James Pearl Thinks Blogging is Dead

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I woke up in New Hampshire. It was 40-something degrees.

Then Zac and I spent 9 hours at Highland Bike Park. This place is small but packed with trails. The limiting factor to this place is the speed of the lift, which is somewhere between Grandpa and turtle. The runs make you work, for sure. So it's ok to get a breather on the way back up. Add in the late afternoon surge of people and the time between runs was quite a bit. By 6:00 they were all gone and we finished up the day strong.

We absolutely demolished some burgers from a place that D and I ate at last summer. It was a fantastic, totally gluttonous meal. We also have some Ben & Jerry's in the freezer and I forgot to mention that we spiked a can of Pringles at lunch today too.

Day 1 of Stepdad-Stepson Memorial Day Bachelor's Weekend is in the books!

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I woke up in New Hampshire again. This keeps happening to me. But this time it was raining, and 39 degrees. Not a great way to start your day, regardless of what state you're in.

Then Zac and I spent another 8 hours at Highland Bike Park along with Pete & Beck, who are NICA friends of ours. They were supposed to come up last night but Connecticut + rain = the suck. So they joined us at the opening gate this morning. The park was moist much of the day, but with a few wood or rock exceptions, it was really a non-issue. Last few hours of the day the rain stopped and around 8:00 we got to see the sun, which was nice.

We ended the day on Hellion taking pics & videos of the kids. It was on this run that we hooked back up with them after riding separately for most of the day. At this point, Zac's bike sounded like a shopping cart being dragged across the parking lot by a golf cart.

We smashed more burgers for dinner. Then bought 3 more pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

Then I changed Zac's rear pads.

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mattybfat

The Opinion Police
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Hellion is the bomb l 😍 that run.
When you decide to go to Thunder let me know sooner then later so i can book a camping spot.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I did it again. I woke up in this same state. And again we hit the bike park but our time was limited. We managed to skirt this rain system for the most part until today. But all things must come to an end. We got in some runs but it seemed the case that everyone in a 100 mile radius was there this morning. And if you've been to Highland before you know they do not have a detachable lift, which means it is sloooooooow.

We broke for lunch early in the hopes that the lift lines would clear, but they did not. I decided to check out the XC trails at the bottom of the hill which were pretty good. The goal of this effort was to warm myself up, which I did. But I did too good of a job and when I went back to the lift, I was insanely cold. I did 1 more run on the day, and called it around 2:00 just as the rain came and shut us down.

We then ate ice cream and then pizza, in that order.

Three days was the morning
My focus three days old
My head, it landed
To the sounds of cricket bows

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rottin'

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
It's been raining in Monmouth county for over 48hrs straight lol. Don't get me wrong, our reservoirs need it, but the only riding was done on the H3. Pumped you got some good time.on dirt up there!
 

clarkenstein

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
Shadows of the morning light
The shadows of the evening sun
Till the shadows and the light were one...

One of my favorites. I ruined my junior prom with that one. The dance was already lame (what junior prom isn’t) so a friend and I annoyed the DJ for a solid half hour to play it. The DJ protested at first but eventually caved. Once it started, we sat in the middle of the dance floor chain smoking. My friend had a cape on. Really changed the mood of the whole night; for most it was not for the better. Most everyone cleared out shortly after the “Jesus” moment. There’s more to the story, but that’s the cliffs.

Sounds like you’re having a solid trip. You haven’t missed much, but we finally have some dirt you can dig with.
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
Yeah, I'm a Jane's fan but that's not prom material. But that's typical HS stuff. Kids think there music is gospel when In reality you need to know when to funk out on the dance floor to White Lines and when to go apeshit to Ministry at Lollapalooza.
Amirite @jmanic .

So you are saying the 20 minute version of green grass and high tides probably wasn't the best idea?

In a place you only dream of
Where your soul is always free
Silver stages, golden curtains
Filled my head, plain as can be…
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I woke up in New Hampshire again, to the sound of rain. Understanding that this Bill Murray-like existence could not last any longer, I quickly remediated the situation and made our way back home to New Jersey. On the way, we crossed the theoretical Tappan Zee Bridge. Much like the Sears Tower in Chicago, some things will always be what they are. I do not recognize Mario Cuomo's right to steal that bridge. For those interested in the history of the original physical bridge, go here.

After unpacking the car, dropping the boys off, and dropping the other car at the garage, we went for a road ride with @Glenn Rides After 4 PM CST for just under 2 hours. It was a splendid day, amazing weather. Given how rough the long weekend was, it was a total win to get something like 10 hours of biking in this weekend.

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MadisonDan

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I did it again.
I just lol’d irl on the train at that and the one other person in this car looked at me like wtf?

It reminded me of a former colleague who, at the time was getting a little, umm, forgetful. He would leave himself messages on his home answering machine for himself. Sometimes to remind himself of something, sometimes just random stuff.... like this one.
“Hello Randy? This is Randy. I’ve got great news. We did it again! We got better looking!! You are one handsome devil.”

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I went for a road ride. I pushed myself a bit on a few hills that I knew were Strava segments. The first is Douglas Rd. West which I used to own. Today was my 5th fastest time of 45 efforts. Second was Whitenack-Mine Brook Climb, which I gave a good effort but not everything I had. Had my 3rd best time of 24 efforts. Finally was the Ferguson Road Ham Jam, which yes I named, and yes I also used to own. Today was my 2nd fastest in 123 efforts. In total it was a pretty solid day. Feel good about the day and if only I could drop 25 pounds I'd be like right back where I was back in the day.

I also walked the dog today after my bike ride. It was nothing short of an amazing day. Great day to be outside.

On a work note, I found out that our office is now 100% open with no masks required for those of us who believe in science. Otherwise you need to wear a mask. Since I believe in science, I'm good. I also put in my next 2 vacation requests, which is a single day for a long weekend with the kids up in Vermont later in June, then the 4th of July week with the team up in Vermont. Yeah man I am ready for biking season.

We also bought the Killington downhill tickets. We ended up just getting tickets for all 3 days. It was actually cheaper for the 5 of us to ride 3 days this year compared to just 2 days last year.

I also went to Target today without a mask, Again, because I believe in science.

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jklett

Well-Known Member
On a work note, I found out that our office is now 100% open with no masks required for those of us who believe in science. Otherwise you need to wear a mask. Since I believe in science, I'm good. I also put in my next 2 vacation requests, which is a single day for a long weekend with the kids up in Vermont later in June, then the 4th of July week with the team up in Vermont. Yeah man I am ready for biking season.

We also bought the Killington downhill tickets. We ended up just getting tickets for all 3 days. It was actually cheaper for the 5 of us to ride 3 days this year compared to just 2 days last year.

I also went to Target today without a mask, Again, because I believe in science.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I finished up the first iteration of adding MTBNJ to the TrailForks directory. I also put out a post on MTBNJ/Facebook to ask for reviews, but the option to review the page seems to turn itself off. Facebook itself suggested I do this to get more market share. But it doesn't seem to be working. I turn it on, Facebook turns it off. I'm sure there's some combination of up up down down right left right left buttons that makes this work, but these are the things that turn most people off from Facebook. I find this sort of thing happens repeatedly with the platform.

I got a haircut today from a professional for the first time in a long time.

I put some time into the trails today packing in some dirt in a few areas - approach, roll off, and after the lip of the first tabletop. This one always bothered me a bit so I extended a pair of 1x4s out into the rock/dirt pile and built it up properly. Safe to assume the back yard trails will get some more attention in the weeks to come. I also mowed the lawn and finished splitting the wood that now needs to be stacked.

I rode today as if I am in some sort of training plan. I kinda want to be. But I do not want to say it out loud just yet.

I also finished up Iggy's sign which I will present to him Sunday morning before the ride.

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Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Today

...I worked outside for a bit cleaning up & building up the big berm that connects north branch with east branch. Since being kicked out of the original trail system I have not had a chance to rename the trails, but east branch is what used to be known as Sideshow Bob...I think. It's now the east side of the park which is where we will focus our efforts next. Zac and I spent an hour building up the height of the berm ending then shaping a v1 of the transition out. The intention of that is to be dual-purpose. First it needs to be rollable. After we get that worked out it will serve as an optional jump.

I then road my bike inside while it rained. I'm going to say that I would like to climb Whiteface again this year if possible. So, I'm going to lightly train for this by riding the Alpe in Zwift to figure out what my power can be for that effort - but only when it rains. If it's nice out I'm not riding inside. I plan to use erg mode to do this because I want to get myself in a cake baking mode. Turn on oven, set temp, and bake for 1 hour. I need to fix my power meter if I really want this to happen.

I also talked to JORBA Tom for an hour tonight to figure out how I can help him with the site & so on. More to come in this regard.

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