At least for the 2015 season, the Ascent Cycling Series is wrapping up. One more race at Palmer Park. One more chance to ride with one way traffic as hard as we can on local trails. It's been a long series, with all kinds of conditions thrown at us - sunshine and heat to mud and creek crossings. What will the race bring? It's impossible to guess until we are on the line, sizing up the competition and ourselves. Are we ready for this finale? Will both the bike and the legs hold on until the…

I'll be honest - I didn't know what to expect with the long race at CMSP on Sunday. The last time Nick and I tried riding Blackmere and Cougar's Shadow, they were a mess. It was more of a swamp then a trail, with several stream and creek crossing and mud bogs that were 100s of feet long and ankle deep. Not ridable at all. We've had some dry and hot days since then, but not enough to even dry up some of the new rivers running through CMSP. Given that I wasn't sure what was coming, I'd…

Every morning we wake up with the choice - make the best of the day we are given or simply go through the motions of living. And that is just the first choice of the day - there are a million more and sometimes we don't even realize what choice we are making and how they will affect the rest of the day, week, month...  It's not easy to see how much a little choice will reflect when we act in the moment. I've been trying to wake up and choose positivity. After all, I'm waking up to a new day…

I have to wonder, what the large flock of turkeys was thinking Wednesday night. After all, it was wet out and still spitting rain at times. What on earth were these mountain bikers doing? Usually the trails would have been deserted at that time of day under those conditions. It would have been safe for them to take the easy route - aka the trail - to their destination.

But this was no ordinary Wednesday night.…

On grey days like yesterday it's hard to want to get out and ride. It's cold. It's raining... The list of excuses goes on and on and eventfully the ride doesn't happen. Or we wait for the dry and sunny window, only to have that window never open. Again, the ride doesn't happen because of the lack of motivation to take a chance with the conditions. But what are we missing when we choose to let the weather win and allow the grey, heavy clouds to affect the motivation needed to hit the trails?…