Burrow down in and...

If ever there was a time that I wished my head were in the sand... I mean "clouds," it's now.

Woulda been a good weekend to be unplugged from the world and all up in Breckenridge, focused on nothing but eating, riding, and sleeping... with healthy doses of hanging out with like-minded individuals... at least in the terms that we're all there to ride and have a good time.  I mean, I understand that mountain bikers can still be a diverse group, with "good people" from all sides... but as long as we can just limit ourselves to just being about the bike for a week mebbe?

One good ride before escaping from it all...

Not seen Cathy M, who when she's not taking pictures, she's teaching Togie and I how to ride in Pisgah... and also missing is Kangalangamangus who went off in a "choose your own adventure" manner earlier in the day.

2/3 of my issues (most of which I created) with the Vassago Meatplow V.8 have been resolved.  The ticking noise is still there... quiet on Black Mountain, coming in pianissimo on Buckwheat, and then going full-on fortissimo coming down Bennett.  Enough so that my head almost exploded.  I hate noisy bikes more than paper cuts (not really).  I've got one more thing to rule out before I blame the fork.  I don't wanna have to go there... and I won't.  At least not until I get back from Breckenridge.

So we live in bad times and some good.

This was the most pleasant experience I've ever had sticking my bike into something for travel purposes.  Even I couldn't have screwed this one up, even with a beer always close at hand.  Sorry for the poor quality image, but I was too busy running around high-fiving myself.

I don't think I've ever looked forward to getting away as much as I am right now, despite my lack of feeling very "fit" or "fast."   I can't tell if that's a state of mind, a reflection of my lack of effort towards being an "athlete," being slightly heavier than normal in August, the time when I had to take a step back to recover from an injury, or just occasional rides on a noisy bike eating at my brain part (not to mention, I allowed my tarck bike to make trbl noises for more than two weeks before I finally addressed it).

Mebbe I squeak out one more postive but no more creative post before getting on an airplane this Saturday to make great bike race (stories).