There and Back Again

Week 6 of "quarantine" in the NECX. Picked Zoe up at Smith on 3/13. It was surreal. But if there is one thing I am actually good at it is taking care of my family. We are really lucky. We can stay home. We have everything we need at home honestly. Hasn't been easy. But we can go out. Lots of places are in full on shelter in place mode. You go out you can get fined a grand or arrested. The new normal for me and my family has been to take this very seriously. We are lucky to live in the Commonwealth. I actually trust that the Free State of Massachusetts has our best interest in mind. When they tell me to wear a mask I wear a mask. Speaking of masks as I headed out on a little #DIYgravel today one the many email groups I am on sent out an update that Holliston had mandated that any one going outside needed to wear a cloth mask. I have been wearing a LWC buff on all my rides. I have been putting off going on one of my favorite loops out to Holliston and riding the amazing rail trail that goes through because it was sure to be mobbed. I get it. Schools are closed. Gyms are closed. Yoga Studios are closed. All anyone has is the outdoors. 

People have been flooding all the parks and trails near me. Lots of the parks have had to close down because people are not social distancing. I have rediscovered road riding mainly because it is the most chill option on the bike right now. But gravel is my thing. Whether it is riding a sweet rail trail or legit mtb trails on my CX bike. You can call it Mixed Terrain. I can't. There is no elegance in that. Gravel is elegant. So as I headed out on my little gravel adventure I was crafting an email response to the list. I had checked a few responses to the initial post. I honestly don't get the mindset that feels wearing a mask is overreacting. Get used to it. Cause that is going to be the new normal. And frankly, it is masks or go full California and shut it ALL down. Predictably when I hit the rail trail in Hollis it was MOBBED. No one was social distancing. Half were wearing masks. Of those 50% most were not wearing them correctly. I feel like Jesse James at this point. Cap pulled low over my eyes. Ray Bans on. Black LWC buff pulled up over my face. I know the buff isn't really going to offer much real protection if someone happens to have corona. I do my best to keep my distance. If anything this whole thing is making me a much more patient person.

Six weeks of riding in the woods and trails with people who haven't been on a bike or hiking since they were a kid can be frustrating or you could have some empathy. I have been super chill. People say sorry all the time. I try and be nice and say "no need to say sorry" We are all in this together. And I mean that from my heart. We are literally all in this together. People are trying to politicize this. The Vice President refused to wear a mask to the Mayo Clinic. Let that sink in. I miss my friends. I miss riding in groups. I miss all the gravel events that we all look forward to each year. This weekend I would have been riding Greasy Joes with the coolest crew on the planet. But for now all those rad events are either postponed or canceled. In the big scope of things it is NBD. I feel so bad for High School seniors and NCAA athletes who missed out on playing their last games for their schools. I feel bad for those who missed out on all the life events they had planned and worked for. And I feel for all those on the frontlines working in hospitals, grocery stores and first responders keeping us all living our lives as normally as we can right now.

Which brings me back to today's ride. The same as every ride I have been doing since March 13th. Which are the same rides I have been doing for about a decade. Ted King put out an idea called #DIYgravel. Basically a way for all of us to do our own gravel rides together but apart. Do it yourself Gravel. I love it. There are a few people who inspire me these days. Ted is one. Alison Tetrick is the Queen in my mind. She just 100% gets it.  Jake Wells is another. The whole EF alternative program speaks to me. That's it these days. I met Ted at the first Rasputitsa. Met I guess is an embellishment. Tim heckled us from his new car as we wrestled our bikes off our roof rack. Ted was in the car with Lynne. But Ted seemed cool. He embraced gravel in a way most haven't. He seems so genuine which is a breathe of fresh air to say the least. I am not a podcast guy but love his podcast.

No disrespect to Ted but gravel has always been DIY. Even as it has blown up it remains DIY. And this has been very frustrating for lots of people coming from traditional racing. Gravel rides even those that are super PRO are imperfect. There are a lot of moving parts. The course is open. Guess what you may be bombing down some bombed out gravel road in VT and yeah some guy in a Subaru is coming up the road with zero clue that you are on the wrong side of the road. That is on you my friend. Deal with it. These are not cross races. They are at best adventure rides. Honesty they should not be races. I love that racers are doing gravel. But leave your racers mindset at home. You have to take care of yourself. There isn't a team car. The route may be messed up. Aid stations may be out of water. When we first started doing these events we didn't have Garmins. Frankly the first time we did one of these with a Garmin as a team we got so lost it was ridiculous. I love having to navigate by feel. Whether it is via trail blazes like the one above from the Bay Circuit Trail or DIY trail markers. Or actual maps. For the record I NEVER spray canned Landlocked forest. Ever. I see little spray can blazes popping up here and there and do not like that at all. That type of DIY is not cool. That my friend is vandalism.

As I said, even with the proliferation of Garmins and Wahoo GPS systems I have never bought in. I have clearly benefited from those Trail Wizards who create the routes and set the trail. But at some point I am going to have to freelance. Sorry, not sorry. I like to surf the earth. I see a little feeder trail and I want to check it out. A friend shows me a route and I remember it. I have a pretty good internal GPS. It is not perfect. But honestly I have never gotten lost. Maybe I have temporarily gotten off track. But I always find my way back to where I wanted to go. It took me a while to sort it out on the east coast. On the west coast you pop up on a ridge and see the ocean. And then you know which way is west and therefore have figured out North, South and East. And voila you are no longer lost. But on the east coast in the woods? It is like the Blair Witch Project, It is soooo easy to get turned around. Cutler the most traveled spot in this area is like a hell mouth. I have found so many lost people out on the Island.

I love the saying "all that wander are not lost" And that sort of sums up this time we are living in. And how I am riding right now. I am finding all the rides and moments on the bike right now as gifts. We will get through this. Will things go back to "normal"? I don't know. I think the new normal will be better honestly. I am not saying it will be easy. We may be in for some tough times. I feel for all those suffering. And we are all going to have to work together no doubt. We have a lot of digging out to do. But I think we are going to learn to be more empathic. And my time with my family right now is a gift. And when I see my friends? Oh damn. It is gonna be the sickest Ronde de Rosey you have ever seen in your damn lives. Sure it may have to be April 2021 but mark my words. It will be off the hook.

As we move forward and god willing perhaps things open up in the summer. My hope is that those Trail Wizards out there can put together their own DIYgravel rides. Low key. Word of mouth. I need to see my crew. I need to be sitting on Jimbo's deck drinking a cold beer after the ToH, hanging with RCaddy at the Back Eddy after laying down some rad gravel, at my Co-DS's house after the LoB, and Dirt Church with Gewilli. Perhaps at MSH after a sick Hell of the South. We got this. Be safe. Pllllleeeease. No car, No gnar and Not far. As Haymitch said to Katniss "Stay Alive." That is our job right now. Keep your loved ones safe. Wearing a mask isn't just about you not getting sick. It is keeping that kid working at the grocery store from getting sick. It is keeping your grandma or dad from not getting sick. We are all in this together. Peace.

Dirtbag Gravel Tour 2020

So before this whole clown car went off a cliff into a dumpster fire my good friend Roger and I were planning on kicking off Dirtbag Gravel Tour 2020. Honestly we have been on a DBGT for about a decade. It feels sort of like when Delta House was brought into Dean Wormers office. Fat, dunk and stupid is the only way to go through life in my opinion. I am pretty sure we have been on double secret probation since Waffle Cross made a special visit to Lowell CX. I had nothing to do with those 4 loco hand ups. That is my story and I am sticking to it. Anyhoo so in the short span of a decade Gravel has blown up! It used to be something you would do just for an adventure. See if you could destroy your fancy lightweight CX rig. We got the idea to do the Ronde de Rosey about ten years ago as a reaction to a certain "road" race that shall remain unnamed. We did it once as a team and had an amazing time. It was literally one of the most painful things I have done in my life. But it was beautiful in its suffering. It was my one and only "road" race.

Let's just leave it at the promoter perhaps pissed off a few of my friends to the point that they decided to hold a bandit "race" on the same day. And thus the Ronde de Rosey was born. The OG Dirtbag Gravel Race. The first RdR was held on Sunday March 21st 2010. The format was lifted from the Rapha Gentleman's Rides which arguable made gravel riding cool. Those were the first organized epic dirt road rides I can recall. I am sure there were events that predate the Rapha rides but Rapha made it cool. So the format which I still love was that the rules were simple. Teams start and finish together. Dropping a rider = DQ. That simple rule forces people to get out of race mode and into ride mode. You are only going to go as fast as your slowest rider. Self supported. That really was it. The first Ronde's were done via cue sheet. I know what is a cue sheet? Well guess what sparky we all didn't have Garmins back then. We may have marked the route with surveyors ribbon as well. Which forced teams to really work together to navigate. It was beautiful. And of course the level of destruction to people's bikes was epic.

It was pretty clear after that first year we should not call it a race. Anytime you call anything a "race" bikers are going to make really bad decisions. Even when you don't call it a race cyclists will race. They are probably the most competitive hobbyists on the planet. Are fisherman competitive? I honestly only have had one hobby so I don't know. Maybe people are just by their nature competitive. So leave it at after year one we decided to be really clear that racing was a bad idea. It probably took 2-3 years for that to sink in. It is funny to me now that gravel racing is a thing. I love gravel. No matter how you define it. Whether it is a dirt road ride or a legit off-road adventure I love it. But I really don't like the idea of it being a race. Too many bad things can happen when you are in race-mode. But I digress. For a decade I have been participating and helping organize and promote gravel rides/events. After a decade I have come to realize that the ones I truly love are more low key. And have that unknown to them. It is supposed to be an adventure. I don't mind getting a bit lost or discombobulated. As long as I am with a good crew it is all worth it.

The more I have done these rides the more critical it is for me to roll with a good crew. To me it is not how fast you are but what you are made of. Will you freak out when we are lost. Will you lose your shit when we run out of water. Will you point fingers when the cops show up? I guess you see what I am cooking. The friends I have surrounded myself with over the years are of the same mindset. In the early years people's melt down would be epic. Full reality TV show style. I can't honestly remember anyone losing it in the last five years. Maybe we are all seasoned DBGT pros now. I think so.

So when Roger and me were talking about the DBGT 2020 we had lots of great events planned. Greasy Joes, Mixed Tape, Ronde obviously, some DIY ideas. All the good stuff. The main criteria was it had to have a good dollar to mile ratio, be grassroots, have some DB street cred and not involve too much travel.  That all went up in flames on 3/13. Who knows when an organized ride will be held again in 2020. I honestly don't think it is happening. Maybe in September. So many events are moving to the Fall. GROSS season as I am coining it is going to be bizarre. Gravel + Cross = GROSS. It is going to be really weird seeing how this works out. Throw in all the MTB races that are likely moving to the Fall and it is going to be a relative all you can eat buffet of bike racing.

But the more I think about it DBGT 2020 is a go. A bunch of virtual Tours/races have popped up. My good friends and co-conspirators created an asynchronous redux of one of our old rides. Again, I was pretty skeptical and resisted until I saw them posting photos and like I usually do caved and went out and did a version of what they had cooked up. Then the Tour of Boston became a thing. And I followed that a bit. Still wasn't ready to join the party but was ToB curious. Then they added Pony Henge. And Ted King launched his own DIY Gravel project. That pushed me over the limit. So DBGT2020 is being rebranded. Or maybe relaunched. It will be an asynchronously contested tour. But I know it can work. First Stage of this DBGT2020 will be my own Pony Ride. I have some thoughts. I will go with Ted's DIY idea and make it the Rasputitsa short course distance if possible. No way the elevation will be near the same. I mean metro west is flat. But it will give my mind something to focus on other than this horrific situation we are in.

In other gravel news Jake Wells will be screening his Unknown Country this Monday at 8 am PST on Shimano's gravel site. Check it out if you haven't seen it already. Would people be interested in doing a virtual Ronde de Rosey as a benefit for the Washington Tavern and Beaver Brook Bottles? We could do a pretty cool event. People could pick their favorite RdR route. If you lived too far from Brookline you could do your own and post it up. I think the concept should be No Cars, No Gnar, and Not far. Stole that from Singletrack Magazine FYI. Say 40 miles. If you live near the Tavern or BBB perhaps see about some take out or delivery. If not we will ask for a donation to help them through this. Could be gift card purchases etc as well. If you need help figuring out a route we can do that as well. I hope everyone is staying safe, riding solo, and being healthy. We will get through this my friends. 

Quarantine Grocery Games

This past three weeks has been bizarre. And while the State of Massachusetts is not under quarantine it doesn't take a rocket scientist to take what is happening seriously. I was nervous about this back in January. But I won't lie I didn't really change my behavior much until March. When the first cases popped up in MA and school closures happened like lots of people I was like oh shit this is really happening. As things tightened up and news kept getting worse we (my family) prepared a bit. Nothing crazy but a little inventory of what we had at home. Stocked the pantry that first grocery trip in early March. Things were "normal" then. Other than a run on TP, Paper towels and hand sanitizer the shelves were stocked. At the time I joked about it being a Quarantine version of Guy Fieri's Grocery Games. 

Now I am not much of a reality TV fan. Honestly I don't watch much TV. But when on road trips with my family we all can agree on this show. It is highly entertaining. The concept is simple. Four chefs are set up in a grocery store. Guy picks a theme for the meal. The chefs have to race through the store picking up items to cook a meal. As I went from daily shopping for meals to a once a week schedule I went full Pantry style stock ups. While people were hoarding TP I was stocking up on beans, rice and carrots. I won't lie this whole thing has been a huge wake up call. I waste soooo much money on food. I have been the primary care person for my family the last 20 years. I shop for and cook all the meals. I got into a really bad habit of relying on take out, going out to dinner or buying too much when I went to the store. We ate a ton of meat. Meat is expensive. This current situation made it brutally clear that budgeting is important. Putting yourself on a tight budget for the meals forces you to get creative. And for me it has forced me to take a hard look at how I cook, what I cook and the waste associated with my bad habits. 

One thing that came across my radar that perked my interest was an article about vegetables you can regrow again and again. I gave it a try with a leek. Leeks are kind of expensive. The fact that you can put the bottom of a leek in water and grow it again blew my mind. Above is my pride and joy. I am counting the days until it becomes potato leek soup....sorry leeky. You will grow again I promise. My cooking has been basically Pantry meals. Like I stated earlier the whole idea was to not go to the grocery store more than once a week. And to budget money. So meat was out pretty much. Meat is expensive. A bag of rice and beans is way cheaper than a nice New York Sirloin. I won't say I really miss meat. The meals I have been making have been delicious and filling. So far my family has really enjoyed it. Oddly the one meal they didn't like was lasagna. Not sure about that one. I have been pulling recipes from lots of great cook books and friends like Gewilli. Gewilli is a master at cooking for his family. I have always loved his recipes. Below is an easy but tasty carrot dish Gewilli suggested. And I am going to make a bold statement. Homemade pizza is better than takeout pizza. 

As this pandemic unfolds it is scary for all of us. Limiting how much time we spend outside is so critical to everyone's health and safety. Once a week grocery trips make more sense. Ideally I am trying to make one trip last two weeks. When I grew up my grandmothers all had a pantry. I don't know why or when pantries went out of vogue. I guess this modern lifestyle has just made us lazy. I am guilty that is for sure. It is scary that it took a pandemic for me to get my act together. Moving forward I plan to be much more mindful about how I spend my money and what I spend it on. A garden is the next plan. Nothing crazy just a simple herb garden perhaps. Some lettuce. If I thought my dog wouldn't kill chickens I would get some chickens. But that is a no go with a Labrador retriever.

 On a more serious note I am feeling so worried for all my friends who run small businesses. Restaurants and bars are having such a hard time. I know we aren't even thinking of cycling events and races but one of the Spring Classics if you will was the Ronde de Rosey. This Sunday is April 5th. We often would run the RdR on the same day as the Tour of Flanders. Neither will be happening this year obviously. But I have been thinking of my good friend Gerry, owner of the Washington Square Tavern and Beaver Brook Bottles. Gerry has supported our antics for ten years. Last year's RdR was so awesome. It has been the unofficial kick off of the season here in Boston for a while. I will miss rolling up to the Tavern and having a burger and a cold beer at that beautiful bar. Gerry is still doing take out and is delivering beer! I ordered a great selection of beer from him this week and he dropped it off at my door the next day. If you can please help out your local restaurants, bars and breweries. A lot are doing take out and delivery. As a good segue and to reiterate what we all already know be safe out there. Stay inside unless you have to go to the grocery store or pharmacy. Take a walk or a mellow bike ride for exercise as long as it is still allowed. I saw this great post of Singletrack on IG and I think this is really how we should be looking at our riding. Stay safe my friends. Be healthy and hit me with any recipes you might have. My family is getting pretty tired of my quesadillas....

Pedal Damn It

Pedal Damn It is my new mantra. In these crazy times where we are all trying to stay safe and riding solo that is what is getting me through this. The woods have always been an escape for me and the mountain bike is what has always transported me to places where I could let go of what ever was bothering me. My love of mountain biking has had many ups and downs. Literally. Moving from the SF Bay Area to the Boston area could not have been more different as far as mountain biking. SF/Marin is the birthplace of mountain biking. When I was out West I got to ride with a lot of the people who pioneered the sport-Joe Breeze, Scot Nicol, Tom Ritchey, Jacquie Phelan. I got to be friends with a bunch of them. I was married on Mt Tam. Mountain biking out west involves riding up a mountain. I know that sounds simple enough but if you ride in New England you rarely are riding a mountain. You are riding in the woods and on rocks and roots. Woods biking or rock biking doesn't have the same ring to it as "Mountain biking" Mountain biking is elegant. It is like surfing or snowboarding. It just sounds cool. 

My initial foray into east coast mountain biking was predictably challenging. A 26" hardtail built to shred fire roads and buff Singletrack is not going to work so great in tight twisty trails with axe head rocks strewn across them. I struggled to say the least. Then I discovered the 29er! Big wheels changed my whole perspective. I could roll over stuff! They made riding in the woods fun! It made dropping down rocks or hopping over downed logs a blast. I swore by that hardtail 29er for years. My friends would tell me I needed full suspension but I would just shake my head and say I don't want to ride a pogo stick or I don't need all that travel...I clearly had never ridden a modern full suspension bike! I find it pretty funny that the thing that finally got me to believe in the potential of full suspension bikes was helping with a high school mountain bike team called the Wild Ones. One ride with the coaches and it became very clear to be able to stay with these kids I would need to get a full suspension bike. 

But honestly I still wasn't sold. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. My brain certainly could comprehend how much better the bike would be descending but I thought it would be slow climbing and on fast swoopy trails. My good friend Eric at Chainline Cycles has been a huge evangelist for Niner bikes. So when it came time to jump into the world of FS mtn bikes Eric and Niner were the easy choice. I told him I wanted a bike that would be on the cross country side but still fun. He suggested the RKT. I went with the RKT 9 RDO built with a 3-start Shimano XT group. A 120 fork makes a lot of sense where I ride. We joke that the woods around where I ride are the mother of axe head rocks. And it is true. It is a rarity to be riding a trail that does not include bone jarring rocks or roots. I am a bit of a bike snob or diva if you will. My previous 29ers have been custom steel bikes built by one of the best builders in New England. I have always gone with a mix of Shimano XTR/XT and have been on NEXT carbon wheels for about 3 years. I wasn't sure what a stock build like this would be like.

Honestly, I would not change a thing. The XT group is fantastic. The DT wheels have been great. The only thing I changed out where going with Maxxis Forecasters in a 2.3 and using Ergon grips. I will add a dropper post in the near future and have been considering adding a lockout lever for the fork and rear shock. But honestly the build is perfect for the type of riding I do. My first ride on the bike was an eye opener. The one area that blew me away was just how well it handled tight twisty trails at speed. My biggest issue with my hardtail was that my back would kill me after about an hour riding roots. The RKT is literally a rocket when it comes to blasting through rooted turns at speed. I now see why the best cross country racers are on full suspension bikes. I was not only going faster over terrain I have ridden for ten years but it was smoother and wait for it...my back didn't hurt! Why did it take me so long to go full suspension? It has been such fun riding this bike. It is opening up the lines I can ride and making me a much better rider. Another subtle thing I have noticed is I am able to ride skinny planks with confidence. Wood bridges and skinnies are my kryptonite. I literally crash off them all the time. The RKT is so much more stable than my old 29er that I almost don't even think about riding skinnies anymore. I just point and shoot. The bike just tracks so well.

While I bought the bike thinking of racing this summer it is the most fun trail bike I have ever owned.   I keep thinking of rides and races I have done in the past and wished I had ridden or raced them on this bike. Pats Peak and 24 Hours of Great Glen come to mind. This bike would be sick at Great Glen. It climbs so well and just shreds on rocks and downhills. Huge thanks to Eric for setting it up and to Niner for building such a rad bike!

BroYoga

A friend recently commented on one of my Instagram posts "Bro, tips for starting a home practice newb? Who do I watch? Rodney Yee not cutting it...." One, I love that my friend is reaching out about yoga. Two, I love that he is looking to start a home practice in this lockdown. This global pandemic is horrific. But it is making a lot of us pause and find different ways to take care of ourselves. At home yoga is a great way to do that. Yoga can be intimidating for lots of people. Especially guys. I have been lucky. My wife introduced me to yoga 20 years ago in Danville, CA. It was a gift. At the time I wasn't so sure about it. But we did it as a date. Date yoga I called it. She had learned Bikram Yoga at a studio in SF before we had kids. She loved it. When we moved to Danville Pam discovered a completely different style of yoga. The style was Iyengar and was not heated. I have done both heated and non-heated yoga. I like both. For me it is more about the teacher than the style or the studio. My reluctant beginnings with yoga blossomed into a full on love of it. 

I need physical outlet to be sane. When I was young it was hockey, lacrosse and then martial arts. Once I discovered martial arts it was pretty much all over for team sports. I took a deep dive in my teen years and college years. I got a bit obsessed and honestly it was not healthy. When we moved to SF I took a break and discovered cycling. Yoga in California predictably was a bit on the hippy side. I have always liked hippies. Yoga just made me love them more. In Danville I would say I dabbled in yoga. But it was a nice thing to do as a couple. And it certainly helped me through some tough times. Yoga as I was about to find out can help with all the repetitive stress injuries cycling inflicts on us. Who knew cycling is actually bad for our bodies. Let's be honest it is. How many of us have bad backs, wrist pain, neck pain, hip pain. I love cycling but the position and the movement needs balancing. Yoga is perfect for restoring balance.

So fast forward to me and my family moving home to Boston. My wife once again discovered yoga for us. My wife started doing Pilates as a way to help her chronic neck pain. And the pilates studio also had a yoga studio. It was a fantastic community with some truly gifted teachers. I can't count how many times I dragged my broken body into that studio to heal what cycling had done to me. We have been going to Hyp Studio for 14 years. It is truly a place of healing and worship for the two of us. But back to the original question. How do you start a home practice. It is very simple really. All you need is a mat. Honestly you don't even really need a mat. But a mat is nice. And I like a few props. Maybe a block. A candle. To learn yoga I picked up a few books and videos way back. But now with YouTube it is at your fingertips literally. Yoga with Adriene is a wonderful resource. What I love about her videos is that she breaks it down to the basics. They are great for beginners but also awesome for people who have been practicing for a while. And she has a dog...

The other wonderful part of this lockdown and shelter in place is so many Yoga teachers are posting up online videos or streaming classes. Hyp Studio is having regularly scheduled classes which has been an amazing gift. I have stumbled across a few other cool teachers online as well. So to my friends who are thinking of adding in a home practice I applaud you. Find a space you can make your own. No one needs their kids mocking them as they are doing Supta Baddha Konasana. Although it could be fun to drag the whole family into home yoga. I know my family likes yoga. They are a bit reluctant yogis but you throw a goat or two into the mix and they love it. The beauty of yoga is no one is "good" at it. This will be very hard for my cycling friends to process. Everything we do is competitive. No drop group rides just mean another chance to own your best friends and crush their spirits. With yoga it really is a journey. One day you may feel great, others you may feel like trash. But it is the days when you feel like trash that are the most important ones to roll out that mat.

So here is the deal. I am not a yoga expert. I need yoga regularly or my body hates me. Hit me with your yoga questions. I hope this at least gives you a launch off. Check out the resources I spoke about. Then just show up. One of my favorite teachers has a saying. He likes to break it down to the 4 Ps. Four positions to him are critical in a practice: Pidgeon, Pyramid, Plow and Plank. That sounds like a solid practice. I personally would throw in Downdog, Childs pose and some type of meditation.  Light a candle. Put some crystals out. Good luck and let me know how it goes. Namaste

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...

Dirt Church

Dirt Church has always been my house of worship. As long as I can remember the outside has been my salvation. Whether it was just woods, the ocean, mountains or a river. Outside is where I feel ok. We all have our demons and crosses to bear. Cyclists (bikers in my lexicon) are a funny group. We are social creatures but need our solitude. We seem to struggle more than your average civilian for some reason. My circle of friends certainly struggles. Whether we were drawn to cycling and the outdoors as a way to cope with our demons or to find escape from them isn't clear. For me the outside has been integral to my mental health. I am a better person if I have been outside. The woods of late are my altar and my therapist. And as much as I love riding with friends and groups I need to ride solo. Solo soul rides just make me feel alive. 

Dirt Church right now is crowded! This global pandemic and shut down of schools, gyms, spin studios, yoga classes and playgrounds has sent a horde of people into the woods. At first I was like oh this is a nice side effect of this pandemic. I hoped and hope that as people discover the power of the outside they will respect it more. And maybe value it more. As bikers we have always been oddball patrons of the outside. Perhaps as the red-headed step child of the outdoors we have always had to work harder. In lots of parts of the country cyclists aren't really welcome on trails. We have had to fight for access for a long time. Because of that I think we in general are always more respectful of other trail users and the trails themselves. I mean think of how many dog poop bags you see at every trailhead. Can you imagine if cyclists did something like that?

But I am getting off track. I guess my point is it is hard to attend Dirt Church right now. The trails are packed. People are acting like this pandemic is a snow day. At least in my neck of the woods they are. It is hard to socially distance yourself on a Singletrack when swarms of people are walking by. It is great that people are going to the woods and trails to unwind and get a break from all the horrible news and anxiety. Again, we as cyclists have been doing this for years. And as much as it annoys me to see all these people when I am seeking solitude I get it. And as much as I fear them being in such large groups and possibly exposing themselves to a virus I do get why they are doing what they are doing. I am trying to be kind and understanding. When I see a big group I either go on another trail or stop and pull off the trail and ask them to come through. More than one person has responded warmly to this kindness.

It is weird being on a bike out there right now. The drivers seem more aggressive even though there are so many less cars on the road right now. What does that tell us about traffic? It tells us so much of this traffic and congestion is not necessary. We have become some complacent on this success habitrail. We are like rats in a cage. Not to sound like Bodi but it is true. We work 90 hours a week to afford a life we can barely afford and barely enjoy. This generation is more stressed and more unhappy than any before it. And there a myriad of reasons for it. But what Dirt Church can teach us is if you slow down and just take time to be in the woods you can choose kindness over fear. I won't lie I have a lot of fear. This pandemic is no joke. Denying it won't save us. Being smart will. I know we will survive this and come out better people. I am trying every day to find more hope than fear. And to choose love over fear. So many of us have found each other through Dirt Church and the bike. I played a fun game with 3 of my closest friends the other day. We tried to remember where and when we first met. In all three cases it was some crazy bad idea ride. I for one can't wait to be able to do a bad idea ride with my good friends. It will be like that first Ronde de Rosey. And we will end at a dive bar and have the best burger in our lives....be safe my friends.