NEMBA Racing Meet & Greet

Team Meet and Greet rides are great for blogging.  Lots of people taking staged pics all day.  In a few moments I am going to bombard you with sweet pics of me on a bike.  You're welcome.

They are also a great way to kick off the season.  This was my first day on dirt and I was a little worried I was gonna be a bit too rusty to be in a long 'spirited' pace line.  Luckily the trails at Russell Mill are a perfect mix of buff/fast with tech sprinkled in here and there for good measure.  I was able to get my bearings a bit in the pump track and on some of the early fast stuff and only had a few issues here and there with line choice etc.

The new wheels are great so far.  I can really feel the drop in weight and having 10 less psi is pretty nice.  Just that extra bit of 'suspension' that I needed for me to keep my speed up in the rough stuff.  I think it could be just what I need to be up with the big boys on some of the courses this year.  I guess time will tell.  Pace never got too crazy but the legs felt good and I felt much more home on the bike than I thought I would in late March.  We've got a great group this year and I can't wait to get things kicked off next month at SS-a-palooza.

I also got a bit more acquainted with my new whip, the Fit.  We're gonna get along just fine I think.  I put it to task with a trip to the dump prior to heading down to MA to ride so it was loaded up with both cycling and REcycling gear.  I still have to figure out some efficiencies about loading and unloading, it took me a second to get it to all work but once I get a process down it's gonna be nice.

And now to please enjoi the SHRED.

I tried getting tricky to embed PK's photos here but for some reason blogger was upset with the URL's his site uses so just follow these old school links.  You may or may not get Rick Roll'd.

http://singlespeedphoto.com/p615027954/e379cf046
http://singlespeedphoto.com/p615027954/ed2ec7f
http://singlespeedphoto.com/p615027954/ecdda9c6
http://singlespeedphoto.com/p615027954/e742bc5b
http://singlespeedphoto.com/p615027954/e2b3b0869

One Word. ILLUSTRIOUS.

 It is with a heavy heart that I report the eventual passing on of the Echo.  It has reached a point in it's existence where its prolonged life will only cause it and me grief and I have decided to actively start the replacement process.

Illustrious is defined as: "Well known, respected, and admired for past achievements"

I can't think of any other word to better summarize the Echo's career.  While many liked to poke fun at my car (including me) it never let me down.  I have driven this car for 7 years and never once has it left me broken down and stranded or in a snow bank.  We were a good team, very frequently inducing head scratching and questions like "how did you jam all that shit in there?!" or "how the hell did you make it here in this weather?!" or "why are you going so slow up this hill?!"

It has been a steadfast companion and strangely enough I think I'm going to miss it a lot.  These last few weeks the Echo has burned bright but ultimately too hot.  I fear that its demise at this time is most assuredly due directly to what I have put it through lately but I am glad that some of my final memories with the Echo will be 4hrs of white knuckle driving trying to get to Sugarbush for a powder day.  Passing stuck SUV's and Pickups along the way.  It's time to put that 4 banger to rest, you've earned it.

Play this.

Then look at these.

 

Thanks for always delivering me to awesome.  You'll be sorely missed.

Post Powder

Winter continues its late push (although as I write this its doing a short 180 and pouring rain), PSU was closed Thurs due to a nice little storm that dumped probably an easy foot at the house, unfortunately a bit less up north in the Whites but I'll take it.

It was snowing hard just about all day Thurs and it was all the Echo could do just to get Gina to work let alone Cannon.  As it was I had to get out and push a bit while Gina drove to get over a little hill back by the house and then once we finally got to the shelter I decided I was going to volunteer for a half day so we only had to make the drive twice.  So I hung out with a bunch of dogs all day (whats up Maverick, Dillon, Sorbet, Clover, Sammi, Derby, Vanessa...).  With the impending thaw on the horizon I figured I had to put in for Friday off to try and at least get seconds and hope that there were a few lines people skipped Thurs.

Per usual skiing is always the right call.  Lucked out and bumped into Jim in the lodge and Joel and Craig second chair and we got to business as a foursome.  It reminded me very much of the last few years when days like this were the norm.  Every weekend just show up run into the regular crew and get straight to business, didn't matter where you went it was all good.  We aren't quite at that point even now in March, I still managed to brutalize my skis a bit but I've got no other choice, what am I gonna do? Just stay on Gremlin the whole season?

There were indeed at least a few lines, often skipped or missed by the masses, that were still pretty good.  My go to, Candyland, was great although still a bit thwacky.  We traversed over to lower Gunsight from Kinsman and it was in surprisingly good shape.  Part of me thought that was a death mission but it ended up being ok.  The foursome started to diminish in the afternoon so I spent some time messing with the GoPro and mounting it different ways to see what I could get.  Some of it was interesting at least for little segway shots...I think the edit came together pretty well.  Although I learned a lesson about Vimeo uploading, should have waited until tomorrow to upload it because my free account can only upload one HD video a week.  If I had waited until tomorrow I would have been fine but now it is crappy quality.  Maybe I can update it later or something, I'll have to look into that.  Until then, ENJOI.