Hyner Trail Challenge 25k. The schedule worked out where I could finally try to take on this challenge, and boy it was a doozy. This one lives up to the reputation. Was I prepared? Naw. Has that stopped me before? Naw. Has great company and guidance (wave at your nearby favorite Canadian). I did fall a couple times. But don’t worry, broke the fall with my face. Glad to have gotten the finish on this one. I wanted the darn hat.
Will’s birthday gift was a “Choose your own adventure” weekend. He picked Philadelphia and we packed every fun activity into our time! We saw all of the sights, walked all the miles, and ate ALL of the food!! Our highlights were Eastern States Penitentiary (cold but we still wandered for HOURS!), Franklin Institute, and all the food at Reading Terminal Market! Yes, we do now have strong opinions about the best cheesesteaks in town! We topped it off with a fun (score notwithstanding) Penn State Basketball Whiteout at the Palestra against a ridiculously tall Illinois squad (their team’s average height it 6’8”!)
Happy Birthday trip Will and well done Philly!
Mountaineer Monster Gravel was quite the event! Thanks to @dplandis and the whole @mountaineergravel crew and volunteers for a wonderful weekend! Beautiful venue, fun(?) roads to explore, and, as always, wonderful people to spend time with. This was a great event to end my season.
And to all those impressive humans still out on course on the longer routes, you are inspirational!
Coming down from Canton, PA is Eric Schoonover (@schoonover_eric ), ready to tour the Mountaineer Monster 110 with his teammate, @piccolo_gravel . Jesse and Eric are riding together as the @gravelrats.ig and Eric will be riding “a Carbonda 707 frame that I built up with a Sram mullet drivetrain specifically to be able to tackle hills and some more adventure oriented routes. We shall see how that plays out.”
Eric is looking for some late-season redemption after a DNF at the @endlessgravel_pa Grand Depart last month. “Sometimes you are the hammer and sometimes you are the nail. I am hoping to take on the 110 route with teammate Jesse and finish strong for the team and myself.” We believe in you, Eric!
“I am looking forward to exploring new terrain, meeting new friends, and seeing what @dplandis has cooked up for us this time.”
A wise friend (@turtle_wandering ) recently reminded me that growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.
Go ride bikes with your friends (and your dad!), wear the glitter, put on the funny bike shorts, sing songs from Kpop Demon Hunters to make yourself pedal harder, race fast and snack often, make your friends stay up late on a school night, invite everyone in the hotel lobby to join your party, celebrate your friends who win, celebrate your friends who don’t win, and ring a cowbell for every damn person. Unpaved is something I never want to grow out of.
#unpavedpa
#easyontheeyeshardonthelegs
