from the National Weather Service:

Saturday: Rain likely, mainly before 1pm. Cloudy, with a high near 64. Northwest wind between 5 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Saturday Night: A 20 percent chance of rain. Partly cloudy, with a low around 47. Northwest wind between 5 and 10 mph.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 71. West wind between 5 and 10 mph.

So yeah, 60% chance of rain Saturday morning. Crazy how over a night the forecast can change from 0% to 60%.

But, lets look at the details a little..the rain is coming from some weather than was initially expected to move through the area Thursday night and Friday morning. Evidently the weather is moving slower than anticipated, so now its going through the area Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning, with the worst of the rain Friday night and early Saturday morning. The chance of rain goes down significantly at 7am Saturday morning and continues to drop throughout the day. By 2 or 3 in the afternoon we'll hopefully start seeing blue sky through the clouds.

What does that mean for the race? Not much different that it was before. The course will be muddy in spots, but that was going to happen even when the rain was scheduled to come through Friday morning. Thankfully, after the first 3 miles or so, the soil turns very sandy and can handle rain better. The first 3 miles is more clay, but it's already soaked from all the previous rain, so it won't be any different.

To sum up, don't let the forecast scare you. If the forecast called for rain for the entire day and night of Saturday (anyone remember the very first 24HOCS?), then I'd be on the window ledge right now. The race is going to start with cloudy skies, but hopefully will start clearing up after just a few hours.


Brian

We won't know the actual trail conditions until we start the race. It will probably be like the 2006 race where everything was really soft. The conditions won't be conducive for course records, but will favor skilled riders who are tough as nails. Let's just hope it isn't like 2004!

29'ers will float on top of the muck with their massive contact patch and
actually be ACCELERATED by the mud. It has to be true because I read
it in Mountain Bike Action. WNDC is looking at at least 32 laps. We would
get 58, but only one of us is on a 29'er and it's geared - thus it will break down
on at least 18 of it's 27 laps. It has to be true because some single speeding
hippie with rad facial hair told me.

I hope all of you are tapering well. I have just finished shaving my chest for
proper interface with the heart rate monitor, and my nutritionist has notified
me that 2 tablespoons of oat bran and a skinless free range chicken wing
are on the menu tonight. mmmmmm-MMMM! Continental has been notified of
the weather, and has dispatched a team to the venue. Tomorrow they will
be custom casting a tire specifically engineered to trail conditions. One of these
days I will be rad enough to rate my own totally custom skins, but for now
I will have to settle for course-specific rubber on a 2.2 Race King carcass.
Props To all my sponsors.... LOVE YA'LL !

Which reminds me - got to go get my mechanic to flush all my bearings and re-lube
with motor oil. That jackass always forgets race day lube. Cost me .016 seconds
at the last race. It was SOOOOO demoralizing thinking of that high viscosity grease
sucking up those precious milliwatts.

Good luck to everybody ! Unless, of course, we are racing against you, in which case
we hope you all get the swine flu tonight. Or preferably on Saturday night after
you've already paid your entry fee.

Alright it's almost 5.... time for some sleep, so off to the hyperbaric chamber.

ZB

Mud? Mud is my middle name!

Oh, wait...

Sounds like you will be ready. I prefer plucking my chest hair one at a time, but that's just me!

Plucking, eh?

I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

It seems a bit labor intensive, but perhaps the soigneur could be
assigned to the duty.....

ZB

Last night I dreamed that they were expecting SNOW down there in Natchez. The trail is bound to be wet, I am thinking of packing my bike like a backpack and hiking it, might be faster for me to make a lap.

My skills and toughness vanished after 34 miles plowing, splashing, sliding, skidding and crashing on the trail. Lynn and I are working on a video of the race.



Congrats to Kevin, MoFo, and Toshun for toughening it out! I thought about you guys each time I took a sip of beer while relaxing the in the pink chair of shame.

Almost forgot, congrats to Zach and his buddies for staying out of jail. THE MAN messed with me too!

Hey There Brian

Congrats on putting on another successfull 24/12hrs. I was wondering if I could get a copy of the spreadsheet/ program you used to track the racers. Dave Hunt, Mike, Murh & i will need all the help we can get for 6hrs of Bethel this spring. please email me any suggestions.

Thanks!!!

Brent Futrell
GCBC
BFutrell@cableone.net
228.669.3305