Dorking out

At the USGP races in Portland back in November Rachel and I were pitted under the Thule tents so graciously provided by Eric Wallace. Also under those tents were Stu Thorne's Cyclocross World racers, and the SRAM tech folks. Stu is a really smart guy, and has been around CX racing for years. Being such a smart guy means that he knows how to make his job as easy as possible. Cross racers at the elite level are a fairly psycho bunch, and tend to get pretty twisted up over things like tire pressure. They (Rachel excluded) always seem to want to change the pressure by a pound, or even a half-pound, thinking this will give them the edge they need to win. It's pretty much a pain in the ass to run around w/ a floor pump and a pressure gauge, changing pressures all the time. In an effort to make my life at the races a bit easier, I followed Stu's lead and got one of these...
Actually, i got one of these first...it's pretty cool, battery powered, rechargeable, nice little digital gauge on the back that reads to 1/10th lb accuracy and it pumps a cx tire up to pressure in just a few seconds.

I didn't really read the box all that well, but as i was leaving Sears, i thought "man, this thing is pretty light..." , which it was because it didn't come w/a damn battery. Or, a charger for said battery. Soooo, i went back to Sears and tried to find the correct 19.2v battery, which they did have in stock (for $24.95) and the stupid charger (for $54.95) which they didn't have in stock. Due to my normal excellent pre-race planning, this was taking place 2 days before leaving for CX nationals. No way I was showing up w/o this damn thing, I had to have it. I wasn't going to give up this easily, so i kept looking around and found this...

A nearly-as-nifty-as-my-handheld-tire-inflator 19.2v cordless drill. Which came w/ the proper batter (also 19.2v) AND the damn charger. For $74.95, which means (if you were paying attention earlier) that I got the battery, charger, AND a damn drill (w/ bits and screwdriver attachments) for $5.00 LESS then the battery and charger would have been if purchased seperately. Dohhhh...

I am now a slightly happier and much cooler mechanic. Probably be the only guy at the upcoming track World Cup in LA w/ a cordless tire pumper-upper thingy.