10 Reasons Why This Fall Has Flown By
1. I built a garage. Using past tense is a stretch here because it’s not exactly “done” yet but at least it’s a glorified shed with a sweet paint job and lights that (mostly) work. My Dad came out for a while and we puttered away on the details, letting the professionals handle some of the major things, like Framing and Roof. Eric Meglassen from Pique Architecture did a good job with design and sub-contractor wrangling as well… It was nice to wake up in the morning and roll out back with Harvey to solve problems and make progress. That said, it will also be nice to no longer be working construction from dawn till dusk…
2. Houseguests. Dad opened and Mom closed a solid month of visitors to Portland Avenue. It’s great to have time in the fall to catch up with folks from out of town and show them a good time in Bend. Easy crowd to please and good catalyst to do the things you don’t normally do at home. Like go to the dirt jumps, or the Symphony.
3. No Cyclocross. Other than a hilarious Halloween weekend in Bend. As much as I’ve always struggled to accept cyclist’s claims of being “burnt out” at the end of a season, I was pretty over toeing the line after a challenging summer. Thus, it was nice to catch up on life this fall, stoking the fire for next year.
4. We did a rally race. We won. It was awesome. Decker/Craig and the Wheels of Teal are now stage record holders on 17 Road and Fir Mountain, two classic stages of the Mount Hood Rally. That’s effing TEAMWORK!
5. Um, the GRAND CANYON! Yup, took two weeks and floated down the Colorado River for 280 miles of spectacular scenery, hiking, camping and general pleasant existence. Perfect weather, a great group of old and new friends and high water made this sort of an amazing trip. Thanks for the invite, Lana, glad I ran into you and made it happen. Some solid introspection has time to happen whilst floating between towering sandstone walls and looking at the stars from your bivvy sack.
6. Bike Testing. We’re working on some pretty sweet new stuff over here at Giant Bicycles. 2012 was the year of the road bike and I can assure you that 2013 will be the year of the MTB. Sounds like a good year to me…
7. Cinematography. On the topic of bike testing, Clay Porter came up to Bend with a proper film crew to make a short showcasing the fruits of our labor. $200,000 worth of camera equipment and a hilarious Irishmen combined to produce some serious dust busting footage. Stay tuned…
8. Europe without a bike. My fantasy of traveling to Europe and not racing was fulfilled for Rabobank Team Presentation in Holland. This left time for a couple evenings checking out downtown Amsterdam around the team event at Rabo Intergalactic HQ before popping down to the Alps for a short, solo ski holiday. Which worked out so, so amazingly well. Fresh show just in time, friends of friends introducing me to ever more great people in Verbier and Chamonix and a surprise MTB ride in the valley with the folks from Bike Verbier. I might retire and become a guide on their lifetime supply of singletrack…
9. Planning. 2012 is shaping up to be a great year. I’m going somewhere warm for the bulk of the winter to train my face off, hopefully without crashing it off following Ross Schnell (preferred shred buddy) around Sedona, AZ’s fabled trails. Then nine weeks across the pond will be spruced up with the Cape Epic in South Africa after World Cup #1 and enhanced by the last seven taking place at some TBD sweet location for the remainder of European Springtime (Verbier? Fribourg?). At the conclusion of World Cup #4 in late May I’ll know if I’ve earned my spot on the US Olympic Team for London and can commence preparing to ride like myself at The Games. Either way, the season will wind down at Trans-Provence, with a week of racing through Southern France from Gap to Monaco, but only on the downhills, it might just be the best event I’ll ever do…
10. Motivation. Not racing or being involved in competition for the last few months has refreshed my brain and body, and let me catch up on all the other things in life enough to be stoked to step off the plane in Redmond this evening and get down to business. This is about six weeks before I normally start and should pay dividends considering the schedule. It’s going to be so sweet to be super fast all season! Between getting off the plane and a sweet bike ride tomorrow there will have to be a stop at Deschutes for a local’s burger though. With salad and gluten-free bun of course…
I hope this finds everyone having a happy holiday season. Whether staying home and relaxing like I am or traveling to Sri Lanka to re-uinte with long lost relatives…
