Thursday 30 June 2011

What Followed Me Home...

Bike racing is a great sport for people who like to bang their heads against a wall, metaphorically and otherwise. Reston, as always, was well run, hard raced, and a lot of fun. We failed to bring home a top placing, but we did win all the primes. With just three of us and a bunch of "jeez how many freaking guys did you have in that race" (again, 3) comments, it's fair to presume that our aggression exceeded our capacity, but you know we came to race our bikes and we did.



Jay's been banging his head against the wall for a long ass time. He still gets after it. DJ's been banging his head against the wall for a shorter time. Both of these guys break through the wall with some regularity.

I got a 29er. It's really sweet. I'm claiming it as market research (in actual fact, it is market research, and in actual fact I am claiming it as market research on my next return). After 10 years on a bike that was never intended to deal with what I used it for from day one, and was a size too small in any case, WOW. Let's say that the best I ever rode on a mountain bike was 5.5. Last night, very first ride on the 29er, doing nothing to set it up other than getting the seat about in the neighborhood of the right height, I was maybe at 7. Way faster at everything. Easily cleaning stuff that I sometimes wouldn't bother trying previously. This is going to change mountain biking for me.



For my next trick, I get this little jewel built up and start hitting it hard. Looks like I will be spending a lot less money on sunblock and a lot more on dark colored riding socks. Yeah, I'm pretty psyched.

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