The Professor

I am a social creature. I am ok with being on my own but need to be connected to my friends. Social media makes it easy to stay connected even in the middle of a Pandemic where responsible people are socially distancing themselves. I have been having these #virtualhappyhours it has been nice. Not as nice as sitting in the Washington Square Tavern after a Ronde packed in with 75 sweaty and dirty bikers. But nice enough. Three of my friends who have a text group have been such a godsend. As a part of the VHH I posed the question of where we first met. It elicited some pretty awesome memories. In each case it revolved around some bad idea ride. Or a Bandit CX ride. Or some Dirtbag gravel event. I had a bit of trouble remembering when and how I met my good friend Greg. Greg is a bit of a man of mystery. In some ways he reminds me of former HUP DS Yash. He oozes style. Has a sick bike collection. And is very mysterious. 

My first memory of when we met revolved around this insane mtb group ride. I remember going into my favorite bagel shop in Needham. My good friend Mike is the owner. Every time I go in we talk about bikes and rides. On this day Mike invited me on a mtb ride. I was a bit wary but got two of my friends to join me. We rolled into a dirt parking lot in Medfield. I saw about 20 guys mingling. And the Corner Cycles Sprinter. I thought..."oh we are fucked" They said it was a casual ride. Said we would slow roll and stay together. Sure. Thing exploded from the gun. Total chaos. As we sort of regrouped and started climbing Utah rolls up behind me and starts screaming in my ear. As I come out of my hypoxic fugue state I hear "We dropped Michele" That snaps me back to reality. What? Michele does not get dropped. Granted she was coming back from some gnarly illness but still. I have never seen Michele get dropped. So I just stop pedaling. Utah and I regroup with Michele. My poor friend Mike is nowhere to be seen. I guess this is how these cats play. The three of us have a fantastic ride. No blood, no foul as they say in the bike game. 

Michele of course after that sees the true potential in our mystery man as says "Chip we need Greg on HUP" I trust my friend in this so go on a social media stalking campaign to lure Greg to the Darkside.  Like all stalking sometimes you find out when you thought you were stalking them they were stalking you. Apparently Greg found NECX twitter before this MTB ride. And he and I became "friends" Twitter is wild man. Anyhoo I invited him and his merry band of misfits aka MPO to the Ronde. He had a bang up time and that began our little dance. As I stated earlier. I am very social. Sort of catlike in some regards but just love to bring different groups together. It drives Rosey nuts when we set the teams for the Ronde. Rosey wants to lock it down and I am like oh let's let this team in. I swear they are soooo cool. In Greg and MPO's case this was 100% the truth. In most other cases I am lying through my teeth. Sorry Rosey.

Greg as I may have mentioned is sort of the Mayor of MPO. His nickname (more on this later) is the Professor. Now I have known him for a bit. And am slowly integrating into MPO culture. It is hard to describe MPO. I will do my best in a moment. But MPO members (insert joke here) have nicknames. How they get these nicknames is a mystery to me. They range from: Juice Box to Crack. Some I can see...that stunningly good looking man above to the right is Rocket. Makes sense to me. I can see him as that feisty raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy or Maurice Richard. But Greg as the Professor? Not feeling it. Unless we are talking the Professor on Gilligan's Island. Cause I could see that. He is very good looking. Smart. And has a certain je ne sais quoi. If I were to give him a nickname it would be The Mayor of MPO.

The next thing that became very clear is Greg is a Trail Wizard. His ability to blaze trail and put together some sick rides was proven when we were invited to one of his classic Bad Idea Rides™The Omloop Blackstone. Greg came up with the idea to do some bandit rides with Classics themes. The Ronde de Rosey came from a similar inception. So we all gather at MPO....Medfield Post Office. Ok let's talk about MPO for a hot minute. MPO is an anti-team that was formed around some kind of Spartan/Welsh thematic with what I can tell is a group of reformed triathletes and some legit mtn bikers. They are an irreverent bunch with some serious chops in the community. That first group ride with them was an eye opener. Ride started mellow and wait for it...blew apart. But we regrouped. And it was so cool seeing so many friends and making new ones. This is what these type of rides are for. You make bonds that just can't be formed otherwise.

Not too long after that Greg became part of HUP. And HUP and MPO began a sort of partnership I haven't experienced since HUP and Cambridge formed a non aggression treaty that would last until that team disbanded. Back to what makes up an Anti-Team. And to explain why so many teams fail. Cambridge was probably the coolest team in the NECX for a while. But teams need sponsors. Sponsors are hard to come by. Bike racers are selfish. There I said it. If one team member gets x all the other team members are going to want x. But the sponsor can't allocate that many of x. And feels happen. And people start infighting...An anti-team can last FOREVER because there are no sponsors. You are your sponsor. The ONLY reason to be on an anti-team is because you like the people on it. And you like riding with them and hanging out with them. HUP's founder once said the best way to tell if you want to be on a team with someone is to get in a van and drive to Putney with them. I am paraphrasing obviously. But the idea is simple. Do you want to spend time in a van with these people? Are they cool? MPO is the coolest of the cool. Seriously. I am just getting to know them and I love them. They are like a weird wolf pack. Part glitter bombs and homoerotic jokes. Part full gas, take no prisoners, ride or die gravel warriors.

The other thing I love about MPO and honestly what made HUP what we are today is their willingness to do the work. So many people and teams talk about community etc and don't do jack. When it comes time to build the race course or tear it down or do trail cleanup no one shows up. MPO shows up. Greg is the reason we have Ice Weasels at Medfield State Hospital. Watching him pitch it to the Medfield Town Council was amazing. His work behind the scenes is next level. And MPO has always showed up and helped build the course and tear it down. I love this ragtag bunch of misfits. I am still figuring out all their nicknames and am slightly afraid of their obsession with smashing themselves to pieces. But I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy getting lost with Crack and Rocket in the middle of winter on some hobo trails in the middle of god knows where. The NECX is better for having teams like MPO and having people like Greg. When this whole dumpster fire of a Pandemic is over the first thing I am doing is riding over to Gregs and having a beer....ok I might hit Rockets on the way over. Greg I am sorry if I show up slightly hammered...