I wish there had been mountain biking (like the kind my kids do) when I was a teen. I think I would have loved it. I know Ethan does. And that is a little bit of a surprise. He was a really cautious little boy. I think he didn't even need his first band aide until he was almost four years old. Our friend Greg does the Epic Singletrack Race Series in WinterPark every year. This year he invited Ethan to join him, sponsoring his membership in the race series. They got to go to one race together.
They both missed one or two races, then Greg got hit by a car one day when he was riding his bike to work. He will be okay, but he is off of the bike for some time. Ethan has done most of the races and loves it more each time. This week it was the Mary Jane Circuit race. After checking in you take your bike up the Zephyr Chair Lift to the top of Mary Jane. There you begin your trek. If you are a beginner, like Ethan, you do 9.1 miles. The expert and pro classes did 17.1 miles of trails.
Its called single track because the trail is often very narrow. In some places you may only have a foot of less of space between your handlebars and the trees. Some people get off track and hit the trees. At the awards ceremony at the end of the day they have a special road rash/injury contest. The winner gets a $100 certificate to a local chiropractor or medical specialist of some kind. Everyone laughs and cheers when these awards are given. It must be a biker thing, being happy to be hurt. It all cool, man.
Ethan did pretty well. His road biking skills help him motor up the hill while others are walking their bikes. He was in the lead for his group until he crashed and then he had a technical. By the time he was back on track the others had passed him. He landed in third place. There was less than two minutes difference between Ethan and the first place finisher. Not bad for a course that took about a hour and ten minutes to complete. He was happy with that. He had a lot of fun. He says that this was his favorite race in the series so far. Greg says the next one is the best one. Ethan is jazzed for that one, too.
A beer, wine and food festival was happening at the same time. While we waited around for the results I found some friends who were working that event and chatted with them. I got to try a wonderful smoked salmon pizza. It had an Alfredo base with smoked salmon and ricotta bits topped with a melted smoked Gouda cheese - yum!
While I visited the tents, Ethan took the time to play around on some fun dirt hills that were placed by the tents. Lots of the younger riders could be found there.
On the way out Larr let Ethan and I ride the lift from the lower parking lot to the upper one. We were not parked there, but it was still fun.
On the way home we stopped by the Big Bend river on the other side of the divide. Larr and Ethan explored the lovely waterfall. I did not want to attempt it in my skirt and Crocs.
They saw a fish, or several fish, maybe, who seemed to be intent in jumping up the waterfall. He caught it in midjump. I thought that was pretty cool, but a bit sad. I just don't think that little fish is going to make it to the top. Good luck with that, little fish dude.
We are already looking forward to the next and final race, the King of the Rockies race. That will wrap up this biking season and be a lovely way to begin the Cyclocross season.
(a few photos still need to be added.)
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