Great Memorial Day weekend!!
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Memorial Day weekend has passed and I’m just starting to recover from all the fun and excitement we had!! It all started on Saturday, with some beautiful weather, we had a great day at the shop, it was great to see so many people anxious to get on their bikes. I was off on Sunday and Monday, so I wanted to get as much in as possible.
With the next race venue about 30 minutes from my house, I wanted to take advantage of pre-riding the course and getting my bike and lines dialed in for next weekend. We had a huge group show up and the pack quickly split into smaller pieces, and soon split into me and 1 other guy. That other guy is a local pro from the MTBNJ.com team. He pushed me pretty hard and I got a great chance to ride well above my ability. I really picked up a bunch a tips on lines and when to attack, great stuff, I feel super-prepared for next weekend!! I ended up doing the 4-lap race distance in just under 2 hours, so the course is super-fast.
After our ride it was time to head home and get ready for event number 2, my son’s 1st birthday party!! Spending the morning ripping laps with a pro is nothing compared to trying to keep up with a herd of little kids, especially after you get some cake in them!! Cake also, if you didn’t already know, is a great recovery food, there’s probably no better tasting way to get back all those calories;)
Memorial Day itself would start out with a family hike through Chimney Rock park, daddy would be a horse for the day, and carry my little one around on my shoulders while my older boy pulled me from one discovery to the next. As the mountain bikers ripped through the woods past us, I think my older son finally got what mountain biking is, and I think it’s only a matter of time before he bugs me for a bike. I don’t think it’ll take too much to convince me tough.
Straight from our hike, we went down to watch some road racing over at the Tour of Somerville, the US’s oldest running bike race. As always, the carnage was great!! With a 200+ pro field, people were layed out everywhere, you gotta love criterium racing!! 2 of our shop employees also work pit for Mavic, so I got to watch a little of the race from the sideline, which my son loved!! Eventually, all the walking and sun got to the boys and we had to head home, I didn’t see the end of the race, but it wasn’t important.
At home my wife and boys passed out from all the fresh air but my legs still felt good enough to get out on the bike. I went back out to Lewis Morris for some more recon work. I was only able to get a couple laps in before it got dark, but at this point I have the loop memorized and the bike feels amazingly dialed, I can’t wait ’til next weekend!!
Now it’s back to work until then…
-Jim.
