Joined Aug 2004
71 Posts | 0+
Alberta, Canada
This is a bit late but still interesting (I hope!).
Note: Before I get into this, for general knowledge in case it seems like I'm poking fun at this gem of a guy in some of this (I am actually), so none of you get to worrying, I know and like Fryguy. I've evolved a high level of appreciation for his good nature, his skill as an organizer and leader, I know he is a well above average rider, and he has well rounded technical smarts too. None of that prevents me from dealing with him in a humorous light, however, lucky he! He can always just kick my insolent *** next time we meet....after I roost him with my 650!
Fryguy, for those who may not know, was the Canadian Team Manager at the ISDE in Chile. (masterfull job I might add). He was also the official course Pre-Ride guy, checking out the terrain, and route, in the week prior to the event, along with a large group of similar single reps from each country that cared to send someone out for this formally organized and operated viewing of the course.
I got to tag along as Pre-Ride support (hence my close at-hand awareness here), again along with all the other folks that had a rider involved, chasing the riders each day with gas, food & drink, face wash, toilet paper, fresh air filters, etc. It was a very interesting 3 days, speeding across northern Chile in a mob of cars and trucks attempting to find the locations of checks yet to be set up, on a course that was still being marked, using maps that were mostly correct in detail, in an attempt to meet our riders at each such check/gas stop to attend to their needs and record their thoughts and times. My note taking partner Ben (from KTM in the southern USA) and I have a bag of stories related to just that exercise...but this bit is all about Fryguy.
He went out determined not to make the pre-ride a race, but there were a lot of damn good riders in this crowd and the pace was set by this Italian guy who had been assisting with course layout. He flat flew everywhere and the whole pack had to sail hard to keep him in sight. Anyway....seems there was this "Y" in the trail at one point about middle of the Day 1 pre-ride, the terrain was serious rock-strewn desert with square edged rocks of all sizes hidden under the powder silt trail as well as plenty of man-killer cactus (that acutally pierced right through the handguards of many bikes) and trail-side rocks from small to huge, all nasty sqaure edged stuff.....for miles.
Fryguy gets to this "Y" at his standard (casual I'm told) near front of group speed, and has an uncharacteristic moment of indecision. By the time he gets it worked out, it is too late for either left or right fork and he is making his own trail into the rocks at approximately 3rd gear speed. About then, as he describres it, a rock the size of "the hood of a car" became his next point of contact and he went blithely off investigating the local flora & geology, in his own special way, while leaving his mighty 550 to fend for itself amid the boulders.
I can't recall if he had worked out whether the rocky bits where primarily igneous or sedimentary, but he gave each one a very close looking over as he used his body to scub off speed on every obstacle he encountered while down there at ground level. Given the activity undertaken, both bike and rider actually emerged OK. Fryguy could still walk, move all his fingers, he could see, his clothing was not fully removed and his beard was intact. The Berg was still in fine rolling condition...almost.
A rock had neatly removed the right foopeg, the top tab that previously secured it to the frame, most of the toe pedal part of the rear brake lever, and the whole rear brake lever itself by tearing out the back half of the frame tab that the pedal bolt is mounted through and, in better times, pivots at. Job well done!
Ben and I knew something was amiss when our fearless leader did not show up with his part of the pack...or, any part of the pack. When he eventually did stray in, with front wheel pointing funny, kind'a dirtier than usual, a bit cross-eyed, we had a clue that something was up. In a period of brilliance after his scamper in the boulders, he had scavenged among the Chilean granite and found all the ripped off pieces and had them safely in his pocket. That was the end of the Day 1 pre-ride for Team Canada but, luckily, we were back to a point where the course simply reversed on itself so we had nothing new to learn anyway.
Back to the pits on a road ride to try and salvage the Berg for Day 2 of the official pre-ride. The Canuk riders there at the time immediately helped size things up (amid some relief that Fryguy was OK....and plenty of quite snickering that he fell off in the first place) and sprang into action. Several solutions were considered, then Bob Reed found some perfect washers on our team bike crates and the French Connection (Patrick, Michelle & Thierry) assisted with the fitting and filing to make sure the repaired peg would still fold like a factory unit. I chased down the Park Ferme construction manager who pointed out a welder who was still welding together the fence for the bike Secure Compound and off we went.
We had our doubts looking at the sparky rig the guy had, but he did a fine job that has held to this day as far as I know and he got the mighty Berg back on the trail for the rest of the ISDE pre-ride. Not completely clear on the money conversion, but I think Fryguy awarded the welder about a week's pay for the on-the-spot repair. Fryguy abandonded his close-up exploration of the Chilean landscape on the ensuing rides, and all lived happily ever after.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, the evidence....(these will be iin my gallery once I learn to just post pics and quit destroying my gallery in the process)
Pic #1 - "Fryguy - Style'n in Chile 07" At his best - not (this is not actually a shot of him after falling but I could not resist) It is his entry to our pit at one of the pre-ride stops....he looks so balanced in his riding position, note the helmet and goggles so carefully askew, the stylish attire worn with flair, the "where the hell am I" twinkle in the eyes. If I am not mistaken, he is in the perfect riding "attack" posture (if one is attacking a Big Mac). Thanks for that big guy; glad I was there to capture the moment!
Pic#2 - "Fry Farmpeg1 - Chile 07" The footpeg back on. The bottom tab was bent almost straight down. The top tab was simply gone. Note the gouges in the front of the rear brake arm near the pivot. The contact point that tore the pedal out of the frame.
Pic#3 - "Fry Farmpeg2 - Chile 07" A close look at the ISDE special, dual-washer, top bracet.
Pic#4 - "Fry Farmpeg3 - Chile 07" A step back with my fat hand pointing to a hidden, 3rd washer, that was also welded on to provide a new tab and brake pivot where the original was ripped away. Note the front of brake pedal also shows signs of welding. It was mashed flat and mostly torn away. Our Chilean welding guy was pretty good.
Pic#5 - "Fryguy - What Footpeg Chile 07" The man who was mean to his Berg is assessing riding life in Chile and pondering a more fastideous riding style.
Pic#6 - "Fryguy - Pre-Ride Front Plate Chile 07" The front number plate after the Pre-Ride. I believe the gouges and scrapes are evidence of a somewhat challenging course.
Pic #7 - "Fryguy - Proper Form Chile 07" To make up for the first shot. The Fryguy looking in proper form in Chile.
Hope the pics attach OK. I was trying to insert them in the document under each heading but failed miserably. Not certain at all about attaching several. Close eyes...click sumbit....
Note: Before I get into this, for general knowledge in case it seems like I'm poking fun at this gem of a guy in some of this (I am actually), so none of you get to worrying, I know and like Fryguy. I've evolved a high level of appreciation for his good nature, his skill as an organizer and leader, I know he is a well above average rider, and he has well rounded technical smarts too. None of that prevents me from dealing with him in a humorous light, however, lucky he! He can always just kick my insolent *** next time we meet....after I roost him with my 650!
Fryguy, for those who may not know, was the Canadian Team Manager at the ISDE in Chile. (masterfull job I might add). He was also the official course Pre-Ride guy, checking out the terrain, and route, in the week prior to the event, along with a large group of similar single reps from each country that cared to send someone out for this formally organized and operated viewing of the course.
I got to tag along as Pre-Ride support (hence my close at-hand awareness here), again along with all the other folks that had a rider involved, chasing the riders each day with gas, food & drink, face wash, toilet paper, fresh air filters, etc. It was a very interesting 3 days, speeding across northern Chile in a mob of cars and trucks attempting to find the locations of checks yet to be set up, on a course that was still being marked, using maps that were mostly correct in detail, in an attempt to meet our riders at each such check/gas stop to attend to their needs and record their thoughts and times. My note taking partner Ben (from KTM in the southern USA) and I have a bag of stories related to just that exercise...but this bit is all about Fryguy.
He went out determined not to make the pre-ride a race, but there were a lot of damn good riders in this crowd and the pace was set by this Italian guy who had been assisting with course layout. He flat flew everywhere and the whole pack had to sail hard to keep him in sight. Anyway....seems there was this "Y" in the trail at one point about middle of the Day 1 pre-ride, the terrain was serious rock-strewn desert with square edged rocks of all sizes hidden under the powder silt trail as well as plenty of man-killer cactus (that acutally pierced right through the handguards of many bikes) and trail-side rocks from small to huge, all nasty sqaure edged stuff.....for miles.
Fryguy gets to this "Y" at his standard (casual I'm told) near front of group speed, and has an uncharacteristic moment of indecision. By the time he gets it worked out, it is too late for either left or right fork and he is making his own trail into the rocks at approximately 3rd gear speed. About then, as he describres it, a rock the size of "the hood of a car" became his next point of contact and he went blithely off investigating the local flora & geology, in his own special way, while leaving his mighty 550 to fend for itself amid the boulders.
I can't recall if he had worked out whether the rocky bits where primarily igneous or sedimentary, but he gave each one a very close looking over as he used his body to scub off speed on every obstacle he encountered while down there at ground level. Given the activity undertaken, both bike and rider actually emerged OK. Fryguy could still walk, move all his fingers, he could see, his clothing was not fully removed and his beard was intact. The Berg was still in fine rolling condition...almost.
A rock had neatly removed the right foopeg, the top tab that previously secured it to the frame, most of the toe pedal part of the rear brake lever, and the whole rear brake lever itself by tearing out the back half of the frame tab that the pedal bolt is mounted through and, in better times, pivots at. Job well done!
Ben and I knew something was amiss when our fearless leader did not show up with his part of the pack...or, any part of the pack. When he eventually did stray in, with front wheel pointing funny, kind'a dirtier than usual, a bit cross-eyed, we had a clue that something was up. In a period of brilliance after his scamper in the boulders, he had scavenged among the Chilean granite and found all the ripped off pieces and had them safely in his pocket. That was the end of the Day 1 pre-ride for Team Canada but, luckily, we were back to a point where the course simply reversed on itself so we had nothing new to learn anyway.
Back to the pits on a road ride to try and salvage the Berg for Day 2 of the official pre-ride. The Canuk riders there at the time immediately helped size things up (amid some relief that Fryguy was OK....and plenty of quite snickering that he fell off in the first place) and sprang into action. Several solutions were considered, then Bob Reed found some perfect washers on our team bike crates and the French Connection (Patrick, Michelle & Thierry) assisted with the fitting and filing to make sure the repaired peg would still fold like a factory unit. I chased down the Park Ferme construction manager who pointed out a welder who was still welding together the fence for the bike Secure Compound and off we went.
We had our doubts looking at the sparky rig the guy had, but he did a fine job that has held to this day as far as I know and he got the mighty Berg back on the trail for the rest of the ISDE pre-ride. Not completely clear on the money conversion, but I think Fryguy awarded the welder about a week's pay for the on-the-spot repair. Fryguy abandonded his close-up exploration of the Chilean landscape on the ensuing rides, and all lived happily ever after.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, the evidence....(these will be iin my gallery once I learn to just post pics and quit destroying my gallery in the process)
Pic #1 - "Fryguy - Style'n in Chile 07" At his best - not (this is not actually a shot of him after falling but I could not resist) It is his entry to our pit at one of the pre-ride stops....he looks so balanced in his riding position, note the helmet and goggles so carefully askew, the stylish attire worn with flair, the "where the hell am I" twinkle in the eyes. If I am not mistaken, he is in the perfect riding "attack" posture (if one is attacking a Big Mac). Thanks for that big guy; glad I was there to capture the moment!
Pic#2 - "Fry Farmpeg1 - Chile 07" The footpeg back on. The bottom tab was bent almost straight down. The top tab was simply gone. Note the gouges in the front of the rear brake arm near the pivot. The contact point that tore the pedal out of the frame.
Pic#3 - "Fry Farmpeg2 - Chile 07" A close look at the ISDE special, dual-washer, top bracet.
Pic#4 - "Fry Farmpeg3 - Chile 07" A step back with my fat hand pointing to a hidden, 3rd washer, that was also welded on to provide a new tab and brake pivot where the original was ripped away. Note the front of brake pedal also shows signs of welding. It was mashed flat and mostly torn away. Our Chilean welding guy was pretty good.
Pic#5 - "Fryguy - What Footpeg Chile 07" The man who was mean to his Berg is assessing riding life in Chile and pondering a more fastideous riding style.
Pic#6 - "Fryguy - Pre-Ride Front Plate Chile 07" The front number plate after the Pre-Ride. I believe the gouges and scrapes are evidence of a somewhat challenging course.
Pic #7 - "Fryguy - Proper Form Chile 07" To make up for the first shot. The Fryguy looking in proper form in Chile.
Hope the pics attach OK. I was trying to insert them in the document under each heading but failed miserably. Not certain at all about attaching several. Close eyes...click sumbit....
