December 2023 (miles 1951-2105)
Another year down, another goal met. Strava did this cool partnership with The Feed and got this water bottle as a trophy. Since 2020 I have managed to log 8,526 miles. I’ll be over 10k miles come next fall.
With miles comes carnage. I estimate I put about 4~5k miles on this fork, and the bushings bit the dust. So, there is some reassembly going on with the fleet. MTB is definitely not a cheap hobby.
2023 was a great year. I have my sights set on 2024. I need to get back to my roots. I carry a lot of stress on my shoulders. I need to get back to racing bikes, snowboarding, and find that center on track. I also need to give back, but do it with the right people,
I’ve been doing trail maintenance with the city, but I’ve found myself burned when I do this, then they turn around and bulldoze trail that I enjoyed. I can’t spend what little time I have supporting something that breaks my heart time and time again.
Look for a few key changes from me in 2024. I guess aging is just evolution. We determine if that is for the better or worse.
November 2023 (miles 1737-1950)
Uggh, why is DST still a thing!?!?! I swear it just ramps up the difficulty to getting out after work. Thankfully I am working East Coast hours and out by 3-4pm most days. Racing season is over, but school functions have really taken off. They never tell you that school plays are hand built by the parents til you got a drill in one hand and a saw in the other. Thankfully I am fortunate enough to have a really rad 8-12 mile loop of MTB just off my back porch. Come visit and I’ll take you out on the fleet for a lap. Another 200+ mile month to get me on the precipice of my 2,023 mile goal.
October 2023 (miles 1565-1736)
VACAY!!! Took the family to Universal Studios Hollywood for some much needed time off. Our days in the beautiful California sun had us walking ~15 miles a day. Ate a hole-in-the-wall Taco spot just outside the park… chef’s kiss, it was so damn good. Even with closing out the RMTT & CORX seasons, and attending SCCA RX Nationals, I still found time to pedal, and be with the family.
September 2023 (miles 1328-1564)
Literally pedaling the cranks off the bike. At the end of the month my crank bolt exit chat on the pedal back to the start of the jumps. Glad that didn’t happen while I was airborne, oops. Good weather, great racing, all making for a really good month. Fall is really the best time of the year. The sun stays up late enough, the trails stay dry, I can just crank out 10 miles a day after work. Good times.
August 2023 (miles 1124-1327)
Playing catch up on miles with another 200-mile month. I also managed to take the family out for a little summer adventure. It was like stuffing money into a bonfire, but if you get the chance, Snowmass is a damn good time. We ate good food, Julia and I shared a few drinks, and we just enjoyed our stay thoroughly.
We went up to the mountains. Did some hiking, a little frisbee golf, and a lot of mountain biking. Kind of a last hurrah before summer ends and I gotta take these kids back to school. We should 10 / 10 do this a lot more often than we do. Put down the work, responsibilities, and just go outside, do something together. Good times. Smiles all around. You also can’t argue with the scenery from the top.
July 2023 (miles 911-1123)
First 200 mile month. It’s been a tough year for miles, but July helped me catch up. Took the kids out for the first full course of Frisbee Golf in a long time. Palmer lake is worth the trip. There is an active railway in the course which makes for some cool photo opportunities. When you’re done throwing discs, there is an amazing icecream spot just 2 blocks down the road.
Riding has also been getting better. I went down to one bike, the dirtjumper. That bike is always the sole survivor, I swear it’s crazy dependable. The rest of the fleet sat for much of the month to repairs. 2,000+ miles a year is hard on equipment. The good news is that I finished the month at full strength. Ready to do all the dumb stuff in August.
June 2023 (miles 731-910)
Glory & Gore goes hand in hand. Stupid single-speed tensioner gave out at full speed with me pedaling hard. I guess I was overdue for a complete yard sale. Which is how I would rate June. Busted the racecar, busted the bike, busted myself. Sigh. I made good miles, even with the weather being so crazy. So that’s a plus. At some point I’ll get it all figured out, just not now.
May 2023 (miles 562-730)
Pigasus lives!!! I started this project in November. Then changed direction when Ken Block passed. I turned my single speed, long mile, build into a Hoonigan tribute to the legend. I settled on a Hoonipigasus inspired livery. The original plan stuck though, of a light, singlespeed bike with no amenities. Short travel, easy pedalling, trail bmx bike.
What I got was more than advertised. She descends like a beast and pedals fast. I probably should lower the gear ratio for climbing, but it is great all around. Gives the bike a personality of mocking you for struggling to pedal. Like the bike heckles you to get good. Perfect trainer bike, and absolutely just racks up the miles quickly. Has become my favorite go-to bike when I just wanna get out the door and ride.
April 2023 (miles 398-561)
Getting back on track with my miles. Which is about all I can do with work kicking my ass of late. April was pretty much work, workout, attend school stuff with kids, maybe ride, repeat. The grind can get you down. I guess I am trying to say I am not immune to it. Managing a decent amount of miles is quite the measure of success. Sometimes shit is just hard.
March 2023 (miles 248-397)
The only way to bounce back, is through. I tried rest and rehab. It wasn’t the ticket. Started pushing the envelope with lifting and strength training, climbing on my new hanging climbing wall; Massive improvement. I’m still not quite 100%, but it is getting better. So is the weather. The sun is back. The mud and ice have receded. Catching up on my miles. I also noticed that as I eased back into riding, I started taking the smoother, easier lines… and I got faster. Well, setting PR times on my favorite trails, with the exception of stopping for the occasional downed tree.
February 2023 (miles 106-247)
Ok, sent it too hard. Went riding on the ice and going full send. Which means I have been out pushing the limits, and going over them and crashing. I suspect it was one incident where I completely yard-saled on ice where I aggravated my elbow. The most bougie injury of them all, Tennis Elbow. That’s how I started my month. Taking some rest, going easy, gotta recover for race season.
January 2023 (miles 0-105)
It ain’t even a question anymore. New year, new miles, just a way of life. The snow, mud, and let’s be honest… I’m north of 40, the cold hurts my old injuries; it all kept me down on miles. I didn’t get out much, but when I did, I sent it. Looking forward to 2023. New Year, new opportunities, going to mix it up, try new things and bring back some O.G. things too…