Continuing on with Part III of the Rearview for 2009...........
July/August/September: July started out pretty mellow with the last plans for the GTDRI and figuring out whether T.I. should move its date or not. (It stayed the same by popular vote). The the GTDRI in the middle of the month came on a very cool, (by July standards), weekend and was a brutal, fun, epic event. Topped off by what might be the most intense weekend of cycling at the end of the month with the Second Fargo Adventure Ride/Rock Lake Trail ride weekend. Intense, but totally awesome! By the end of July I was being told I had taken another step up in terms of riding and fitness. Good to hear! All the riding was paying dividends, and so far 2009 was a high point in my cycling life, and it wasn't over yet!
Well, the dog days of August came and things did back off a bit. Much news of 2010 stuff was coming and test riding for Twenty Nine Inches was going along as usual. Behind the scenes I was prepping for Interbike for the first time as the "leader of the band" instead of the "hired gun" that I was just a few years earlier. Different feelings for sure! Also, I got invited to the Fisher Bikes Press Camp in Park City, Utah. I was floored!
The end of August brought up a competitive event in the Good Life Gravel Adventure. I was scheduled to stay in the D Street Hotel, and the next day I was slated to go check out the site of the Big Wheeled Ballyhoo at Potter's Pasture in Nebraska. Big weekend! So big that I only got about three hours of shut eye going into a 140 mile gravel grinder. Well, you know- that caught up to me in a big, big way on the ride. I was falling asleep on my bike!! I had heard of that before from Jeff Kerkove and his experiences at 24 hour events, but I didn't quite believe it really could happen. I'm here to tell ya. YES. It can happen!
Then to top that all off, MG and I, (MG comes up an awful lot in this tale of 2009, did ya notice that? In a good way, mind you.), well we took off for Brady, Nebraska and more specifically, Potter's Pasture that very night after the GLGA. Good thing Corey "Cornbread" Godfrey gifted us that case of Red Bull Cola. Man! Crack cocaine in a can! That stuff roolz! Anyway........we got there, how I can't quite recall!
The Potter's Crew was awesome, the trails were surreal, and the time spent there way, way too short. Then I had to travel all day and into the night to get home. What a wild, great weekend.
So after that it was a short ten days to fly out to Utah and partake of some fine Fisher 29"ers, meet some outstanding racers, company wonks, and media peeps, and suffer in the thin mountain air. Yeah, I got my reality check in terms of fitness when I went there! I was hangin' on to the back for dear life. So much for "taking the next step" in my fitness and riding skills! Oh well! It was fun none the less, if not a wee bit humbling.
Then right back at it to Nevada and Interbike. This time I kept it to three days and out, which worked great from a work standpoint, although socially it was pretty devastating. No nights on the town for me! No free beer at the end of show days. No schwag bags. But staying in Vegas any longer than three days isn't very appealing to me. Not at all! Maybe its just me, but it is a soul-sucking joint as far as I'm concerned. After a bit of a scare with the aircraft coming out of Chi-town, I made it home.
That closed out September and next post I'll detail out the end of a pretty amazing year.
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