2 May 2011 - 10:37Spring has Sprung

And definitely where I am sitting.

As I’m sure many of you know, certain parts of the country have had a rough time in regards to having rideable trails. VT is no exception. While we have finally pulled out of the 30s, there are still many weeks to go before there is good riding to be had without traveling far and wide to get to it. Lots of my southern friends like to call and rub it it.

“I rode in a sleeveless jersey today” – Dicky

“it’s 75 degrees” – Mike Stanley

“all the cherry trees are blooming” – Emily Brock

All the while, it is pouring record amounts of rain, flooding, and just being one of the gloomiest Aprils I can remember. It kinda looks like this.

This is the Winooski River, it has already been over it’s banks once this year and it is still very high and moving quickly with all the rain and snowmelt. Sure, April showers bring May flowers, but I need some sunshine. Some friends had talked me into a quick visit, I think you’ll figure out who in a second.

The stars lined up, plane tickets were bought, and off I went to a sunny place (hence the radio silence Thursday and Friday).

This past weekend marked the Whiskey 50 race, held in Prescott AZ. It’s once of the first “big” races on the year, and always has a star studded attendance. Dejay and Fuzzy were both very convincing, and I needed very little arm twisting. Thursday was spent dealing with airport hell.

I sat on the tarmac with a hundred and fifty other grumpy people for something like 6 hours between two attempts at flight. A huge line of thunderstorms stood between me and the west, nothing was flying. My connection to Tucson had to be rebooked, to Phoenix, on standby, which I actually made, and finally I arrived, tired, but happy to have made it. And thinking ahead, I did not check any baggage, so I was out of the Phoenix airport with little drama as soon as Jake Kirkpatrick picked me up. I ended up crashing at Jake’s dad’s house for the night, we were waiting for one more who was to arrive in the morning.

Bryan Kramer from Boulder was experiencing rental car line hell, and we pretty much sat around in Phoenix all morning waiting for him, but finally, we all gathered our things and drove up to Prescott for the race after a few stops for lunch and cables that make iPhones into rental car jukebox’s. 2 hours of conversation and NoFX into the AZ mountains passed quickly. Well there went Friday…

We got up there pretty late. Fuzzy had been there a few days and had the Niner demo tent in full swing. There was a fat tire crit that evening, which was a ton of fun to watch. Dejay was “racing”, but was not doing well and so he decided that goofing off would be a better use of time. He did a bike switch with Fuzzy, attempted a beer hand up from Jake, and was pushed up the hill by a Drunk Cyclist guy in an ape suit.

After the race, it was dinner and drinks, and then off to the hotel to get some much needed sleep in a real bed. Morning came far too quickly, and we made out way down to town for the start of the singlespeed race. The race is set off by two gun totin’ rootin’ tootin’ cowboys. Fun times were ahead for all. There were bands all day, but the headliners were the ones to see.

The Black Owls.

The afternoon was spent hanging out, eating and drinking in true post race fashion. Many beverages were consumed, it is after all, the Whiskey 50.

More tales about the weekend will follow, but I am out of time. I have to get packed up to go to Sedona… Yeah, we’re going to crash the Topeak-Ergon base camp, because that’s how we roll. Sorry Dicky.