Just before 7:00 a.m. the Miners pulled in at rural Sauk Prairie Airport and were greeted by snow flurries, which was both a shock and a delight to racers from the Universidad SImon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela (more on that later). Blankets, hats and gloves were at a premium as 40 mph winds and 36 degree temperatures had people huddled in their cars. Riders kept bundled until they hit the start line, their support crews are a pretty miserable bunch, and several bikes have been thrown our of control because of the gale-force cross winds. Despite all that Whittney Metcalf managed an initial run of 28+mph, and she wasn't pushing all that hard.
Word is that she just a fraction of a point behind the first-place female rider, with more chances to run this morning. Rumor also has it that S&T is also in 2nd place in the male sprints.
S&T had some real challenges to overcome last night as their designs, which sailed through west-coast races last week, now seem to be called into question. They made a few late-night changes to satisfy the judges, and now seem to be back on course hopefully fighting only the elements and the competition.
Oh, yeah, they are talking about even colder weather tomorrow, with rain and possible sleet, but at least little wind. Maybe if some team brings a human-powered Zamboni to the race, it'll help. Might even win
We mentioned our good friends from Venezuela. While our respective presidents seem to be doing their best to irritate each other, S&T and the Caracas teams have had friendships going back years. At last year's SAE Aero event in Texas the Miners hung out for days with our South American counterparts, and this year we had the great opportunity make sure they succeed at this race. It seems that due to a credit card/car rental snafu, the Venezuelan team had no way to get to the today's venue.
S&T came to the rescue, shoe-horned their group into our vehicles, and hauled them the 30 miles to the race grounds. Our guests were shivering, but also (briefly) ecstatic at the sight of snow. They ran around among the snowflakes for about, oh, 20 or 30 seconds, and promptly piled back into the van, where they stayed until we shared some blankets with them.
We'll post some cool photos as soon as we thaw out.
