Ah November

November is the time to start to delve into projects. SBC is organizing and cleaning up their attic. There are a lot of old bikes, misc parts and one of a kind items up there. I'm sure every old/new bike shop has the same thing going on. Its really fun to see what was top of the line at the time and what was cool then , that isn't now. Then there are those timeless items that are always cool.


I went up to the icebox to hang out and work on some projects. It coincided with a sweet winter storm. I skied from the house, doing some flat tracking. I purposely avoided WhiteGrass(love you though, chippy) to stay away from hills because of my leg. I love Nordic skiing. I think flat skiing is perfectly reasonable with the current state of my leg, but it has caused friction between Tim and me, so I'm using restraint. Ruby adores the snow, too.

I found some bottles of wine in my basement. The one with the flowers is an 02 Odgen Cab from Duncan Meyer's label. The Stumpjumper is from the Off Road to Athens crew, Ken and Jason. And the last is Melomel. This is my favorite mead of all time made by Hungarian Frank. The winery is no longer in existence so I don't know whether to drink it or save it.

14 Annual Six Pack Invitational Downhill

And the Big Winner is ...Tim Richardson. As Carpong so subtly pointed out at the top of the downhill right before his run, 'you been goin' to the well for 14 years and haven't drank a drop'. Tim is great athlete, a humble winner and knows what he likes in his suspension set-up.

Aimee won the Lladies after 10 years. She partied like a champ, too. There were only five, come on ladies, what's up?

Tomi is the big winner at the universal fixed gear championships. He rides his bike like its an intimate stranger...right, Tomi?

When I first broke my leg, the invitational was a goal. I figured that I would be riding trails after four months. Well, I'm not. Not yet. I can't run yet, so I figure I shouldn't trail ride. But, basically its my call at this point. I don't see the doctor for another month and I haven't been to PT for a while. I still have a little limp and protect it a lot. But all in all its doing great.

Maybe a little ski up at White Grass tomorrow would be fantastic.

Blue Sky

I can see clearly now the rain is gone.

Only a few people knew about my legal action against USAC. I didn't want to advertise it because it was a really delicate matter. Also, I had always hoped that it could be resolved without going to trial. It is a terribly difficult decision to sue someone. Its really serious and not fun at all. I would never have done it unless it was very important to me and to the athletes that follow. I don't feel like congratulations are in order for me. Its not really a happy thing. Revenge was not my motive.

But, I do feel some sense of satisfaction and of course a huge weight on my shoulders has been off loaded.

What an intense year this has been.

I like riding my bike. Its a beautiful thing.