"And live large. A big house. Five cars, You're in charge" All of the above is from the Cypress Hill song "Rock Star" It popped into my head after an IWC Summit Ride yesterday. Colin, Greg and I met at Hale for a quick little smash-a-thon on the mtn bikes. It is the first time the three of us have gotten together since Ice Weasels. It also was an excuse for Colin and I to try our new bikes. Our good friend commented on Twitter recently, "Colin gets a new bike, Chip gets a new bike, Greg's getting a new bike. Ice Weasels must have been highly profitable this year." it was pretty hilarious actually. And I know he was just heckling us and poking fun. But it did stick in my mind. Because making money promoting bike races sounds like the punch line to a bad joke.
As has been well documented, my friends have been bugging me for years to get a full suspension bike. And Colin has been on his old Epic for like 6 years. But the idea that we are Rock Star Promoters and made enough off of IWC to buy three bikes is Legendary. I am going to pretend that is the case and not that we donated a bike's worth of cash money to the Medfield Rail Trail. The race promoter game is no joke. Yeah it seems like one big party were you get to live large but it is crazy. Why anyone would want to be a race promoter is beyond me sometimes. But I love the promoter life. And IWC is like NECXapalooza. I can't imagine what the CX season would be without IWC as the end of season party.
We had a great ride. Did very little talking about the actual IWC while riding. Well, I couldn't talk anyway because the two of them are a combined 30 years younger than me and light years ahead of me as far as fitness and skills go. Although Greg did tell us that it is official and we will be back at Medfield State for year 3! The grounds keeper at MSH told me before the race this past season that event organizers at MSH need 3 years to truly figure out the venue. Looks like year 3 is going to be lit!
The other reason Colin was down in the burbs riding bikes with me was to do a Podcast with my good friend Kristin Brandt. Now if anyone has seen the Dirtwire outtakes of Colin and I post race promoting things can get pretty unscripted. My friend is very professional so I wasn't sure how this was going to go. I will say it exceeded all my expectations. How we end up sounding on the actual finished Podcast remains to be seen but it really was a gift sitting down with Colin and answering the question "Why put on a bike race?"
Colin aka the King of the Weasels or Weasels King, is an amazing resource. He really is one of the most humble people I know. For what he has accomplished and what he has done for the cycling community he is very chill. Honestly what I took away from it was not so much the "why" put on a bike race but more the "how" As we talked it became so clear how much promoting a bike race is a community effort. That is 100% with Ice Weasels and Night Weasels. When Kristin asked Colin what should a club or individual do if they wanted to put on an event, Colin's instant answer was "email me." Didn't even hesitate. Colin loves bike racing. It comes through 100%. There are so many resources here in New England to support someone who wants to put on a race or event. NEBRA and Colin have really been critical in making that possible.
I won't give away anymore spoilers about what we talked about. I hope when it comes out you like it and that it is funny and makes you want to either put on a bike race or come to IWC. Huge thanks to Kristin and Steve the Bike Guy for letting us set up shop in the Velo Studio. It was funny sitting there as a whirlwind of bike shop activity was going on all around us. See you next Fall at MSH. Third year is gonna be off the hook.
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