Staycation

This post is long overdue and could be named lots of other titles. "With a Little Help From My Friends" would be appropriate. "Don't Freak Out" would have fit. But Staycation really captures the essence. This post as stated earlier is loooong overdue. Contrary to perception the #CBL is more Daddy Day Care than Point Break. I know I channel Bodhi as much as I can. But I am a 53 year old man taking care of two teenage daughters. Now everything I learned from Road House, Ghost, Dirty Dancing, Red Dawn and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar have prepared me to be a stay at home dad. Without all of those movies and those characters I would just be some sad sack of an old guy trying to figure this whole thing out. But I am pretty good at my job. Being good at my job means sometimes things I would have liked to do can't happen. Racing seems impossible these days. And as much as I love gravel adventure rides I am sort of like a short range fighter escort these days. I am not fast, or have endurance but can chug along prettily happily for 2-4 hours in the woods. 

So I apologize to those who I may frustrate with my schedule. Trust me. I WISH I could go to KT or camp out at D2R2. But I can't be that far from home. I just can't. And being solo dad means you have to sort of rethink a lot of things. I have a ZERO tolerance policy for ending up in the ER. In the old days I took pride in how many trips to the ER I would take. I mean I had a legit frequent flyer card. But at some point and at some age you have to say "hey people count on me. I can't take a sick day.."

But the revelation I had was to ride with the people who I really enjoy riding with. And this past month I have traveled more on a bike than I could without these friends. I have said it a million times. I am so lucky to have my friends. They are truly special. And I have so many of them. And they all are so rad. This past month the bike took me to places I have never been. And helped me spend time with friends I have really missed. We did a great ride from Great Brook to Billerica. I am not going to go into details because once a rad MTB area gets popular it gets ruined fast. If you know you know. If you don't know and you are motivated I guess do the work and find it. You won't be disappointed. That MTB ride was one for the books. Rides like that at the time go from being wow this is soooo rad to WTF is going on here? But part of being a biker is Not. Freaking. Out. I learned this lesson from Surfing and Yoga. Yeah I know I am a dirty hippie. But it has served me so well as I have aged and gotten out of shape. Things happen on a ride. You feel like crap. You are scared. You are lost. You are out of water. Don't Freak Out. Breathe. It will all be ok

After the Billerica ride I met up with my great friend Gewilli to do a redo of the RI Red Rooster Ronde. G is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Love that man. He is a beast of a man but is also the kindest person I know. Very thoughtful. We had such a rad ride. That route he has is legit. You think you want gravel? Uh huh. Go check the RRRR route. It is bonkers. It throws everything at you. Sand dunes, real gravel, sick fresh cut single track. Met at a cafe and ended at a cafe. Perfect.

I finally went out and rocked my new RISD kit on home trails and found that certain kit afford you a certain level of respect from cars. It was bizarre. I can't even explain what happened that day. I rode through Dover in a pouring rain and cars gave me a legit 3 feet. And were patient. And no one got frustrated. Had to be the kit. It has magical powers. I may have totally failed as an art student but that kit did not fail me that day.

The piece de resistance was Thea's bday ride. I don't even know how to capture this one in words. Thea and Kevin are two really great friends and teammates of mine. Again, I can't put into words what those two mean to me, my team and the community. They are simply two of the most positive people I have ever met. Together they are like a force of nature. When I got the invite to join Thea for a bday ride I was so stoked. I had never ridden on the North Shore. Sure I have raced Gloucester a million times. And that is rad. And I have raced Willowdale. But really I have never ridden there. We met in Beverly and rolled out. It was one of those rides were you were instantly blown away. You would hit a sector and be like OMG this is the nicest section I have ever ridden. And then you would get to the next sector. Rinse and repeat the whole ride. It was like being in VT without the 4 hour drive and elevation.

I think the funniest part of this ride was how we had to just live of the land. To me that is what makes a ride great. It is cool to have everything go your way on a ride. Plenty of water, no mechanicals, blah blah blah. But that is boring don't you think? I like when the shit hits the fan. That is when you see a persons true colors. Do they panic? Do they get mad? Do they toss their bike into the woods when it breaks? My friends do not do any of those things. What was so cool about this ride was just how it was so in synch. I mean I was suffering. It was hot. And really humid. And I am old. I forget sometimes. My friends are in general half my age. That is no excuse. Again I am happy with where I am. I love that I get to raise two strong daughters and support my BALLER executive wife. It truly is an honor to do so. I don't know why the heat and humidity have been affecting me so much this summer. But my teammates took such great care of me on this ride. When a much stronger rider hangs back and just shadows you, you notice it. A bunch of my friends on this ride did that. And it meant the world.

The water stops we found on the way were really one of the funny highlights. Like I said the riding we did was probably the best riding I have ever done in the greater Boston area. Hands down. Nothing even comes close. Beautiful canal trails, buffed single track, legit mtb stuff, nature areas and gorgeous roads. Maybe in VT I have ridden stuff like this. But not 45 minutes from my house. Our first stop was a nice CNG. Great stop. Second stop was a gas station. Why do gas station attendants hate cyclists? I mean they were not happy. But screw it. The cold cokes were amazing. Then we basically occupied some Christian Schools student center. That Holy Water brought me back to full strength. We had some pretty epic mechanicals but again no one lost their head and we made it home all together and basically all in one piece. Here is to rides like this. You do not have to spend $200 and drive 4 hours to find adventure. It is right out your front door if you are willing to look for it.

Zank Belt

My friends always have the best worst ideas. The past few years they have been bugging me to keep the Zank SSCX party going all summer. I had resisted. Tried to say no. But it is very hard for me to say no to Kevin O. Very few people can get me as #hyped as he can. So finally I was like sure. Let's unleash all our creative energy on SS MTB and see what can happen. 

I have a long history with SS MTBs. Inglorious for sure. My first SS MTB was a chopped Bridgestone MB-2 that Jeremy Sycip welded track dropouts onto. It was not pretty to say the least. I still remember taking Maurice Tierney riding in the Marin Headlands and him telling me SS Mtn biking was stupid. Well it was and still is. But it is fun. From those humble beginnings the sky was the limit. The pinnacle to me will always be Singlespeed-A-Palooza held down at Stewart State Forest in NY. #RIPSSAP. Since that last SSAP a lot of us have been trying to figure out how to keep that vibe going. If you ever experienced it you know what I am talking about. 

This first year of the Zank SSMTB series is phase one. What is phase two? Who knows we are just hoping to survive phase one! So far the series has been a HUGE success. The races have seen great turnouts and great racing. We have a very close race in the men's for the overall. Have we mentioned the Championship belts? Yes we have TWO insanely cool Champ Belts to award at the end of the series at Barn Burner. We will award Champ belts to the overall female and male racer at Barn Burner. How many race series offer up legit Champ Belts? Huge thanks to Jon Nable for the design work and Nick Maggiore for the inspiration. 

There are two races left. Next up on the Zank SS MTB series is Gnar Weasels. And then the finals at Barn Burner. We hope you can join us and see what the fun is all about. Here are the overall points standings: Zank SS MTB Series Points 

Ice Cream Ride

After 53 trips around the Sun I have learned a few things. One the greatest gifts ANYONE can give you is their time. Second is their friendship. Third is love. Fourth is time trialing back to their house to retrieve a tire and riding back to your broke ass on the side of the trail and saving the ride! Hahaha.  More about Number Four in a second. So I live an "alternative" lifestyle. Always have. Who knows. Karma. Hippie parents. Well they weren't actual Hippies but self-identified as Hippies so we basically were raised as wolves. This can be good. Or bad depending on your perspective. I am a glass half full guy so I like to see the positives that came from that upbringing. It has made me tolerant, open, accepting and most of all tribal. I value my friends and those in my life more than anything. It's not like I need an excuse to get a group of rad people together for a ride. But you only turn 53 once right? As my fave yoga teacher says "everyday our bodies can do what we do is a blessing" And she is right. 

When I first texted my good friend Greg and said I was cooking up a bday ride he was all in. My initial "let's ride 53 miles" tampered down to a reasonable "Ice Cream Ride" The Ice Cream Ride really only happened by happenstance. What I love about Greg is he is literally a Trail Wizard. I use this term a bit. But I don't use it lightly. He and I really are drift compatible when it comes to a route. On this day all I said was something cryptic like: NTF-Hale-Satan's-Adam's. I think he said oh with Ice Cream? Then I was like holy shit! Yes let's ride to Bubbling Brook. Bubbling Brook in Walpole is literally the best ice cream this side of anywhere....it is old school New England. PHENOMENAL fried clams FYI....but we were talking ice cream sorry.

Greg and I are fairly new friends. But it seems like we have known each other forever. It is weird. Back when we were scouting Ronde routes he sent me on an "ambitious" route. It was actually amazing but probably over most Ronde riders pay grade. At least on a CX bike. I believe at one point I texted him and asked "Umm so you want us to send a bunch of roadies on CX bikes into Satan's Kingdom?' Hahah. So today we went into Satan's on CX bikes. But as you are aware my dear reader we are not roadies. Nope. Not one of us. On this day we had Agent Utah coming off Lumberjack on a SS MTB and riding a SS MTB, Guthrie looking punch drunk post IRR and a super fresh Greg and Novick, and me. All 53 years of me....on a SSCX. The plan was just a chill soul ride and that was what it would be. We rolled out and shared stories. So much to catch up on. With two single speeders and one gear restricted Di2 rider due to lack of battery power we were guaranteed a chill pace.

Greg took my suggestion and nailed it. We rolled up Strawberry Hill, dropped into Hale, went across the levee to Cat Rock. And at Cat Rock my brain started working the route. "Is Greg taking us down the PRO line?" As we wove our way through some pretty techy bits I saw it up ahead. Greg kind of jogged right. I knew the drop pretty well and right seemed like certain death. But I was inspired and maybe hypoxic at this point so was like ok I will go left. I somehow cleaned it. And saw Scott blast straight down the middle and then start laughing maniacally about his next CX bike would definitely have a dropper post. Then we came up to a set of stairs. It was a straight set. Wood. Sort of deep. But the right looked super loose and sketchy. What happens on these types of rides where you are riding a CX bike on trails you typically ride a mtn bike you forget you are not on a mtn bike. And make bad decisions. The second I dropped into the stairs I was like. Oh this is a bad, bad idea. I am pretty sure I sustained kidney damage.

But it was laugh out loud funny. Things were going swimmingly. We all were having a lot of fun. As we rolled into Satan's I wasn't really worried. I was like oh yeah this would have been great for the Ronde. Then Guthrie crashed and bent a rotor. Then I was off cause I was on a SSCX and it was steep and bony as fuck. Then Guthrie and I heard what sounded like an M-80 going off. Oh that can't be good. We get over the top of this bony ass rock feature and see Scott, Utah and Greg standing around. Hmmm ok. A flat. NBD. Well yeah a big deal. It was the most epic flat of all time. FUBAR'd basically. So Scott's rear tire fell victim to an NTF like axe head rock. OK you ride CX bikes on gnar shit happens. But the tire would not come off the rim. The bead was so locked into the tubeless socket it was ridiculous. Scott is a beast of a dude. Sweetest guy I know but strong as hell. PRO mechanic. If he can't peel a tire off a rim no one can. But the four of us all tried. It was sort of like the Sword in the Stone. Who ever shall peel the tire off this bastard of a rim shall become King of ALL HE SURVEYS.

So yeah the Ice Cream Ride was in peril. No one panicked. Utah was not feeling so fresh so he headed home. The Four Horseman of the HUPocalypse hatched a plan. Greg offered to ride home and get a tire and meet us at a trail head. We would hike a bike out. Solid. I am thinking Greg plays Achilles in this story. We were left like Odysseus to deal with the Harpies, Cyclops and Sirens. We somehow made it out. Once we got out into some cul de sac Scott started cutting the tire off. Greg arrived in no time with a fresh tire and the ride was saved. I mean that is so BALLER it is not even funny.

From there we just smash through crazy tech trails to 109 and to Mecca aka Bubbling Brook and get the best ice cream of my life. We eat our ice cream and then rail home like conquering heroes. God I love this life and my rad friends. Thank you to these four dudes for being such great friends and for gifting me such a great bday ride.....

100+ Ghosts

This could have been named Enter the Ronde (36 Chambers) or #Getlost. But no one got lost this year. That I heard anyway. The Ronde de Rosey gave birth to gravel riding in the NECX. Literally. No hyperbole. The Ronde de Rosey was created in reaction to some typical NECX drama around a certain dirt road race that maybe got too big for its own good. I did say drama-filled race. I mean what road race isn't filled with drama? I was a lowly Cat 5 masters racer. Road racing meant jack shit to me. But when my new besties invited me to "race" on dirt roads in upper state NY and mentioned we had a BALLER farm house that was going to be our HQ I jumped on that. I was a young baby master and scrappy. Hell I had been home for just over a year and had a lot of Norcal swagger. Lots of mistakes were made during that race. But my love of adventure riding certainly was sparked that day. So when shit went to that dark, dark place with said race promoter and Rosey decided to offer a free alternative I was all in. We cracked a few eggs that first year. It was pretty misunderstood. And the whole concept of adventure/CX riding was really new. Rosey, Utah and I used tape, spray cans and others methods to mark a route. Still racers raced and half the riders got lost, blew up, destroyed themselves or their bikes. We quickly realized calling the RdR a race was a super bad idea. Racers have zero chill. HUP won that first edition FYI. But sure we maybe had a performance advantage. 

So now we are at RdR v 9.0. Is it the longest bandit CX ride in the NECX? Who knows. It certainly is the most legendary. Not everyone gets it. Its ok. You don't have to get it. We don't do this to be popular or for everyone. We do this for the community. We do it for people who want to push themselves to the limit. And maybe at that limit you get a choice. Do you make a personal or selfless choice and cut it short for your team? or do you push on and crack your whole squad. Like my yoga teacher tells me over and over again. I offer suggestions. What you chose to do is your choice. This year we opened it up a bit. Can you call it a bandit ride if you have insurance? Thank you EFTA. Can it be a bandit ride if it is on Bikereg? And you have a limited edition kit designed by a legend in the NECX? Hmmm maybe. I am always shocked when people reactive adversely to something that is bandit. What part of bandit confused you? Bandits will bandit after all. I personally celebrate the bandit in all of us. The wild nature. Go ahead kid, jump that no trespassing fence. Poach that No Bikes trail. But still be respectful. Be a good trail steward. Not sure why people think somehow living the bandit lifestyle doesn't mean you don't live by a moral code. Personally I don't trust rule followers. Show me a rule follower who doesn't have a dark side. I dare you.

So here we go. Year Nine. Rosey and I have always riffed this thing in a way I really haven't worked with anyone before. Sure we always pull in other key friends. Many trail wizards work on this here adventure ride. It is a collective. Honestly we do this to really show off what amazing trails are out there. And lately I have been smelling what a certain trail wizard from the southern kingdoms has been cooking. The route was one that definitely was going to push people. CXenduro for sure. But lots of road recovery. If you are from these parts you know what a shit Spring we had. One day it was 70. The next it was 40 and pissing rain. We rode the entire route the week before the ride. It was 100% good to go. Of course it rained epically the three days leading up to it. And of course rained for the morning of the ride. I worried about some of the trails. But I knew where we were riding was ok. Some trails drain. Some don't. Some recover easily. Some don't. Yes we rode some wet trails. And guess what? They were all fine a week after we rode them. Not fake news.

We rolled out from the Washington Square Tavern in a pissing rain. Having done this for 8 of 9 years I was pretty excited. And nervous. The Ronde is a Gentleman's Ride. Gentleman's Rules apply. What are Gentleman's Rules? I am glad you asked. Teams start together and finish together. You are tasked with supporting your whole squad. You are only as fast as your slowest rider. If you ride your team into the ground you lose. If you piss your teamies off you lose. Have fun. Be nice. Don't be a dick on the trails or roads. We stopped and talked to dog walkers. One of the funniest moments was when we were riding along the Charles River. It had flooded it's banks. A hiker implored us to turn back. He was actually impressed we made it this far. We rode THROUGH the Charles. To the other sandy bank. My friend who shall remain anonymouse curated an insane route. We met him at the Ride HQ. He had fresh legs. I was now afraid. Guthrie and he play off each other like Pippin and MJ. They went off at a leg shredding pace. When my new to me teamie asked me what time lunch was and another told me her feet were frozen stumps I suspected we may have a "problem" So I made an executive decision. We pulled the plug on the shorty version. Remember my earlier comment about riding your own Ronde? Yeah I mean that. Riding your own Ronde means hey if your teammates are cracking maybe get them home happy and early and eating burgers before they are in the fetal position on the side of the trail. Or maybe choosing to not ride a trail that seems too muddy. Or maybe not riding 3 across on a narrow road in Sudbury. Just a suggestion. What you do is up to you.

So as much as I hated to we left two of our teammates to smash while we beelined back to the Tavern on the road. Honestly I like shepherding groups like this. It is bonding. We had a great ride back to the bike path in Needham. As we headed to the townline I was having lots of feels. I knew my wife and kids had set up a bandit aid station on the bike path right before NTF. I mean I love my fam. They are all in with my crazy lifestyle. They get it. 175 bikers are rolling through the path at 1 pm? We are ON it! And they weren't playing. They saved so many souls. I owe them big time. But my fear was I would see them and be like yeah fuck this shit. The hot tub and a Dale's are calling me. Yeah I have a hot tub. But I guess Kharma or whatnot was in my favor and I missed them by probably ten minutes. The stories my friends told me about seeing that rest stop like it was some kind of Oasis filled me with such love. It was so rad. My wife crushed it. This isn't her first rodeo. But still. Not sure how many executive spouses would take the time out of their weekend to support 175 lost souls. She had everything. Pickles, snickers, gummy bears, GF snacks. She crushed it.

Our crew made it back to the Tavern and we met up with Ryan Kelly and Adam St. Germain and their crew. It was awesome. We flew back into Washington Square. Nothing and I mean nothing tastes better than that burger and beer at the Tavern after the Ronde. We hung out at the bar and waited for everyone to finish. Each team would come in and share so many rad stories. Hugs and high fives were exchanged. And then the raffle started and the usual mayhem ensued. HUGE props to Rosey and Gerry. They are the real drivers behind this. They always bring so much energy to this event. We raised 4K for Bikes not Bombs. And another 1k to local trails organizations in the area.

I am not sure what next year will hold. It will be the 10th edition. I suspect something very special will be on tap. Maybe a Ronde de Rosey CXenduro stage race? Feats of Strength? Choose your own adventure? Stay tuned and stay thirsty my friends. To the first real CXenduro event that spawned all of them in the NECX I salute you. SO proud to have been a small cog in this machine. 

GOAT Yoga

Yes, my loyal readers you read that headline correctly. I am not referring to the Greatest Yoga of All Time. I am referring to Goat Yoga. Yoga with goats. Baby goats specifically. Now if you follow this blog you know I am into bikes. Most of my posts are bike related. But goat yoga is important. What? How can yoga with goats be important? And why would anyone do yoga with goats? Well first have you ever seen a baby goat? I mean seriously. I am not afraid to alienate people but a baby goat is way cuter than a cat or dog. And has a soul. I know what you are thinking. Dude you have lost it bro. How many edibles did that nice guy at registration give you? One if edibles were offered of course I would have happily partaken. I mean this was in Noho. Or Eastho. Do they call it Eastho or did I just make it up.

Irregardless. I love Northampton. I am not of the "I would move there" mindset. Like VT it is a phenomenal place to visit but I could not live there. I go there to recharge. And to push maybe my comfort zone. My roots are in two places: Boston and SF. Those two Cities to me are my center. But let's get back on track. My wife makes me a better person. She drags my old, broken ass to yoga on a regular basis. She and her yoga journey are amazing. Most people as they age get rigid and set in their ways. My wife is more open now than she ever has been. A lot of it is thanks to yoga. She meditates. She reads yoga books to better herself. And she tries to help me along this journey as well. I love yoga. I really do. As a kid I went deep into the martial arts rabbit hole. It oddly began innocently enough. Needed to bulk up for hockey. I was a little kid. The weight lifting class at the Y was awesome. The instructor was a beast of a dude. Black belt in Kempo Karate. He invited me to a karate class. I got hooked. That started a pretty intense journey that led me to one of the most highly respect Wu Shu Sifus in Boston. I would drive into Boston 3 times a week to train my ass off. But martial arts are tough. You think you get broken down by bike racing? Try getting punched in the face again, and again and again. I would go to work the next day with black eyes, cracked ribs. It was nuts. And my co-workers were becoming concerned. 

Then we moved to SF. And Pam discovered Bikram yoga. That wasn't really my thing. But we tried Hatha yoga and I liked it. It reminded me of Kung Fu. Well, newsflash the Shaolin stole a lot of their Kung Fu from Yoga. I can't tell you how many times I am in eagle pose and I have flash backs to Yao Li's Kung Fu academy and Eagle Form. But yoga to me, maybe at my age, just peels it all back and gets to the source. Even when martial arts were martial. Aka an art you learned to kill someone else there was a spiritual component. But it is hard to accept the hurting someone else with I want to be a peaceful evolved person part of martial arts. Yoga strips that all away. The journey is more about letting go and only doing what you can do at that moment. Yoga believe it or not can get intense. People have lots of opinions and feelings about yoga. Especially hot yoga. It is what it is. I love the teachers I have had along the way. They have brought me back from lots of bike related injuries. And yes, I have hurt myself in yoga.

One of the more evolved teachers I have had once said "you choose to push yourself. I only offer suggestions" My blaming a teacher for a yoga injury would be stupid. I chose to not listen to my body and push myself past what it could handle. The same is true for cycling. 90% of our injuries in cycling are our own fault. We pushed ourself too hard. Or we decided not to listen to that voice in our head that said that drop off a rock feature was too scary. You need to listen my friends. And be like water. Water doesn't fight it flows. The whole point of goat yoga is to take yoga and life less seriously. Baby goats are a primal entity. This trip we went on as a family was a Mother's Day/College tour event. Baby goats say mom. It is the weirdest thing I have ever heard. I know everyone has heard a goat say maaaaaahhhhh. But when you hear it in the stillness of a yoga class in a room full of moms. Motherhood and what that means makes you stop in your tracks and pause. 

Goat yoga is kind of like an adult petting zoo. If you ever tried to do yoga at home with a dog or a cat you can imagine how goat yoga is going to go. The goats think its play time. Or cuddle time. Or hop over you time. And they want to eat your hair. And nibble your toes. And eventually sleep on or next to you. We are so disconnected with nature. Humans are an animal. An animal who has lost its soul and connection with mother earth but still an animal. Goat yoga is a gift. It helps us step away from the 24 hour news cycle and getting triggered by every intense thing we are exposed to. Yoga believe it or not just like cycling can be intense. It is HARD. I dare you to go to a hot yoga class with me. It is brutal. And people will scoff at it. Why add heat to something already "hard" The heat forces you to choose a path. And to listen to your body. Just like goat yoga takes you off your game a bit. Do I want to hold this pose? Or do I really just want to cuddle with this goat?

The goat yoga class we attended was held by Sage Farms in Easthampton. It was a benefit for a lot of really important local charities. And I know people don't always see it because we are riding through or vacationing but places like Easthampton, Deerfield, etc struggle. The people there don't make a lot of money. Most didn't go to Ivy League colleges. Most might not have gone to college. It is nice to give back to those communities. The goats themselves were adorable. A goat named Pie Jar aka Grace bonded with my younger daughter Syd. It helped her so much. The speech the farmer gave prior to the event hit so close to home. I hope my older daughter ends up going to Smith. One, I believe in that institution. Two, I want an excuse to get up to Noho more often. And Three, those pesky goats. They have so much to teach if you just step back and listen.

Rhode Island is NOT flat

Contrary to what you may assume Rhode Island is not Flat. In fact, as I learned this past Saturday it is in fact very hilly. I heard great things about Greasy Joe's Gravel Grinder. My good friend Roger went and did it last year. I am pretty sure he used the words "easy" and "flat" when describing it. He also used the words fun and awesome. Being a mid-distance gravel specialist the first and only time I have ever ridden at Big River (which happens to be where GJGG was held) I couldn't help think how awesome it would be to ride a CX bike on these trails. It was very reminiscent of Cape Cod which I love. Flowy, sandy, pine loam trails. Relatively flat which is perfect for a flatlander like myself. So when I saw the date for GJGG I put a big red star on my calendar. I got a great crew of HUP together and it was on!

Now as this was a special ride and I wanted to be at my best I decided it was time to put new tires on. Tan walls are my jam. I was very excited to put a brand new set of WTB Riddlers on for this ride. Again I assumed the course would be a gravel grinder aka roadie-ish course. I didn't want to be held back by my 40 CX knobbies. Hahaha. Are you noticing a trend here? Lots of assumptions. When I got the pre-ride email the night before I realized this was not a roadie dirt road ride at all. And knowing the NECT crew I should have never assumed this one wasn't going to be rowdy. The week before I had set up Guthrie with a pair of these tires right before the Ronde. They set up in like 20 minutes. Now past performance does not insure the outcome of future endeavors. Both tires went on super easy. I did all the usual things I do. Soapy water, violent shaking of the wheel, ride around the neighborhood. My neighbors must think I am crazy.

Then air started shooting out of the front tire. And the rear wasn't holding. I won't lie I kind of panicked. I texted Pirro. And pleaded to the internet for tips. More sealant. More shaking. More beer. I went to bed thinking about how screwed I was going to be the next day. My confidence was about zero that these tires would hold air overnight let alone on 50 miles of rowdy trails in Big River and Arcadia. But some CX god smiled on me and the tires held fast. Thank you to what ever spirit or Fae saved me from certain doom. Guthrie and Joanna show up to HUP HQ south and we pack everything into the van. Things are going surprisingly smooth.

We get down and are a little "late." One of the things I love about how Greasy Joe's did this was it was a staggered start or choose your own start time. Kind of like D2R2 in a way. They had sent out a GPS file the prior evening so everyone had a GPS track to follow but they also were diligent about signs and arrows at all turns, obstacles and rest stops. I know there has been some discussion of late about signage and GPS files. I like both. I know its a lot of work to do signs. But it ensures riders stay on course and alerts them to hazards. These rides are not supposed to be races. Frankly a race mindset is the worst for rides like this. The whole point of gravel adventure rides is to have an adventure. Stick together. Help each other out. Navigate the course. A course like GJGG has everything. Some riders will be strong on the climbs. Some super fast on the descents and technical bits. Someone is always going to get dropped or separated from the group. The first rule is everyone waits. No one gets left behind.

The first part of the ride reminded me of the mtb ride we did down at Big River about a month prior. Super fun dirt roads, flowy. And then we hit what I can only describe as a dry creek bed. It reminded me of the chute at Lemurian. Now maybe one person will get that reference but the Lemurian was this epic mtb ride in Norcal. You climbed forever. Then took a ripping descent down the mtn. We all were on rigid bikes back then. It got rowdy to say the least. This descent pushed the bounds of what you can do on a CX bike. I loved every second of it.

We somehow got through the ride with only two flats. I did almost rip my front fork off at one point and dropped my chain on a bumpy decent. But it was the perfect day. NECT crushed it. It is probably my favorite gravel ride I have done. The course was very similar to VT Overland. Punchy steep climbs, rowdy technical sections, super fun flowy loam tracks. True confession time. One of my kids plays a ton of video games. She loves them. And she constantly talks about the storylines and how her characters are doing. We talk about the villains and the protagonist. It is great. Half way through the ride I kept asking myself "what does this remind me of?" NH? Sort of. VT? Kind of. Far Cry 5? Definitely. So much of the course was nice pine loam forest. Then you would punch out into an area that was like it was out of a dystopian novel or movie. I kept expecting Joe Seed to come out and ask me about my sins. Pretty sure Sloth would be carved on my chest....

We had a group of about 9 riders. A nice mash up of HUP, Seven and others. Got to ride with some friends who I hadn't seen in a long time. And once again HUP lives up to being the raddest crew to ride with ever. I just love the bizarre conversations we have and the crazy shit that goes down. HUGE props to the whole NECT crew! Major shout outs to Tamara Wong for the amazing rest stop. That rest stop was a life saver. And Tammy stayed out there the whole day. It was probably one of the most dialed rest stops I have seen at a ride. Definitely took notes for next year's Ronde!
Matt from NECT did a great job on the course and checking in on all the riders. The whole ride we were thinking of cold beer. I know, I know. But it was hot. And the course was super hard. We had resigned ourselves to no beer but happy we had finished together and had such a great ride. As we rolled back into the staging area we went to let Matt know we had finished so he could sign us in. AS we signed in he handed each of us an ice cold Cinco de Mayo appropriate beer. That ice cold Corona Light was better than any artisanal hand crafted beer I have ever consumed.

Long story short I will be back next year. That is now a must do on my gravel calendar. I won't lie I joke about being a "gravel specialist" but those are the rides I am interested in. Racing is kind of meh for me at this point in my riding career. I just like to ride with friends in some crazy area on CX bikes or what ever you call the bikes we are riding. I look forward to a great Spring and Summer (and gasp even Fall!) checking out all the cool gravel in New England.

Nerds of the NECX

The Nerd biker (cyclist) connection can not be denied. So many of us were nerds in high school. I can't even count the amount of times I have had conversations both in person or on the twittersphere about starting an #NECX D&D campaign. The possibilities are endless. I mean let's face it Cross is basically LARPing. Why not just take it to the next level?

Here is my proposal. This year at the Ronde we do a #NECX D&D "Poker ride" My good friend and DM extraordinaire has lots of great ideas to make this work. Basically the way it will work is any teams wanting to participate will need to sign on to the campaign. Each participating team will get a ziplock baggy containing: Character sheets printed on cards, a list of spells, a specific task and a simplified rules set. In Jed's words a Cannonball Run sort of campaign. 

"The party of rogues came upon a dank tunnel in the moors of Satan's Kingdom. They heard a low moaning as they approached the tunnel. Small lawn gnomes and tiny plastic miniatures dotted the landscape. A scale model train set wrapped around the rocks. A half-goat, half-demon anthropomorphic figure emerged from the darkness. 'My children have you misbehaved?" growled the creature."

If this sounds like something you want to be a part of send me an email at velocb@mac.com Jed and I will make the magic happen as they say. And may the odds ever be in your favor.