Cross, Then A Day With The Kids

I rummaged through my bike stuff, shuffled pedals around, did a minimalist operational check of my "new to me" cross bike, slapped the old Ford on the hind-quarter and headed for Ogden. On a normal race-day I would have been way too late to get in a pre-ride, but since Ohran had apparently spent the night binge drinking the course was still being laid out at 9:15 for the 9:30 start. And it wasn't finished when Ryan and I rode it. Upon returning to the start, Ryan's tires both blew. 12 goathead thorns and no spare tires. In my haste, I hadn't grabbed any extra tubes and even though he had friends offer to loan him some "B" wheels, incompatible drivetrains gave him a DNS. So, I beat him.

Weber Fairgrounds is a fun, if simple course. No run-ups, and only one log barrier that couldn't be ridden over. A fairly long paved section that was my only saving grace. I passed a couple people on it and gapped a guy on a mountain bike that was nipping at my heels the whole race. Still finished far back in the pack, but I'm glad I went.

"I.......need........a........doughnut!"

My Dad frequently asks why I do races that I can't win. I don't really have an answer for that. If you can't see the joy in pushing yourself either too the brink of puking, or occasionally to the actual point of puking, on a crisp autumn morning with 40+ other guys in the mud, and the blood, and the muck. With hundreds of people you don't know, cheering from the sidelines while ringing cowbells, and sipping coffee and hot chocolate. There is no way I can explain it to you in terms that you'll understand.

I rushed home and started gathering things together for IMBA's "Take A Kid Mountain Biking Day" The idea was to get a bunch of kids up to Lambert Park on their bikes with their parents and other people who enjoy mountain biking and try to pass that along to the next generation. The cooler weather had some effect on turnout, at least that's what I figure since I had a lot of emails from people who said they were coming and then didn't. But thanks to IMBA we had some stickers, number plates for kids bikes, and kids Clif Bars. The Kids Clif Bars, for the record, are better than the adult Clif Bars.

The shop had cleared off the Kids cycling apparel rack and pitched in some water bottles, and a gift certificate for the raffle. By my count there were about a dozen kids(counting kids in diapers who didn't do much riding). The Goathead thorn rose it's ugly head again at Lambert park and anybody without slime in their tires didn't get very far.It was a fun day. My son Gavin had his first exposure to singletrack. Which was pretty daunting for him at first. There were some tears shed, and a lot of walking. But by the bottom of Rodeo he seemed to be getting the hang of it.

The Weber family had the strongest showing of riding kids. Jake's nine year old, who is a veteran of the BPW Race Series, spanked my nine-year old son and ten year old nephew. And all the way down to his 20 month old J.D. who pushed his strider along in the dirt for awhile.

Justin Nelson brought his boys for their first ride on dirt, and they both walked away with some new bike shorts. Perfect for a 50 degree day.

Paul Zimm-the-Man and Eric Somer both showed up a little late with their teenage daughters which was cool. Paul's daughter made her first successful descent of Rodeo and I believe she did so without any tears. Unfortunately Eric's daughter left a little bit of herself on the trail with a good digger at the top of Middle trail.

For the most part, nobody was any worse for wear, and pizza helped to calm the nerves of all involved , thanks to everyone who came and the shop for pitching in with some schwag.