Sometimes you eat the PMBAR. Sometimes the PMBAR eats you.

I'll be starting my twentieth PMBAR this Saturday at 8:00AM.  This time, I will be showing up at the start line with my eighth partner, Nick Barlow.

To loosely quote Taylor Negron ("Whitey") from Whoopee Boys, "You can't just switch Dicks midstream... but you can swap Dick's partners."

"Whitey"- back left, in his performance of a lifetime, Oscars be damned

Watts has been my stable partner since 2016, so that makes seven PMBARs together (dammit, COVID).  The yin to my yang.  The pea to my carrot.  The brioche bun to my grass-fed, half pound, all beef patty.  Unfortunately for me (fortunate for him), he's been whisked away to Spain to cover (or not) some gravel affiliated things for Bike Rumor (look for future posts (or not) there).

He will be deeply missed, but we'll be riding a hundred and something miles all over Richmond, VA in a month, so I'll live. 

Nick will be a great partner.  Why?

1. He is strong like bull.  The kind of scary strong that makes you worried about partnering up and holding them back.  I mean, he rides a trainer... even sometimes when it's nice outside.

2. He's a good hang.  We have been on multiple adventures in this lifetime, and he's provided me many good member berries.

3. He's been riding his garvel bike a lot and his mountain bike very little.  This should help me keep him in sight on the descents, since I'm slightly more reserved nowadays since I exposed my kneecap to the world last September.

4. He also would rather do this on a single speed than a geared bike because he's done a few PMBARS and knows he'd rather not drag too much bike around for eight to ten hours.

5. He's grown into quite the adult, and I'm not worried in the least about his ability to get his shit together and be uber-dependable.

6. He has no expectations of glory, and neither do I.  Although Watts and I have never not been on the single speed podium at the end of the day (with an occasional top five overall), we usually land on a lower step because we fell into success ass-backwards despite all the mistakes we (me?) made.

7. He wears prescription glasses now, so it will be nice to share in the misery of mandatory eyewear if it moists from the sky.

I'm wary of letting myself get a little too excite about Saturday.  This past month has been lived very much day by day with very pensive expectations for joy.  

How day by day?  That bike lived in my work stand for over two weeks waiting for some much needed love... and that made my head hurt every time I looked at it.  A minor task, but one that I didn't wanna do with divided attention.  Brakes should work when you need them to.  

Sigh.

That said, once I wake up in my tent (I hate you, locals) my phone will be on airplane mode, and I'll be in full PMBAR mode.

I'm so looking forward to having my best day in the woods... again... for the twentieth time.