Meyrick Jones Racing: The director's cut... STP

"wise guys" quote:

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

- Theodore Roosevelt, speech titled "Citizen in a Republic" delivered at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Everything you need is already inside.

- Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike, legendary coach, and father of the running movement.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

The director's cut... STP

OK, here's the other stuff I couldn't mention in the 'real' article (previous post)....

We loaded up the van and headed down on Friday.... Brian, myself, Krista and Kasia. We were laughing the whole way AND the border line up wasn't too bad after we pulled the old duty free trick at the truck crossing... ;)

Krista had picked up about 50 bagels (she is the bagel queen of Vancouver - owner of Mount Royal Bagel Factory). As if that wasn't enough, we picked up some doughnuts at Krispy Kreme as well.... we were taking our pre-ride fueling seriously!

The STP ride itself was awesome! Described well in the previous post, but I didn't mention some of the carnage we were lucky to avoid - crashes! Many of them! Including Mike Gillis (Canucks GM) totalling his Time (Time is a super-wicked bike brand)... The ride took it's toll on many folks and we felt pretty lucky to come through completely unscathed (OK - 90% unscathed - if you know what I mean...)

Our hotel in Portland was funky and provided a good spot to celebrate with the full I.F. crew. On Sunday morning we loaded up all the bikes and rolled a rental Ford Expedition and a moving truck back to Seattle convoy style. HUGE thanks to Sam and Jim who organized that....

We hit a few outlets on the ride home and took down a great burrito at the Skagit Valley Food Co-Op before using the Aldergrove border crossing to avoid the 2 hour line-up at Peace Arch and the truck crossing. Again nothing but laughing non-stop on the way back...

A great time. These I.F. trips are hands down the most fun part of being involved with Innovative Fitness. Somehow I meet great people and end up laughing my ass off the whole time. Speaking of my ass.... it survived - not unscathed, but not too bad.

Next event - Seymour Trail Run - July 26th.

Hope you all had an awesome weekend!

Enjoy the photos:

Kasia (left) and Krista

Brian

Brian and I in the Eurovan cockpit

Richard, Sam, Jonathan

Kasia and Krista - post-ride dinner

Brian and I (and Jim's arm)

Jim (in the truck), Brian and Krista

Krista and Sam

James (my coach) and I... nice haircuts

Mike Gillis' Time after ploughing into a post (ouch!) Post 1, Bicycle 0.

Two full moons...

Bottoms up...

Krista and Kasia paying for gas with iced lattes. Interestingly, with gas prices on the rise it may soon cost about the same per litre as lattes... (Krista wearing swim goggles.... she's weird)