the coolest thing I've ever seen on a phone. Thanks to Mike and Nathan for going to sleep for 2 hrs, and thank you to Mouhamed for simply saying he would go to sleep; the hope was enough to keep me going at 5am. He also gave me some good advice and lent some support around sunrise when I finally caught him on a lap - he's a superman, he's crazy, and he deserves all the recognition he's getting.

Thanks to everyone who waved and offered words of encouragement on Marietta and Dekalb, the long and lonely roads; Pleasant interaction with other cyclists is something new to me riding those roads every day. Thanks to all the people (especially Brett) who showed me that there was 'a better way' through this city, whether they knew it or not.

I could write a book about this weekend. From the concert to tailing the police motorcades to making friends with the ground at 30mph to riding with cardboard boxers to squinting and praying the red LED's read on the first swipe to drafting to slalloming between columns of moving cars on 10th, on Ponce, and again on Morland to knowing the Streets as up close and personal as you can get and finally, to truly feeling the pulse of the city. I don't even know where to start in explaining to my family what just happened this weekend. But We know what we went through and really, for me that's all that matters, that we all share this same momentous experience.

Before I have time to create a correct response to this thread, I want to address something: there was hardly any drinking at this race vs. previous years. Anyone else notice that? It really suprised me.

That's because our guy Hank drank enough for about everyone there.

Was it just me or did Dave Matthews have the Olympics effect? Car traffic seemed non-existent.

And for a nanosec, some insane voice in my head was wishing that it was a 48hr race.

I just want to say thanks to everyone that didn't kill us for our extreme drunken lack of musical skills in the parking lot this weekend. Maybe we'll grow some talent and play a real show at next year's race.