Nick-A-Palooza

Seven months ago we got the terrible news that 10 year old Nicholas had been diagnosed with brain cancer. Dave (Nick's dad) is a good friend and neighbor and long-time member of our mo7s cycling family.

Well, I am THRILLED TO REPORT that Nick came home for good yesterday having completed surgery, radiation therapy, and four rounds of chemo.

In true Lyndenwood fashion he was greeted by MUCH fanfare - a parade down Kaiser drive which included a firetruck, a 15' Nick-A-Palooza banner, two marching bands (middle schoolers and high schoolers), a handful of tricked-out lawn tractors/ATVs/cars, unicycles, baton twirlers, and about 150 friends and well-wishers on foot - and ended with a nice welcome back ceremony, a kids dream-feast of all you can eat hot dogs, cookies, candy, and lemonade, followed by hours of games, laughter, and quality time with friends.

Oh, and the adults had a good time as well.

This neighborhood has thrown quite a few block parties over the last decade, but the unanimous feedback from the kids (probably 75 of them) was that this was the best Lyndenwood blockparty ever and we should not be surprised because it was fueled by love and admiration for a spirited and inspiring 10 year old friend and neighbor who is HOME FOR GOOD and looking forward to a summer full of family, friends, fun and the freedom to FOCUS ON BEING A 10 YEAR OLD AGAIN!

Google Saddles Up

Google Street View has gone off-road and is mapping bike trails, presumably with some sort of cool looking Google tricycle festooned with hi-res panoramic cameras and GPS. They started with a bike trail in Monterey. Can the Sole Trail be far behind?

The REAL Elite Riders

We got a big dose of elite cycling today, and the 25th Annual TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship wasn't bad either. Team Columbia Highroad won the men's race and Floyd Landis successfully tested out

his new hip and his clean living (actually I choose to believe he is an innocent victim of an event that ran off the tracks but I have no useful facts either way). Anyway the REAL elite performers were our kids - Sara, Becca, and Luke - who rode their mountain bikes 15 miles to Manayunk to watch the first few laps of this year's race (that's 30 miles round trip). And if that's not enough, we had to drag them out of bed, early on a Sunday morning, to pull this off (ever trying waking up a 12year old at 5:45am on a Sunday to go biking?)

Highlights:

• Riding with the kids up the infamous Manayunk Wall before the race. That's a 17 degree grade, very wall-like.
• Riding with the kids back down the wall, brakes fading, realizing that if your kid relaxes on the brakes they will accelerate from 5mph to about 60mph in like 2 seconds.
• Men's breakaway. We were situated midway through the 1st lap at the turn into "the wall" and for the first lap were treated to a solo breakaway who had a solid 3 minute lead. Based on TV coverage this evening he subsequently blew up, but he looked damn good streaking thru Manayunk on lap #1.
• The women spotted the men 10 minutes at the start and then passed them midway through the men's race. Granted they only had to do 50mi vs the men's 150, but 10 minutes? Good lesson for Sara and Becca, and for Luke too.

On the way home there was some talk of trying some "real" road riding (i.e., with a road bike). We'll see. Five years ago I told myself I had bought my last mountain bike, and 3 bikes later I am having difficulty justifying "just one more" but the Marshman Triathlon is this fall and...

Chris

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a bicycle, must be in want of another one."

-- anonymous

Irons In the Fire

I am travelling next week so I thought I'd put a couple of irons in the fire to ensure the week is not a total loss:

Night Ride - Riley and I were discussing the idea of a weeknite night ride at White Clay. If your gut reaction to the idea of mountain biking at night is "no thanks" then I encourage you to read this short article entitled "how night-riding is like hotel sex." It seems pretty accurate from my experience (and is entertaining to boot). We do have some loaner lights available - a good set costs about the same as a good hotel room (funny coincidence) so you may want to try some out before buying.

Philly Bike Race - The biggest single day professional bike race in the US, the Philly Bike Race will be next Sunday (June 7th). The men's race is 10 laps between the Art Museum and the Manayunk wall. A few of us are making it a family event and riding with the kids to Manayunk to watch. This is an awesome kid-friendly sports spectacle and very cool bike scene. If you get there early, you can see the first few laps, grab a sandwhich, and be home in time to watch the finish from your air conditioned living room (we did this last year and it was pretty hot).

That's all I have for now. Time to saddle up and try to burn off a mild hangover...

Chris

More Fun Than a College Freshman

I took my 18 year old nephew out for his first mountain bike ride this weekend. He made a good showing for himself, especially considering he hadn't ridden a bike in over 3 years. He took the customary trip over the handlebars on the Lakeside Trail and made the obligatory "this is a pretty good workout" comment as we crossed the dam. I think he finished with a new respect for his geezer uncle and appreciation that you don't have to be a college freshman to have a really great time (although based on his Facebook page, it really helps).

Monday morphed into a local ride, solo or so I thought until I hooked up with a friend at the boat landing. We proceeded to TEAR UP the west side of the lake at a pretty good pace (for me, anyway). It was a really sweet ride, I was outside of my comfort zone, and my 29er felt just awesome. Really, it did.

I have a great quote to wrap up this blog entry. It's one I've been saving for a while and it sums up the feeling I had for maybe 45 minutes today. One of my goals for this summer is to get to that "place" more often, and to stay there as long as I possibly can...

Chris

"It's freeing, the sense of detached awareness found only on the best mountain bike rides. I'm no longer me. I'm a rolling ball of intent. Ride over that rock. Go wide on the curve. It's hard but there's no place I'd rather be. There's no place but here. No time but now."

- Don Cuerdon

West Side Story

I have been pounding the heck out of the east side of Marsh Creek Lake lately (Lakeside, Sole, and Bonus loop trails). Why? Because they're awesome and the Lakeside trail (a masterpiece in my opinion) makes it so much fun just getting to the Sole Trail and Bonus Loop. Oh, and the sun rises over the lake just as I arrive at the Lakeside trail. It's magical.

But today I thought I'd spin around the west side for a change and wow, what a pleasant surprise! I had forgotten the many sweet trails on that side. In an hour of riding I managed to hit the Eddie Trail (see picture), Sidewinder (down), Quarry Climb (up), Entrail (both ways), the Babyheads, and the Rocky Climb (up, up, up). And there are still a myraid of trails I didn't hit like the Bobsled Run, O-Positive, and the maze of trails that drop from the ridge down to the Brandywine creek.

We'll be back at it in 10 hours (6:00am morning ride is queued up).

Chris

P.S. I have a friend who hasn't been riding in quite a while. He was a pretty avid biker (night rides, winter rides, etc). I bugged him recently about getting back into the flow with the morning rides. He said that he "doesn't set alarms for exercise." Me either. I'm worried he may be heading down a slippery slope. Please keep him in your thoughts.

A Better Way

Here are some more morning ride pictures for your viewing pleasure. I will happily share these pictures all summer long because frankly I can't think of a better way to start the day. Actually, I can think of one and if that's the reason you missed the last five morning rides then congratulations, keep up the good work. But if not, and the result of my picture taking penchant is you looking at a bunch of cool pictures with your morning coffee then I think you are missing the point (or maybe I need to take better pictures).

Anyway I am curious where we stand on this:

1) If I took better pictures then you would be on board 200%

2) Need an earlier start and return (this is doable).

3) You found the only better way to spend the morning, every morning (congratulations)

4) You are happy to live your life vicariously, keep the pictures coming

5) None of the above (please elaborate)

Don't be shy. Let's hear it.

Chris