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Austin Roller Racing

Rapha Roller Racing: International Series Austin, TX

Saturday, July 12th 2008
Texans are a proud people for good reason. There’s a single ranch in Texas, the King Ranch, that is bigger than the state of Rhode Island. “Houston” was the very first word spoken from the Moon. The Alamo. Big Tex. And Austin, the home of Lance’s new shop, Mellow Johnny’s, is widely considered the live music capital of the world. So it came as no surprise when the racers arrived with big style at Mellow Johnny’s for the second U.S. stop of the Rapha Roller Race International Series.

Forty-eight racers, representing 12 teams, took their cue from those that had mustered in Portland in February. With names like The Mashers, Doe-Eyed Killers, The Lesley’s (after the Austin icon), Half & Half, Cutters, and Fakingers, they brought every ounce as much attitude to the four, 48×15-geared bikes fixed to the stage. Mountain bikers, roadies, triathletes, messengers, fixies that would probably be messengers in any other town, collided, 500m at a time, in front of a capacity crowd.

Just as they had in Portland, the Friday night wild-card qualifiers looked as if they might steal the win when a well-inked kid named Justin raced the semi-final against his “Austin Jesus” team mate named Chris. It was a race Justin would win, and although he didn’t know it yet, his reward would be a 1000m showdown against Greg, an endurance mountain bike man. Justin had thrown down 95kph during qualifying, the fastest by far, but rumor was that, to cool down after 24-hour races, Greg squatted longhorns.

The women didn’t go down without a fight. After all-women’s heats in the first rounds of the evening, the fastest ladies spun against the men in the next. In one of the closest races of the night, Shontell, a sprinter for Colavita/Sutter Home, was just meters from sending a couple guys packing. Only narrowly beaten, Shontell faced two Doe-Eyed Killers in the women's finale, using her professional CAT1 legs to take the Mellow Johnny’s track frame grand prize.

When the final showdown of Greg vs. Justin arrived, the crowd fought their way onto the stage. The Mashers, Greg’s team, brought actual cheerleaders, while Justin’s section was filled with ink, Vans and women that would be too hot to talk to if they weren’t so damn cool.

At 1000 meters power is great, but power that can’t endure is going to leave somebody disappointed. At 700m, it looked like Justin was going to be the unsung hero until the endurance element of Greg’s mountain biking came out to play.

Champagne soon sprayed from Greg’s bike. The exhausted combatants shook hands and the crowd wildly cheered both of their fixed gladiators.

The only “losers” at night’s end were the evening’s MCs, Stack and Prison Boonen, who would be getting up in a few hours for the almost 70-mile Rapha Gentleman’s Ride starting at 8am the next day.

Photography