Thankful

A man of God was robbed of his money, what he had of it, and afterwards was reflecting on the experience. He was thankful of four things:

- That while all the money was stolen, he had little to lose.

- That it was him that was robbed, not someone else.

- That only his money was taken, not his life.

- That he was the one being robbed, rather than the one doing the robbing.


Food for thought on being thankful in trying times.

Mt Wilson Bicycling Association Pancake Breakfast

It had been, what...20 years since I had been to a MWBA benefit pancake thing. You used to have to ride up the Mt Wilson Toll Rd to Henniger flats to get the flapjacks and try to win some schwag in the awesome raffle. Now, it is a little closer to the city, but there was a ride beforehand to get ya ready to eat.

The MWBA has credentials, being one of, if not THE first mtn bike advocacy/trail building group in the LA area. If you have ridden a trail in the front range of the San Gabriels, especially in the Altadena, Pasadena area, you have them to thank. The Pasadena Mountain Bike Club has stepped in and helped organize things.

If you are in the LA area, check out what they are doing for continued access to public lands.

And now, a few pics.

Gary Fisher was there and was riding a very large Superfly 29er.




The guy (Murphy, I think) sittin' next to Gary owned this beaut.





Then there were all kinds of things to see. Even unicycles made the event.




There were some games like a frame toss for prizes, bike limbo, etc. My son hucks the huffy.



The raffle was huge and I won nothing. Rats! I could have used those King hubs or headset. Next year for sure.

Saturday ride report: 04/26/08

Ahh. One of my all time favorite rides in the Saugus backcountry of the Angeles National Forest. The Maxwell Mtwy up to Sawmill Mtn.

Needed a bit of saddle time climbing. 10 miles of up and 3100 feet of elevation gain. 20 miles. Not bad.



Pretty, too. I was experimenting with my wife's camera so I played around with the macro and panorama settings. Lot's o' flowers, great views.











I found a nice, shady spot for lunch at the top. Huge nap-time potential here. Still some Miners' Lettuce under the shade of some biiig pines. Check out the acorn stash in this one grandpa tree. Some critters have been real busy. It was like this from top to bottom.






Good day on the bike. Beautiful to be alive and pedaling. God is good.

The Racing Cycle

I remember when an MTB race was so grassroots, they did not even hand out race numbers, have EMS standing by, or have the attorneys of everyone involved on speed dial. Reseda to the Sea comes to mind.

Those were the days.

Then it got big. Money, sponsors, Pros, sanctioning bodies, huge venues. I remember the first Yeti box van. THAT was amazing at the time. Eventually it seemed to get too costly, too serious, too market driven, too, well, just too. XC racing never really interested me much. I liked big, exploration rides the best. 4 loops around the ski resort at Big Bear for 50 bucks? No way. How about a 30 mile loop in the backcountry? Race ya there. Cuz even if I lose, I will have a great time.

Eventually, XC racing (classic NORBA stuff, I mean) all seemed to bust in a balloon of self importance, drama, budget issues, and dis-interest, or that is the way I saw it.

SO now it is endurance racing that has me interested. I am no threat to the leaders, I assure you. I like the idea of the challenge of covering a lot of ground, being pretty self sufficient, etc. And, it seems to be pretty grassroots.

A recent thread in a popular MTB site has me wondering, though. I hope that the endurance racing scene does not follow the path of the XC races. The 12 and 24 hour stuff, the 50s and 100s, the festival atmosphere, the family involvement, all harkens to the roots of the bike VS. the mountain. It is great if guys and gals can make a living at what they are good at, hate to take that away, but I hope it stays kinda fun and innocent with fewer box vans full of parts and factory mechanics and more Honda Elements full of spouses and kids cheering dad on (or mom, as the case may be).

Heck, I will never be the focus of controversy cuz I will never win anything and no one will notice me or protest me and what happens behind the scenes at the podium matters not to my ride.

Still,...

Maybe the future is the way it used to be way back when. A few phone calls, a start time, a map, a finish line somewhere and cheers/beers for the participants.