Good Weekend!

Sure..the long stretch of incredible weather finally came to its (inevitable) end, only after completely yankin' the moral right to bitch about the l-o-n-g winter out from under us all. Man - it was SO nice for SO long that I plumb wore my ass out makin' sure that I didn't waste any off it and I was (shhh....secret!) ready for a day off.

Saturday was way busy @ the shop, after KP and I did our debut as a tandem team on the Sprint Ride first thing in the AM. It was cold.........WAY cold....so the turn out was light but that's not gonna stop me from tellin' you that we took one hard-fought sprint in the middle of the ride. (Greg said later "I passed Kelly but not Mike". Not good enough, dude!)

Sunday was the Pineapple Bob Classic Redux.......we tried it in March but the road conditions kept us on the pavement and it ain't a P. Bob w/out gravel so we did it again. Routemeister M2 came up w/ the loop to end all loops and his assertation that "there will be tears" put the call out to all the crazies and hard men/women. We had about 30-35 riders, including a small-but worthy contingent of Bastards from GR (Surly, Wedding Bells, Big D) and 2 tandems - KP n' me and Berger w/ Mike L in the tail gunners' seat. KP and I ened up takin' the short cut back as we were comin' in w/a group that found themselves a tad off the pace but back @ the shop the sandwiches, cookies, chips and various adult beverages went down good and folks were having a good time. Good enough for me.

The other Big Deal that happened over the weekend is that our brand new website went "live". Check it out..........I dig it. (www.velo-citycycles.com) Still work in progress but a nice change from our last one - which was fine but had been up for a year or more and we wanted to re-do it.

6 days from now Dennis and I will be in the desert. I can't wait. I've ben roamin' around out there since the late 80's...I've watched the sleepy little town of Moab grow and change, mostly in an other-than-good way. I've watched Moab go from the "oolest place ever to ride" to "overrated" to "old news". I've taken close to 100 people out there for their first time, I've made 30+ trips and every time I approach town on that twisty road along the river I find myself wondering if this is the trip where I'll think to myself as I leave "Okay....that's enough.....I don't need to come back here any more." I'm afraid that's going to happen - although it hasn't yet. The thought that we're gonna re-locate out there somewhere in the red rocks and under that impossibly blue sky has been a constant for me since my 2nd ever trip out there and I'm afraid of life w/out that thought y'know? The desert got it's hooks in me - deep - a long time ago and it hasn't let go yet.

And I hope it never does.

I think it's gonna be a hoot bein' out there w/ Dennis. I LOVE introducing someone to the area...especially if there's a good chance that they'll "get it" and I'm pretty sure that he will. I haven't been on a mountainbike since last winter and I'll be on a Cannondale Demo from my rep that I've never ridden before so that'll be interesting. I'm gonna take my laptop (insert appropriate exclamation of shock and wonder here ______) so maybe I'll check in from out there somewhere. You never know.

JDRF rides are happening, the club's Monday Night Ride starts while I'm gone, the shop Tuesday night, Thursday morning, Friday morning and Saturday morning rides are rolling.......Grattan starts next week...Man! There's a TON of stuff going on!

Best get to it!

MC

"Racing, on any level, seeks a balance within us. For every moment of hassle and pain there is one of revelation and joy."
Mike Ferrentino