JR rider ripping it through the sand at the Chainbiter 8.0
Super fun course at Winding Trails. I ended up doing A Masters which had around 100 starters. The race had about 800 riders total. Crazy. Was like the old days of racing NORBA nationals. Since I switched day of, I had to start in the back. We started on a hill and I was at the bottom of the hill next to the Hollywood of the east, Gunnar Shrogen. By the time I got to the top of the hill at the start, the lead guys were already down the hill and coming back through the woods. So while trying to chase the leaders, I worked my way up from the back to catch about 70 riders and finished 30th on the day. (full results and article here) I rode most of the race with Gunnar and Jan Weijack and they put a small gap at the end. I really liked the sandy sections, just one barrier section and some tight and twisty sections, a long gradual uphill and a couple short ups, one was a run up. After the race, drove to the coast, breathed in some ocean air and had some fried clams and drove back to the airport. In retrospect, kinda wish I would of done the elite race, I would of had a pretty good call up since I registered early but I had fun and got to talk to the race director and UCI official which I wanted to do.
All in all a good trip out east and interesting to check out other Nordic areas and get ideas and what not. I tell you what though, after that trip, my thoughts about global warming have turned a bit. After listening to a presentation at the ski conference about global warming in the New England, seeing it every day in the papers out there and talk in the radio and media, campaigning, the perception, to me, is much more aware than it is here. Some places out east last year only opened for 3 days. Lots of rain and not much snow so there is a sense of urgency to do something now. Around here, the base temp for winter is much lower so if we are 2-3 degrees warmer now than we were 30 years ago, around here folks think it is a good thing. Regarding snowfall, up north we haven't felt the crunch as much as the southern part of the state so I don't think it is at the fingertips like it is out east. Take Duluth for example, a college town, pretty liberal comparable to Burlington in a way but in Burlington you have a much stronger feel about global warming. I am sure there are awareness groups in Duluth and discussions etc. but just my two cents as I see it. Duluth has had pretty decent snow the last decade, maybe some skethy times but nothing to put folks in the panic mode. On the way home I read a article in Rolling Stone about global warming and how some scientists think what we do now to slow global warming won't do much because places like China are going to be offsetting the efforts to cut down on emissions by burning more coal for energy and other fossil fuels. So, these select scientists think we should build a big shade out in space and/or release sulfur dioxide (I think) particles to block the suns rays. Anyways, when you have a day like today after the crazy cold last week, you can't help but think about it. What I don't get is if it such a critical problem, what hasn't the current administtion done anything. Ah, the economics and costs to certain companies. Bush is meeting with the three big car companies to discuss the production of more energy efficient and envoronment friendly vehicles. Speaking of which, another noticeable thing. Not as many pickups and suburban type vehicles out east.
With the warm weather, today was a good day for bringing in the docks. Luckily there was just enough open water on the edge to pull them out since the rest of the lake remains frozen after the single digit mornings start of the weekend. Now the locals can't say "I wonder when Maplelag is going to get their docks in". Jack gets his cast off in one week. Jake bought a new dirt jump bike with his babysitting money and what not. Jon gets assigned to a team later this week and Jens has this chain he has been dragging all over the place, hooking it up to his dump truck and play mower. When he saw that I was going to use a chain hooked to the bucket of the Bobcat to pull the dock out, he was so excited. Good helper. Oh, thats another thing.After crossing across five states, I think I saw five bobcats total. Here they are all over the place.
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