Bend Dude...Bend (High Cascades 100)

First off, let's get one thing perfectly straight, I did NOT do this race, I merely covered it for Cyclingdirt. I have determined that both racing and covering a hundred miler is...fucking stupid. Or, if you want the PG version, not feasible. Several people have said "Aw come on! You gotta race it." None, I say none of those people have ever ridden a  hundred miles on their mountain bikes, never mind raced a hundred miles and then had to stay up all night editing "sweet footie." What I did do was hop on a demo Niner Jet 9 furnished by the awesome guys at WebCyclery and chase the leaders on different, generally pretty exciting sections of the course. It was, in a word, rad. This method of coverage left me with plenty of energy left over for post race interviews. (Check out the coverage page on Cyclingdirt for that stuff.) 

Out of Re-Missing In Action (We Think)

I have been remiss. Maybe re-missing in action. I've been doing too much stuff, crazy stuff, to be blogging it up all the time. But balance must be found. 

Thursday Night Championships of The MTB Universe

What can I say? There's been more doing things than talking about doing things here at The Big Bikes lately. For instance, the NEMBA Burlington Landlocked ride has been GOING OFF. It has effectively become the Thursday Night Championships of the MTB Universe, with local killers, assassins, and smooth criminals coming out of the woodwork to blaze watts and crush souls. 

Last week we had Colin Eggleton from Wheelworks leading it out. Resultsboy was there, as was Pete "Mad Alchemy/Dad-Power" Smith. Kevin "K-Sweat/Squirtgunshow/I blog less than BigBikes Thom" Sweeney graced us with his presence yet again. GTL (Greg "The Leg," not "gym, tanning, laundry") came out to kick ass and take names, but his plan was derailed by a SRAM XX malfunction...his chain became a work of modern art for seemingly no reason. MKR, who has been our guest local ride leader/torture artist missed this ride unfortunately. Here's his take on these rides. Steve "Party At The Back" Hopengarten was doing just that, playing caboose with an exhausted-from-his-mega-commute Harry Precourt. Marty "TorolocoCycling" Allen was a little too comfortable going balls to the wall for what felt like way too long. He may be the silent killer in the bunch. He's like radon gas on a bike. (Ooh, that sounds wicked scary!)

I'm just playing rope-a-dope here...things are about to pick up.