The Talented Side 

As you know, when you have kids, certain traits are passed on from the parents. With Brynna, I passed on the creative stuff and the goofy (ie - annoying) behavior. Marcy passed on her anal retentiveness (do not move that scrap of paper! IT NEEDS TO BE THERE!), hopefully her brains and (again hopefully) her ability to think in a linear fashion instead of my ADD approach to daily life. In this video that B wrote, directed and filmed B shows all of the traits that I passed on. Especially when you consider that I can't sing on key either.

Riding With the Massa 

It's gotten pretty rare for Marcy and I to ride together. We both enjoy it but with a kid, full time jobs and what not, it's just difficult to pull it off. Thankfully, sometimes the stars align and we're given a window of opportunity. That happened last weekend when the father-in-law took the spud for not one but TWO nights. Rejoice! Marcy and I took full advantage to get our first Camden ride of the year in.

There is good news and bad news in Camden these days.  The town and the local land trust are working together to create new trails which is sweet.  The sad part is that they are also putting in some cross country ski trails right smack dab in the middle of Camden's finest singletrack.  Three or so miles of primo stuff built (actually built with bench cuts and everything) are gone forever.  The good news is that they are adding trails back rather quickly and the new stuff is fun as well.  Marcy and I did the new outer loop for lap one and it is sure to please.

Note, I didn't doctor this photo to get Marcy's skin to glow.  

That's just what us Mainers call "spring skin".

After our first loop, Marcy headed off to town to spend my prize gift certificate from last year's Runoff at Maine Sport Outfitters while I made a run to the top and tried to piece together some of the old decimated singletrack.  The ride to the top is still sweet but I almost cried when I saw what happened to the lower trails.

This photo has nothing to do with the weekend's ride but these were some tasty sweet potato tacos that Marcy made last night.  Yummers.

Oh, and do any of you ever wonder what your co-workers think of you?  Well, yesterday one of mine said he saw a video over the weekend that made him immediately think of me.  Everyone in the office watched it (including my boss) and agreed wholeheartedly.  I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed.  Check it.

Faster! Faster!

If there is one thing that I know at this point of the early spring season, it's that I need to get faster. Fast. I mentioned that I was going to the fastest road ride in the state a couple of weeks ago. What I failed to mention afterwards was just how horribly it went and how quickly I was dropped. No worries though because I'm a sucker for punishment and I'll be back as soon as my schedule allows (maybe next week) and at some point this summer I'll be able to hang. Hopefully. In the meantime, I'm trying to hang with the fastest mountain bike group ride in the state. I can ALMOST hang there since there is more than pure fitness required and I do, in fact, have a modest amount of technical skill but it's oh so hard watching Sebastian and Mr. Freye pull away from me after every regroup. Fast fuckers. 

Earth Day 

Earth Day was Sunday but it was supposed to be pissing rain all day so I decided to do my deed to the planet by doing trail work and instilling a love of being outside with my daughter and a couple of her friends on Saturday instead.  A quick trip to the Schmid Preserve for some trail work and a nice walk were in order.  Mission accomplished.

I figured that it being Earth Day and all, I'd show how I re-purposed my Kona King Kahuna bike box.  Kids love big cardboard boxes and I like doing shit with utility knives.  Match made in heaven (as long as the kid isn't already in the box...)

On the actual Earth Day, I did what any self respecting hack bike racer would do, I mounted up 3 tubeless wheels.  Two of the wheels are Marcy's new Hope P2/Stans Crest wheels that I just built up and one was an experiment with my Easton wheels.  They aren't technically tubeless compatible but I found that they aired up quite easily with a stans 26'er rim strip and just a bit of fiddling.  I initially tried some 29'er strips but they were far too loose.  I haven't ridden them yet but two days later they still have air.  I consider that a success.

Another Quickie

Only time for another quick video today.  This one is from the same ride as yesterday's short but in a techie downhill-ish section.  Boney fun.  Oh, and you get to see Kevin almost fall after hitting a 4" rock AFTER riding the tech downhill.  My friends make good blog fodder.

Yesterday, I did my first Cyclemainia Wednesday night mountain bike ride with Sparky and the gang on the Cape Elizabeth trails.  It's hard to describe the ride but let's just say it's sort of like getting gang raped by rocks, roots and skinsuit wearing buffoons.  Video to follow once I've had time to edit (ie: never).

Been Away 

 Hey all. Posting has been sparse as usual recently partially because I'm lazy and partially because we were away on a mini family vacation. My buddy and I did sneak a couple of rides in while away. Ringwood State Park in nothern Joisey (New Jersey for you unhip folks) is the shit. Bone rattling, bowel loosening, prostate hemorrhaging awesomeness. I have a bunch of video to go through including not one, not two, but three endo's by kevin (rare form indeed) but nary a moment to spare to do so right now so I'll drop this one on you for starters.  It gives you a sense of what the trails are like and, as a bonus, shows one of Kevin's endos right at the very end.  Enjoy.

Trail map.  We barely touched what it had to offer in 2 hours of riding.

More Than I Can Chew

It'll come as no big surprise to any of you but I feel like I'm behind the 8-ball this year.  To be honest, I (and probably most other working stiffs) do every year but this year I have semi-measureable proof.  The Paris Roubaix race usually marks my first serious group road ride.  One that I typically ride 30-ish miles to, do the 30 mile group ride and then slink home.  Years past I've felt comfortable doing some version of this ride.  This year the idea never even entered my mind.  Ruh, roh.

Well, its time to either shit or get off the pot.  If something doesn't happen soon, the early season will be lost so I've gone and done something stupid.  Stupid like planning to attend the state's fastest group road ride tonight.  Here's the description:

This is the fastest large group road ride in the state of Maine.  This is not a beginner event (there are no waits). All are welcome to attend. The ride is 48.5 miles and covers the bigger hill climbs in Southern Maine. The race pace* (23-27mph+) is close to a Cat III race. Neutral start until Libby’s Ice Cream shop.  Several sprints on this route include town line sprints, top of climb sprints and final Rt. 88 sprint. It is a very fun ride and great for training. The pack is usually 30-40 riders large. Starts the first Tuesday of April through the last Tuesday in August – every week leaving at 5:30 from Cyclemania. Expect a 3-hour ride. ALL TRAFFIC LAWS OBEYED.

Click HERE for the route map.

*Race Pace: This refers to hard efforts for the fittest riders with appropriate bike skills.  Riders are expected to be fully self-sufficient. If you flat, get dropped, or get lost then tough.  This is the level of effort to expect if you join the race team members on a team ride. (Expect no less than a Cat 3 ride level.)

Sounds like fun. Except for the fast pace, hills and three hour ride ride time.  All things that I haven't done yet this season.  Check in tomorrow to see if I survived...

Trail Destroyers 

We have these things called chickens.  Tick eating, egg supplying chickens.  At least that is what I expected.  What I hadn't counted on was their trail destruction capabilities.  They don't range too far from the house but the 300' radius around the house gets hit hahd.  Wicked hahd by their scratching and pecking.  In most locales, this wouldn't be that much of a problem but on my home trails, I have close to three miles of trail in 17 acres.  That requires trails in every nook and cranny of the property.  Some of it within the 300' circle of death.

 Take a trail like this:

Cleaned up at the end of the fall.  Stayed leaf and mostly litter free all winter.  Then these bandits go by and no more trail.  Notice any trail after B's ass?  Me neither.

Stupid, delicious chickens.

Suck-O 

Sorry to be out of touch for so long. The normal excuses apply but I have one more to add to the list, a "business" trip. There was some learning involved but there was also lots of getting down to business as well. A host with a healthy expense account will do that. I ran the first couple of days there but eventually the booze and lack of sleep got the better of me. I did ride one day but not in my normal sense.

That right there ladies and gentlemen was one of the best bull riding sessions of anyone there that night. Good enough to get my some high fives from the bull operator and some spectators. I was so good that I'm still sore from it 5 freaking days later. I used muscles that aren't intended to be used outside of the porn film industry and those muscles are still very, very angry that they were used on a bull. Lest you think it was easy, here are a couple of vids of my buds going as well.

Tim. Let's just face it, he's just not cut out for bull riding. Unless he's on bottom.

 Matt. Our gracious host fares slightly better but breaks his old man specs in the process.

 I sure do wish I had my go-pro with me.  the footage would have been thrilling.