Gallery: A day in the life of a ‘cross bike

It's 8:30 a.m. on race day, and Kaitie Antonneau's A and B Cannondale SuperX bikes rest outside of the Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com team tent at the 2013 worlds in Louisville. Antonneau is out pre-riding the course before the start of the Junior race. It's her last chance to get a look at the frozen course as her race starts when the juniors finish. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

The inside of the Cannondale tent is warm, smells of propane from the heaters, and has a repeating hum of a half-dozen Craftsman electric tire pumps. Stu Thorne, team director and head mechanic, checks the tire pressure on Tim Johnson's Dugast tubulars. Behind Thorne, one of Antonneau's backup bikes sits on the trainer awaiting her return. Antonneau has four bikes in Louisville, two of which are painted in the USA livery to celebrate her U23 national championships. Those two are not ridden on race day except during the race itself. Antonneau's two green bikes are for pre-ride, trainer, and emergency purposes. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Antonneau returns from her pre-ride, racks one of her green and black bikes outside the tent and comes in to talk tire pressure with Thorne. Will 17 or 18psi be the ticket on the still-frozen ground of Eva Bandman park? Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

The toolbox of the man himself, Stu Thorne, is small in comparison to Thorne's lanky build. He uses a small Pelican 1400 box — it's simple with no dividers inside. Thorne prefers the box because he's able to fit it in his Thule roller bag when he flies to European races. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Not your standard Allen wrenches here. Thorne uses a set of t-handles from USAG, which are made in Italy. He says he prefers the t-handle shape of the them. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

A Shimano TL-CN32 chain tool lies in wait atop Thorne's Pelican case. Wrenches everywhere, myself included, lust after this tool's beauty and curse its $115 price tag. However, a 'cross mechanic like Thorne may remove and reinstall a dozen chains on a dirty race day, so he's surely gotten his money's worth. Under his chain tool Thorne keeps a Throne Bottle Opener, which needs no explanation. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Thorne's most used tools are laid on a clean white towel in front of his Pelican box. CDI pre-set torque keys of 4, 5, and 6mm, a pedal wrench, tape measure, phillips head screwdriver, and a multi-tool will all see frequent use from Thorne. The paint brush will likely be used for knocking dust off of hard to reach places. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Every time a bike gets ridden, it needs to be cleaned and with that, team wrench and Zipp engineer Matt McKinney heads off for the power washers. McKinney is Antonneau's mechanic in the pit when she's racing stateside. With a team of four riders — three of them in the elite men's race — Thorne is stationed in the trailer for most of the morning to make sure bikes are prepped. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

The pits are still a pretty quiet place this early in the morning. The Junior race hasn't started just yet, so McKinney is able to take his time with Antonneau's SuperX and make sure it's spotless before hauling it back to the team's compound. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

A lot can be said about a mechanic by just looking at his workspace, and what can be said about McKinney? He's an precision engineer and pays attention to the details. Notice that every tool in his Pedro's MTK 3.0 case is tagged with a bit of yellow electrical tape; that's so if a tool were misplaced, the other mechanics would know who it belongs to. So far this morning everything seems to be in order. McKinney says his CDI torque keys and Park AWS-7 are his go-to tools for the three different bolts — 4mm, 5mm, and T25 — on the team bikes. He also gets a lot of use from a good dental pick for getting debris out of hard to reach spots. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

A bit of traditinal WD40 on the chain cleans out any contaminants and repels moisure. After wiping the chain clean, McKinney laid down a coat of WD40 Bike wet chain lube. As McKinney is working, Ryan Trebon's mechanic, Dusty Labarr, asks me to duck out of the tent. It's obvious that he's about to start wrenching on something he doesn't want a tech journanlist to see. I politely abide. After all, this is their office. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

I head up to the start and find Stu Thorne already there, at the team USA storage unit. He brought Antonneau's pre-ride bike with him just in case she needs to make a last minute change. He's on the phone with McKinney, who took her spare red, white, and blue bike to the pit as the trek from start line to pit is long and Thorne wasn't sure he would be able to make it to pit 1 by the time the race would come by on lap 1. No risk is worth taking today. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

U.S. team mechanic Daimeon Shanks shoulders Jade Wilcoxson's spare bike as he prepares to head to the start. He's also carrying his tools and a wash bucket. He handed off a spare set of wheels to Thorne to help lighten his load. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Thorne discusses the best route to the pit with Trek ProTeam liaison, wrench, and recently crowned cyclocross master's national champion Matt Shriver. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Once all the riders are in the starting grid and about to start, Thorne heads toward the pit. It's not an easy jog there. Just before hopping the over the bridge on which the starting grid lies, Thorne asks me to help carry those spare wheels left behind by Shanks. I abide. It's hard to not want to give these mechanics a helping hand, even though they'll seldom ask for one. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

The icy snow is much slicker than I am able to capture while trying to keep my balance, snap photos, and carry the wheels. Notice the man-made damn on the left. The rising waters around the venue only add to the drama of the day. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Matt Shriver rejoins the race to the pit. The race hasn't started just yet, so with the pit in sight we've got plenty of time. But we're still running. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Rapha-Focus mechanic Steven Wilkes follows Mark Legg-Compton's lead and sweeps a landing pad in the bike exchange lane. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

The race has just started. Thorne checks in with McKinney and racks up Antonneau's third bike — just in case. There's a crash just off of the first turn and all the mechanics get ready for riders to come in for bike changes. Antonneau and most of the front-runners made it through unscathed and don't need to pit. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Meredith Miller isn't so lucky. She goes down and has to take a fresh bike through pit 1. Jordi Cortes goes to work on the bike she brought into the pit. Within a minute, he has the bike shifting precisely and is running it off to the washer. It's ready to go a half lap later. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Antonneau's B race bike rests against the fencing. Her C bike lays against another bit of fencing in the background, but it's still kept close in case something should happen to one of her red, white, and blue bikes. Antonneau's coach, Katie Compton, has three bikes in the pit; the black one in the foreground, the red, white, and blue one that Legg-Compton is working on, and her third is hiding in the upper left hand corner of this image. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Action in the pit dies after one lap, but days like this don't allow the mechanics to slack off. They are still on their toes for the entire race. Rather than the constant rave of a muddy race, however, the slow moving nature of today resembles a waltz — requiring close attention at a far reduced pace. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

The course is still fairly frozen, so bikes aren't collecting enough dirt to warrant riders pitting, just to get a clean bike. On her fourth time past pit 1, Antonneau tosses her "watermelon" Oakley Radars to McKinney. Even the pros value their sunglasses, especially ones in custom colors like these. Antonneau's teammate Tim Johnson mistakenly threw his red, white, and blue Radar Locks to someone who he thought he recognized during his race. Needless to say, he didn't get those back. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Cyclocross mechanics are all unique in the tools they choose, and what they use to carry them. However, one tool that most agree on, is waterproof Glacier Gloves. The neoprene gloves keep mechanics' hands dry, even under the shot of the pressure washer. The gloves' good dexterity also offers a decent amount of grip and allows mechanics to make bike adjustments while gloved. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

The typical tools you'll find in the pit; bike cleaner wash, spray lubricant, battery powered pump, traditional pump, and classic WD40. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

With just under one lap to go, Mark Legg-Compton cheers on his wife, Katie Compton to a second-place finish. While it's against the rules for a mechanic to step into the bike lane, it usually ends with the commissaire blowing the whistle and the mechanic stepping back in line. On a slow day like this, the mechanics are at ease, with no bikes to clean and repair, but they can get a bit stir crazy. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

We prepare to leave the pit after Antonneau's last pass. McKinney grabs his backpack, both bikes, and a spare set of race wheels. 'Cross mechanics are in the business of redundancy. There's two of everything and four of everything important. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

On the walk back to the team trailer we're joined by the Team Luna Chix mechanics with Katerina Nash and Georgia Gould's Orbea Terras in tow. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Pit bikes are racked up. McKinney is almost done, for now. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Post race, Antonneau's SuperX has a thin coat of Louisville mud. She rode to her best ever world championship finish, 10th. McKinney, Thorne, and the rest of the Cannondale crew were ecstatic, but there was no time for celebration, as McKinney heads off to the power washers again. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

The SRAM Red 2012 hoods were designed with the 'cross racer in mind, as they still offer a good amount of grip even when the conditions are muddy and wet. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Shifting out back does not look like it was affected by the little bit of mud on the course. The SRAM cyclocross cassette looks to be shifting fine. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

Crankbrothers Candy pedals clear mud fantastically and are the popular choice for most domestic riders for that reason. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com

It's certainly not his last trip to the washers today, especially with the course deteriorating as the day progresses, but McKinney does have some help with this wash. Dan Horndasch of WD40 Bike gives the SuperX its last bath of the day. The WD40 crew was on site all day washing bikes at record speed, especially during the muddy Elite Men's race. McKinney gives Horndasch's work a quick once over, and then heads back to the team tent to dry it up and rack it in the trailer. With a smile on his face, he says "being an engineer by day and goof-ball mechanic on the weekend, I keep busy." After watching him not stop moving for four hours, and knowing he still has another race to work, I make sure to give the 'cross mechanics respect and some space. They'll use those bikes as battering rams. Photo: Logan VonBokel | VeloNews.com