Goodbye To All That

Morning weigh-in: 179.5%, 9.5% BF

Well the 20th and final Jim Thorpe Mountain Bike Weekend has come and gone. It was one of the better ones too, even though I didn't ride as much as in other years...

I took off Friday and went up, getting there around 1:30-2:00, did a minimal setup and hit the trails with Rich B, Shaft and a guy named Drew -- Rich had gone up earlier, and managed to upgrade our campsite to one of the regular spots, next to others (like Drew and Shaft) in the VMB. Meantime, a bunch of Dirt Devils -- a VMB splinter group -- were camped next to them on the other side, so there were a bunch of us all together. In our campsite were myself and Rich, Pete H who came up later, and -- Joe G, who had set up his camp but was at a memorial for his dad.

Anyway, we rode Psycho Betty & Mauch Chunk Ridge to Bob's Option, and got back in time to catch the Jeff Lenosky trials/stunt riding demo. Back to the campsite, and Joe shows up & asks if we'd like to ride with Jeff, do about an hour ride to show him around, so we hit Lungbuster / Green Blaze / Marble Trail. Not bad, and it was fun to watch somebody really good ride the technical stuff. Friday night was pretty mellow, hanging out by the campfire.

Saturday was myself, Rich and Pete; we did two laps of the race course at Bungalow Park, which is a lot like riding a roller-coaster. That was only only miles or so though, much shorter than the Saturday epics of previous years... We stopped for lunch in Tamaqua, said goodbye to Rich who was leaving for a Canada fishing trip.

After the ride I stopped by the expo area, bought a set of Kenda tires (Kinetics for the front & Nevegal for the rear, the new buzz product), then got a massage. Saturday night was the dance party and raffle on the beach -- and I won a set of Bontrager wheels, a $300 dollar value. Pretty cool! That made up -- almost -- for the fact that I went to bed early, and missed the dozen girls riding naked through the camp...

On Sunday morning Pete and I rode to Summit Hill for the church breakfast, all you can eat and I sure did my best, then we rode the Pisgah Mtn singletrack (ie that unnamed trail behind the cemetery, the Ridge trail, and the Green Blaze). Coupla lost groups up there, kind of cool to be the "expert" who could tell them how to get back to camp. We finished on the Switchback, and then the party was over, pack & go. I was home by about 4:00.

Word on the street is, the town of Tamaqua is looking to host MBW next year, though Dave B has retired and will not be the organizer, and Mauch Chunk Lake Park will be hosting their own event in September -- is that why they wouldn't renew the event permit?

Anyway, tonight is a recovery ride w/ Doug & Lori at the 'burg.