But you may have thought so. I have been in a serious low of all time as far as giving a rat's ass about biking, and I'm talking about a bike lover from the days of the 80s! Since Marty Wickman pulled up to the swimming pool on a '83 Schwinn Sierra and I jumped to my feet and "had to have one of those new kinds of bikes." That's a long time ago and many miles behind me. I have just not been crazy about the late winter/spring weather we all went through, nor have I had a chance to put a number plate on a bike and bust my ass against kids half my age. So it feels like something of a myth that I am even a bike rider at all. I made a commitment back in September to teach Sunday School with my wife, so I felt like I had to be there for that and ended up missing a bunch of chances, but I had a blast doing it, so I'm not using it as an excuse. There have been two times on my days off that I have somehow put on all of my riding clothes, cleared it in my head that I was going to go ride, and walked to the garage and couldn't get the nerve to pull a bike out and ride. So I would go back in the house, get dressed, and sit around and wait for school to get out so I could go get the boys. That's pretty sad. I think it was that damn April Fools post that did me in. Although I did actually ride out and stop for a beer, the words surrounding that were all intended to be in jest. I guess the joke was on this fool.
Luckily I pulled through and will probably ride Tuesday. I did watch Breaking Away a couple of more times, and it spawned an idea in my head. Why not do a smaller version of the Little 500? It would be a blast, and there is a perfect location right here in Boone. It is the 4H horse arena at the fairgrounds. This is a 260' X 140' arena with a dirt/pea gravel surface. Little to no horse droppings, and I'm sure nobody would care if we rode bikes around in it. A format something like this could be a great workout and would no doubt be FUN ON A BIKE!
Race 1: 2 Lap Time Trial, use best lap time for bracket seeding.
Race 2: Bracket Race, 2 riders at a time, 2 laps, winner moves to a new bracket.
Race 3: 2 Person Teams, 10 laps, 5 each with a handoff.
Race 4: 2 Person Teams, 50 laps, open format. Rider changes at will.
Race 5: Figure 8 throwdown, anything goes?
I have daydreamed about this for a long time and still think it would be a blast to do. No need for fancy bikes. Flat pedals would be best. I want to see skids like the one Moocher rips when he hands off to Cyril. That is some bike riding right there. He skids a 40 footer, stands up over the drive-side, dismounts, and gives a smooth handoff in one fluid motion! Cyril's handoff to Mike is less fluid. Here's a look at the grounds:
The little white building is a restroom, there is a metal roof over the poles to the right of that(read shade), and Regal Liquors is a four minute ride from here. Could be a fun way to spend a Sunday. Any thoughts?
4 comments:
glad you're back postin'! sometimes you just need to get away for awhile and get things back in perspective. it'll all be good!
A bike joust is a must!!
Unfortunately, this winter was very cruel, and now, even with this great weather we are having now, it can still be hard to get on the bike!
I think this sounds like a great idea. I'm sure we could get some people from the DM area up for some of that.
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