A Teammate Steps Down

Today is a bummer day to say the least. My teammate and good friend, Phil(Dr. Phil) Oppenheimer let me know that he will not be racing this season. Phil is gonna focus on spending some more quality time with his wife and kids and take a little break from the sport. How can you bust his chops, when he gives a reason like that.
I commonly discuss how much fun it has been racing together over the years knowing that we are both in eachothers corner helping to accomplish eachothers and the teams goals. Dr. Phil and I share a similar racing style and have many a times worked hand in hand to be a major factor in many Masters races against our competitors. It won't be the same this year.
All in all, and putting my interests aside, Phil, I can appreciate your priorities and focus and wish you only the best. I'm looking forward to the next time we get to hit the wind trainers under the tent as the rain pours down, and the course turns to a quagmire. It's gonna be a tough season brother.

Larry Kemp Cycling Camp

On August 19-22nd, we headed over for the Larry Kemp Junior Cycling Camp at the Flying Horseshoe Ranch in Cle Ellum, Washington. The camp is for younger kids interested in the sport of cycling. They work on skills clinics in both mountain biking, road, and cyclo-cross and receive great coaching and mentoring from Cycle University, and Cascade Cycling club. They even have a silly cycling olympics night where they compete in fun cycling games against eachother to demonstrate their learned skills. The kids are assigned cabins with counselors and have all of the ammenities of a traditional summer camp. Kristi was the lead coach and camp organizer, Sue (her Mom) was one of the 4 amazing cooks, and I was both a mechanic and an EMT. Lots of gauze and band-aids is always a must! It was great having the True North OSV with us to support what I was doing, and I was able to sneak away at night and sleep comfortable inside the trailer with some great music, as the kids sat up all night giggling in the cabins.
This was Holden's 3rd year in the camp and he had a blast that included a 30 mile road ride on Saturday.

3rd Annual Cavanaugh Roubaix

Yesterday, was the 3rd Annual Cavanaugh Roubaix ride that Kristi and I put on for family, recreational riders, and racers alike. This a very tough 60 mile ride starting and ending at our house. The ride starts off with a rolling climb up to Lake Cavanuagh (Skagit County), and then up and over a gravel mountain pass(Roubaix) down into OSO (Snohomish County) and back to our house for a BBQ. During the ride, there are "sprinter points" available at the Skagit County line sign, and the Arlington city limits sign with points being awarded. This years sprinters points went to Tony from Tacoma Bike, and Kristi from Cycle University. There are also climbers points (K.O.M.) awarded at two locations that include the "untold climb" and at the top of the gravel pass that includes grades of 23%, which went to Nate from Tacoma Bike, and Kristi once again. The ride was escorted by two support vehicles to carry extra equipment and fuids/food. Thank you Corazon, Ashley, Mandi, and Tracie for keeping us good.
This year the weather was very damp yet still warm, and to say the least, the riders and bikes were a bit muddy at the end of the day. We had a total of 15 riders make the trip that ranged in age from mid 20's to 61 years old. We only had one crash and 3 flats on the day, and considering the rough terrain we were riding on, that was pretty lucky.
Following the ride, everyone enjoyed a great BBQ and social time at our place recalling war stories of the ride. A great time was had by all, and we really appreciated everyone who came to brave the tough Cavanaugh Roubaix ride.