Well, it is 4:00 and we’re some what recovered from our 24 Hours of Summer Solstice experience… To be brutally honest – this was a fantastic weekend. I had so much fun – the racing, the hanging out, the laughs, the amazing food, the atmosphere – all of it top-notch and just plain fun.

Before I go any further, I need to send out a massive thank-you to Don and Doe for their amazing support. They did it all for us. Drove up from Deep River with their RV and basically did whatever they could to make our racing weekend run smoothly. Don and Doe kept us well-fed, on schedule, laughing, and comfortable. I for one benefited massively from the RV – I lucked out and did not have to sleep in a tent… (Ya, me – not so much a camper…) Anyway, all this to say – thanks Don and Doe – the KingsBridge team definitely could not have done this without you.

Next up is our fearless leader – Skip. He got us organized, put together the team, kept us on top form and helped to keep the mood for the weekend be one of relaxation and fun. I definitely have to say our team was one of the most chillaxed around. And guess what – this translated to a truly supportive team environment where we all came together to cheer one another on and just really gel as a team.

I benefited from racing with a great group of super-experienced mountain bikers. My old mountain bike got some tender loving care from super Steve and James “no lights” Snider. They did some amazing handy work on my bike to keep it ticking over – thanks guys!

So as for the racing? Well we finished in 28th position out of 86 teams – pretty darn good. My laps were okay. I did the first lap, the fourth lap and then an early morning lap on Sunday. All with fairly similar lap times. I did struggle with keeping up the momentum and flow. Same problems – over-braking and not trusting my bike handling skills. But this will come. I’m happy to say my fitness is spot on – I was climbing super well and passing lots of people on the climbs.

All in all, I had a blast. Learned lots. Truly see the benefit of mountain bike racing in improving my cyclo-cross racing skills. This will not be my last mountain bike race. (I even feel there is a 24 hour solo event in my future…) Massive shout out to Erik, Rick, and Wes – great to chat with you guys!

We are chilling out here at Albion Hills for the night and will give ourselves a good night’s sleep before the drive home on Monday. We are contemplating a ride tomorrow… we’ll have to see how our old bones hold up!