My Life In Bikes: First days in NM

The Ripon crew looking good in our new Mt. Borah kits

So today is day 3 at altitude and day 2 in NM. The Ripon crew left Wisconsin this past Saturday. We headed out and Drove 12 plus hours to Kearny, Nebraska where we stayed in the Holiday inn hotel. The hotel was great, it had water slides, big rooms but the only downside was no free breakfast so we ate at the restaurant in the hotel. Never again will I eat there. The food was very over priced and so was the coffee and other beverages. Then after Sunday breakfast we drove to Erie, CO to drop off Jeremy and kept on trucking along to Angel Fire. We stopped about 1 hour away from our cabin and star gazed. Never have i seen something so beautiful. Ric took some pics of them and let me take one. I was able to capture a shooting star. After we got arrived late sunday night so we couldn't really get to enjoy the views and the house we were staying in. The house is huge, has 3 bed rooms and 2 bathrooms on the first floor, 1 master bedroom with a full bathroom and kitchen/ living room upstairs. Then above the garage is another room with 4 beds and another bathroom. The 2nd floor porch is also giant. We brought up the Park Tool equipment so we can work on bikes. Thanks to all who ended up supporting our Ripon so we were able to come out to NM so early.

The first day of riding out here was sick. We all road the course from last year and its really weird to see it in such amazing shape. Also the downhill part of it was super fun last year and was just as amazing this year. Hopefully tomorrow i'll be able to get out and ride the actual course. Its totally different from last year. It starts off with a double track climb then we enter single track and start to head back down the hill. Hopefully it lives up to the expectations of last years course. We also hit up the skills track that was being built last year. Now finally done we got to practice some dual slalom skills. Its fun hitting up jumps even though I don't know how to launch them yet.

Yesterday also was a great day because I finally got to surprise my dad. He usually figures out what our surprises are before we can actually tell him but this year my mom and I finally got him. I took this picture to the right and sent it to my dad saying "happy birthday get your stuff packed you fly out in a couple days." My mom, brother and I all bought him a ticket to fly out to Colorado and drive down to New Mexico with my grandparents for Nationals.