I just posted this for Osprey. It’s all true and going to be a long couple of weeks.
Long weeks and even longer weekends; that’s how it’s going to be for the near future as I race and travel. Last week was the start of a super crazy month that had me all over Seattle and down to Oregon for work/fun/suffering. My bike sponsor, Baron Bicycles, was invited to participate in the Rapha Gentleman’s Race from the Pacific to Portland and Geoff picked me to be on the team. I can only say that it was miraculous that we all made it to Portland after 138 miles and a lot of pain. If you want to read more about that you can check out a great post about the race on Bike Hugger or read the Rapha report when it comes out. Oh yeah, go to the coast in Oregon for a good long ride because it’s beautiful and the dirt road riding will blow your mind.
Driving down and back in 48 hours with a long ride in the middle doesn’t make for great legs the next day but I still made it out the start of the MFG Cyclocross series in Kirkland to set up the course and race. I ended up 11th in the B’s which isn’t bad considering I bonked so hard the day before that I couldn’t feel my face (no really I couldn’t and I was going downhill so slow my team thought they had lost me). We had a great day supporting the new series and our team had some great showings as well. Next week brings the big tim racers to Seattle for the Starcrossed race. The purse is big enough that there have been several appearances by Euro-pro riders chasing UCI points. The next day we race in Tacoma on a course that features a run up that everyone hates but still races because we love the venue. These two races always get me stoked to ride because of the level of competition. We get domestic racers in the B’s from as far away as Montana because they can race two hard races in one weekend.
As soon as I am home on Sunday night I get to start packing for Interbike. For those of you in the know you will not envy me the trip to Las Vegas except for the fact that I get to hang out with some pretty interesting characters: that means you guys Osprey Brand Team. Starting Tuesday I get to be in meetings all day followed by “evening activities” (my boss’s term for drinking too much) followed by more meetings, a cross race, a late night party, another day of meetings, and an Alley Cat Thursday night before a 6 am flight home to open the shop by noon! Through out the week we have to make some important decisions about how our shop is going to position itself in the crowded sea of outdoor and bicycle retail so that we can grow. Not much fun combined with too much fun! I just have to remember to watch myself so that I don’t end up on some website as a casualty of Interbike.
After I get home its off to the races again. We have enough races in the Northwest this year that most of us are counting on racing at least fifteen Cyclocross races as well as the National Championships in Bend, OR. That means I have my life planned out through the second week in December; no wait then there is Randonee season, which means until next April, but the 24-hour race is Memorial Day so….
