Off Season Adventures

Does the trial end here?

Happy Holidays! Holidays already? Perfect time of year to reflect on all that we have to be grateful for - friends, family, health and happiness... and since the days are so short way up here in the northern hemisphere there is plenty of time on hand for evenings of reflection and partying down with those friends and family.  

Mary and I pushed our mountain bike race season a little further than usual this fall, taking a trip back to europe for a pair of highly contested UCI races, after what is typically our finale of the season - the world championships.  We ended up driving something on the order of 1000 miles in a week and a half from the northern tip of the Netherlands to the south of France and taking on two of the hardest competitions of the season.  Seeing such a broad swath of Europe in high fall was amazing and overall it was a great trip. Though after returning to the states to my home in Massachusetts, we found ourselves in need of a break. 

Our 2 weeks at home on Martha's Vineyard was our first stint without a competition since June and judging by the explosion of activity we took part in, we were a bit pent up.  This season has been pretty much full bike dedication, so it was super nice to be able to charge on some other pursuits - stand up paddle boarding was at the top of the list, hiking, running, surfing, riding our sweet little local trails, picking cranberries and most importantly - just enjoying not having a regimented format or plan.  

Traveling as we do makes visits home very special to catch up with family and to just be in one place for a while!   All too soon we were re packing up our life of travel bags and heading west, the impetus being present at a fundraiser dinner for the norcal high school mtb league.  Our first public speaking gig went well thanks to some careful chaperoning from our friends and especially interviewing host, Yuri Hauswald.  He managed to squeeze a verse of Italian opera out of Mary that shocked the crowd almost as much as her admittance to beginning her bike racing career at age 27.   Glad to report that even though we were the first mountain bikers to host this event, and Mary, the first woman, it was the most successful to date in it's ten years of running... It was cool to be a part of this great gathering of people to support high schoolers getting out and racing mnt bikes.

Sonoma County is where we ended up spending the last few weeks of another winter, kind of by accident.   Yeah, Mary has lots of family in the area but she has lots of family in almost every area we mange to travel to on the west coast of the USA.  We have a bunch of our stuff ferited away in storage out here that we needed to attend to, sort, pass on, etc,  but  I would say that our being here has more to do with the unique energy of the area.  The cycling here is rad on a number of levels of both dirt and pavement, and the local bike crew has enough history, passion and motivation to to elevate the bike scene to an attention grabbing level!   

Hiking Goat Rock coastal trails.

The Bay area in general has a very thick and special bike culture that could never be well summed up by me in a paragraph. descriptive words would for sure include diverse and happening, seemingly something for everyone.   For us that means having a core group of friends who are willing and able to get out on the bikes when its time to go.  people not just willing to spend long hours in the saddle but people who love to make adventure on the bike and cherish the idea of a ride pushing the limits of your abilities over and over, day after day in a diversity of different terrains and rad places.  Sonoma county has proven to be the type of place that allows us to pretty much go along for the ride and within the adventure and fun of riding and training with our friends we can find the form to be prepared for the rigors of competition at the world cup level, almost. 

Mary and I are really enjoying this a brief moment of staying in one place, less time in the car and more to explore this beautiful area as much as possible on foot, bike and board. 

MIke finds a fast line thru the mud.

We are coming to terms with the upcoming season and starting to get excited about the travel and competitions.  We got into some local "Monkey Cross" racing (http://www.bikemonkey.net) just last week as a means to test some prototype equipment as well as the legs.  It was a strange relief to get back into the racing as it is so familiar and gave us a reason to rest and taper down for a day or so to make sure we would be ready to go!  It was also good reminder that local racing is not to be overlooked as a source of community building and fun. 

We are looking forward to a few more weeks here before heading south to Chile to continue our base training in the summer climate.  We have scheduled two weeks of south american training time prior to our first competition of the season - The Trans Andes Challenge(.com)  Stay tuned for what we know is bound to be the wildest part of our race and travel season and one with the special designation as a true team endurance test in a wild and fantastic part of Chile!  In 2010 the Trans Andes turned out to be (arguably) our most involved racing challenge, one that opened us up to a new and exciting challenge of mixed team stage racing.  Mary and I are looking forward to taking what we have learned and applying it to this edition as well as using the experience and mileage as a preparation for the world cup and international XC season that lies ahead.   Hope to see you out there somewhere along the way!   

Good rides and good health,

Mike and Mary

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