Summer 2010 Recap

Contrary to the post activity, it has been a pretty eventful summer.

A few highlights:

Wendell NEMBA MBAS the first week of July was a spectacular event on a spectacular day. Over 100 riders come out to sample our trails in this secluded, yet easy to reach park on the eastern ridge of the Connecticut River valley. I laid out loops for Beginners (well not really, over 1500' of climbing in about 7 miles), intermediates and experts that I expected would take each group a bit over 2 hours. Success on all counts if folks found and followed all the arrows. There were a few issues here and there on that count.

USA Cycling Nationals Granby CO
I took the kids and a few friends out to Granby, mostly so Matt could race, but Jeff and I entered the Sport class and did OK. Jeff flatted, couldn't get his pump to get any air into the rental bike's Schrader Tube, and rode the flat for a lap and a quarter. I finished a few minutes behind the guy in front of me feeling very much out of my Oxygen saturated element. Still had the best Sport time of any New England Rider, though I was DFL in my age bracket.

All the kids had a great time in Colorado, and it was a good way to get over the recent tragic deaths of my two labs.

Hop Brook Dam
The first Mass Race that I entered on the Zaskar this year, the course is bony, rooty and badly overridden by both Mountain Bikes and Motos. Even so, though it puts the hurt on the body, I rode OK finishing 4th in the class and taking runner-up in the Mass State Championships (In state riders only). The carbon hardtail served up the trails pretty will that day, though my body could have used a bit more cushion than was available.

Millstone Grind
I had a great time at this course, really enjoying the trails and having a pretty good ride. I was riding the On-One with the Hammerschmidt for this race and unfortunately the chain kept derailling inside the chain-guide. When I got home and pulled it apart, I found crap compacted under the chain all the way around that was keeping it from seating on the chainring. That added friction had to have accounted for the 8th of 12 in my class finish.

New Bike
Built up a Jet-9 with most of the parts off the Rush. One good ride so far, I'll hope to keep up more often.