Marshall Mesa

Any day without mechanical problems is a good day. Today was a great day. The group of 22 broke into 3 smaller groups with Ramos, Goulet, and myself riding along. The clouds were our friends and tempered the heat. We set our watches and started climbing for an hour and a half Out and Back. We had to stay on schedule as many riders (including Goulet & Boyer) had to be back to BHS at 6:00PM for Back to School Night. The spin to and from the Marshall Mesa Trailhead makes for a good warm-up and cool down. Overall, the groups averaged about 19 miles on the saddle. We had FIVE girls out today. Nice Work! It looks like we have finalized the design for our Jersey as of today. We will we sizing on Thursday. See you all there.

-Boyer

Heil Valley Ride Report

No better way to celebrate your 44th birthday! 18 riders, 5 dads, and my good friend Jamie Ramos (Jamie will help us on weekends) enjoyed the scrabble of Heil Valley under cloudy skies. A mixture of mechanical failures tried to dampen the day, but we persevered and returned with smiles on our faces. Our Sunday rides will increase our endurance on the bike. The first race in Nathrop: varsity boys- 26 miles, jv boys/varsity girls-19 miles, frosh-soph boys/jv girls/frosh-soph girls- 13 miles. Increasing miles on the bike and riding times will help us on Sept. 19.

Some lessons learned today:

Organization counts: I need to know who will be riding ahead of time so that I can make smaller groupings of around 6 riders with a ride leader and a goal for the day. 25 riders are a lot to keep track of and efficiency is lost.

The value of gloves: a couple of riders ended up with microscopic hair-like thorns all over their hands after taking an unexpected departure from the bike. Gloves are good!

Checklists are good: a checklist of things to remember to take with you on the day of a ride might mean you won't have to ride with slip-on tennis shoes instead of your bike shoes.

Preparation saves the day: a chain tool in your pack can turn a busted derailleur into an excuse to convert your bike to a single speed (and not have to walk down the mountain).

Some things just can't be helped: a rim failure will most certainly mean you will be walking down the mountain!

Illegal Pete's needs to sponsor us !!!

Life is good.

-Boyer