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Moving on without disrupting her, I continued further into the complex The practice track was e from the shop When I walked around to the back, I found the bay doors standing open and Darren and Dad inside They stood in the middle of the floor surrounded by the pieces of a dished

“That bike got you to a first-place win in the first race of the season, and that’s the thanks it gets?” I teased

Darren looked up and smiled

“I’et me to a bunch more first-place wins, but I have to ured we could break it down and look at all the individual coain to see if there’s anywhere else I could make improvements,” he said

“Haven’t you been doing that for the last couple offurther into the workshop so I could survey how they had the elements of the bike laid out

This was far from the first time I’d seen the two of them break apart a bike into each of its individual parts and scrutinize it The sahout the season as they made repairs, cleaned, and tuned the machine to keep it in its best condition until the very last race

“In a way A lot of the ti the whole bike or entire systeive me the whole picture It’s been a while since I’ve actually broken it all the way down and looked at the individual parts It perforht, but I think it could be better I want to tweak a few things and see what happens,” he said

“What are you looking at doing?” I asked

I stood back and listened as my brother pointed out various parts of the bike and ht could be better about each Though I was extremely familiar with the construction of the bike and hoorked, just knowing the e of it As the one who actually raced the bike, he had ht into how every component interacted with the others to perform in different situations He was the one who could feel how the bike accelerated and responded to his cohtaways, how easily it could be used to pass other racers, and how stable it felt so he it was secure and safe in each stage of the race

I wasn’t co bikes Of course, I spent my fair share of time on the backs of the machines But I was never one to race them and didn’t have the same level of connection to a bike that ca to hi the race the night before and coe I had of the bike let es that could be made

I spent the better part of the early afternoon there in the workshop with my brother and father, then headed over to the second workshop to check in with Greg He was reviewing his own bike andto see how differently he operated than Darren did Both were skilled racers, but Greg was s on his own, and while he was open to hearing suggestions and input fro sessions with us

Greg talked towith his bike and asked for ht before After another hour spent helping hi down everything after the bar the night before took longer than I expected it to, and even when I did finally get ho happy and tired, by the time I took a shower and dropped into bed, hts of Merry had played in ain Instead, I tossed and turned for a couple of hours before finally dropping off for a short stretch of sleep

As much as I wanted to be a part of the post-race enthusiasm on the complex, I couldn’t put in a whole day My exhaustion would renderfroh the co in the saone anywhere all day, but I realized she e iced coffee sitting on the ground beside her, and on the other side, a piece of butcher paper spread across the grass held the remnants of a sandwich and a small paper cup that was probably once potato salad