Departure
11 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
My memory does not serve me well enough to remember the date that JR proposed the idea of this adventure, but it feels like so long ago. It was as I regained my strength and confidence after a difficult recovery from an accident while riding my mountain bike. My Mom, my partner Deborah, my friends and community all greatly assisted me as I healed. The Gear Mashers Ball was created and conceived by my friend JR. He had a vision of bringing the cycling community together during our long winter to celebrate the Bicycle and the positivity that it adds to our lives. My accident brought the character of our community out and worked as a building block for JR to accomplish his goal. My friends, that I have gained during my time in Steamboat, gathered on a dark spring evening at the Art Depot to commence the first annual Gear Mashers Ball. It was a special evening for me as my family, including two of my beautiful sisters made the trip to join the celebration. There they witnessed me amongst many of the great characters that make up the community that I have chosen to be a part of. It was a very special place for me to be in such a setting, as it was held in the very depot where my family, four generations ago, arrived in the Yampa Valley to make it home. I shared a story, passed on to me by my Great Grandmother, about a boy in the Yampa Valley and his Iron Wheeled Bike, perhaps the first bike in North West Colorado! The Gear Mashers Ball was a great success. We reconnected with friends, drank great beer, too much beer, and raised funds to create an adventure in New Zealand for my own retribution. I am off to compete in the Single Speed World Championships! Deborah and I are in route. We were picked up by a shuttle this morning at 5:10. We have two boxes containing our bikes and a large duffle bag barely containing my B.O.B. (beast of burden) trailer and the gear that we expect to rely on for the next month of loosely planned travel around the islands. The shoulder strap of the duffle broke, before the bag budged, during the first attempt to lift it… I have not solved this yet but have a few hours to ponder the issue. Deborah is excited to ride her Kona Abra Cadabra mountain bike that she has become familiar with, riding all over our home trails this summer. I have chosen, after much consideration, to ride and race my sturdy steel companion, a Transition TransAM. After a year of stomping around on and enjoying the bike on all types of rides and terrain from snow to slick rock I traded out the heavier parts and took 9lb. off off the weight of the bike. A year ago, while in recovery, I built it up, part by part, a tank of a bike. I chose steel over alloy or carbon wherever there was an option and prepared for myself a training rig to build my strength. Those that know bikes understand the significance of such a weight reduction… Those that know me understand that I could not stand to lose 9lb. personally! Now with a few bits of carbon, the bike is feeling quick and I am excited to push myself throughout the whole ride including the ups and the downs the climbs and descents. We will fly to Auckland, New Zealand and transfer onto a bus to Rotorua, the location of the 2010 Single Speed World Championships!
