antics

 

 When I was asked if I wanted to go up to Copper Harbor over Labor Day weekend to go mountain biking I said sure without really knowing what to expect.  I knew it would be fun and probably get a little wild, but I don't think I fully understood the extent of the debauchery.  Regardless I took off early from work, got to Magyars, and loaded up with Nick and Nick who were heading up as well.  We hit the road with spirits high for about 80 miles then this happened.

 

Got towed back into town and got our paws on an Enterprise cargo van to continue the trip.

We got into Copper Harbor around 1am, set up camp, and rolled out to a beach on Lake Superior to meet up with Madison folks and get a little loose.  This marked the trend for the rest of the weekend. A lot of goofs, a lot of beers, a lot of shirtless dudes, cold lake swimming, and some bike riding mixed in.

From the get go the riding put me through the ringer with a monster climb to the trail tops, insane bermed ladder bridges, bumpy fast descents, and more climbs than you can shake a stick at. Luckily I avoided any catastrophic bike fails or crashes, which could not be said of everyone in our party.

Sunday was race day and despite my best efforts I stayed out much too late on Saturday night to even think about pushing myself hard.  The 3 1/2 mile climb at the get go narrowed the field and put me in the position I pretty much stayed in the entire race coming in mid time for my age and 5/6 for single speeders in the short race. Could I have been responsible and gone to bed earlier and pushed harder and done better? Possibly. Will I ever learn this lesson and push myself to a glorious podium finish?  Absolutely not. I wish I had documented 1/10th of the craziness of the after party. Somewhere between the mustard bottle wars, fire jumps, dirt dancing, land sharking, musky slapping, and beer grabbing the night turned into total chaos.  

It is a little inappropriate to have tranquil lake shots in this mix, because nothing about the weekend could really be filed away as being calm.  Monday morning we hit the lake for a swim and ate a big breakfast before packing up and heading out.  The van ride back was a total sleepy aching haze, and I'm still subject to flashbacks of equally hilarious and absurd moments that will haunt my dreams forever. It seems like for some reason around certain people their is some sort of PTSD that follows most bike racing events.

Anyway.  All I can really say is this weekend was a blast and big props to everyone involved in making this event happen, and all of the people who hung out this weekend. Back to reality. At least until Cleghorn this weekend.