Getting to round two

As the first race was coming to an end a rider came limping through with a flat tire. I followed him to the finish to lend a hand as he needed a pump. Accountabilibro for the second time.  I had to jump off the trail to let racers by so by the time I caught up with him he had gotten a pump from someone else, although I was able to lend a tire lever.

He made quick order of the change with time to spare before it was time to roll out to stage two. We got to ride a little of the new trail before dumping out into a dead end. As the group began to roll to stage two I spotted a rider pulling off to the side. He was alone so I stopped to see if he needed anything - he was all set, but I stayed to get directions from the sweeper as he changed tubes. This guy fixed his flat in record time and we caught up to the group quickly as they made their way down some train tracks.

This was one of my favorite aspects of the Tour de Charlotte this year - more riding to the stages on trail (or trail like) routes.  We rode the gravel of the train tracks for a short distance (the Meuse had no issue with the bigger rocks of the train track gravel) and then hit up some sewer line trail.  We eventually poured out into neighborhood and made our way up to Tryon... where the hell were they taking us??

Somewhere glorious, that's where!!

Abandoned go kart tracks!!  I'd have to say this was a very creative stage, and way to pull it off!!  I asked some of the FM crew how they managed to get this location and the answer was: we just showed up.  Nice!  There was even pizza waiting for us at our arrival!!

They ran heats for elimination with the final battle coming down to a lap eliminator where the last person on each lap was dropped until there were three racers left, at which point there was a non eliminating lap and then a final lap for the win.

The competition was great throughout the heats, with some very close battles.  There were even a couple of winners crossing in style.

Women's winner - jumping for joy!

Sprint to the finish for the Men

This was a great stage.  Fun for the racers, and a great spectating stage for the partiers.  I don't know where you go from a go kart track, but there were two more stages left so we all got moving once again to see what else the FM crew had in store for us.