I used to blog all the time, like it was my job, and here's the funny thing — I had very little going on at the time. I worked at a bike shop and raced my bike on the weekends. My life was boring and relatively uneventful, and yet, somehow, I had plenty to say. Then there's my life now. I'm off covering cycling events all over the country most every weekend, I'm riding crazy new places, meeting crazy new people, getting blown up with crazy firecrackers...and I have no time to tell you guys about it. The videos provide some evidence as to what's been going on, but they only present a fraction of the story. 

One issue is, you can't write when you drive (I've tried it), and I've been doing a lot of driving. Last time I checked in I'd done the banzai-insanity run from West Virginia to Vermont to cover two races in one weekend. Races that were eleven hours apart. That proved to be a great idea so I thought I'd follow it up by driving to Breckenridge from Boston, covering the Breck 100 then driving up to Bend, Oregon by way of Montana to cover the High Cascades 100 six days later. 

Word that I would be covering Breck came late so plane tickets were super expensive. Luckily my buddy Christopher Igleheart called at the last minute to ask if I'd drive his car out to Portland, Oregon for him. He's moved from Wenham, MA to Oregon to help Jay Sycip build Cielos, Chris King's own brand of bicycles. Without really thinking about it I said yes. Thing is, I had to work until 4 PM on Thursday, it's a thirty four drive, and the race was Sunday. I made Cleveland, Ohio by 4 AM and slept for four hours face down on a couch at my buddy John Proppe's house. My wake up call was delivered by an otherwise adorable cat biting my leg. "That's just her way of showing affection." "Isn't that what they say about great white shark attacks? He wasn't trying to eat you...he was just bumping and grinding you." 



From there I made it to Lincoln, Nebraska where I crashed at a Motel 6 right next to an all night sex shop. Which was good because I had tons of energy for all night sex stuff. I was really hoping to get some Pho in Lincoln. Little known fact: Lincoln has a HUGE Vietnemese population. Last time I was there friends of my buddy The Wilcox said we should go out for Vietnamese and me a northeasterner who is equal parts elitist and ignorant was like "Pff! Vietnamese in Lincoln...that's gonna be good, pff!" I was proven wrong. (Or right if you didn't read into the sarcasm there.) It would have been awesome if my Motel 6 had been next to an all night Banh Mi shop instead of an all night sex shop. 

The Breck coverage went well other than the part where I was chasing Cameron Chambers down Gold Dust trail and flatted (in the exact same spot I did during the Breck Epic in 2010...and peed in my shoe). Can I just re-reiterate that Chambers was on a SINGLESPEED and that he finished third overall. He was running a two-to-one gear, the equivalent of a 34 X 19 on his full suspension Trek Superfly 100. I see a full suspension singlespeed in my near future. It turned out that I had somehow packed only a 26" tube in my bag. I know what you're saying "Dude, you can totally make that work, I've done it a thousand times dude." Well guess what guy, so have I. I still have the welt on my hand from three weeks ago to prove that I tried as hard as humanly possible to get that little tube to work in my 29er tire. 

What followed was a two hour hike out of Gold Dust through intermittent hail storms. Thankfully NUE Series promoter Ryan O'Dell was waiting at the trail head to scoop me up. My feet are still mad at me. "Last time we went down this trail you peed on us — well, you peed on lefty, I was fine, but that dude's my bro — and this time you made us walk in bike shoes until we swelled up like two inflated surgical gloves." 

After Breck I headed toward Bozeman Montana, stuff happened that is worth talking about but I have reached my self-imposed word limit for the day so I'm gonna cut myself off, do a little to be continued and throw out a schedule of upcoming events because there have been some sweet additions. And watch carefully, some of these events are packed incredibly close together. Hampshire 100 two days after Breck Epic? Yup. Monster Cross two days before Pisgah Stage Race? Yeah sure. Three Peaks the day after Pisgah Stage Race? You betcha! 

8/4 Pierre's Hole 100 NUE #7 Alta, Wyoming
8/12-17 Breck Epic Breckenridge, CO
8/19 Hampshire 100 NUE #8 Greenfield, NH (I may actaully race this one)
8/26 EFTA Treasure Valley Rally Rutland, MA (racing/covering...you should come)

9/2 Shenandoah Mountain 100 NUE #10 Stokesville, VA (may race this one too)
9/8 Fool's Gold NUE #11 Dahlonega, GA
9/15 Pisgah Monster Cross Pisgah Forest, NC
9/17-22 Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race Brevard, NC
9/23 Three Peaks American Ultra CX Series #4 Banner Elk, NC
9/30 Vermont 50 Ascutney, VT (racing/covering pro bono)