Some of you know I have delved into the world of electric assist mountain bikes HARD lately.

I joined a local race group where I have been racing 18 year olds at the ripe age of 40. My team mate is 16 years old! He is crazy and fearless.

Thankfully my teammate is off on vacation so I knew this next race would be fun. I was basically guaranteed a podium as there are only two other riders out of a group of 8 that are consistently fast. There is a total group of 50-60 racers but we are all put into specific groups. The open class/e-bike class gets to start first with the pro MTB riders starting about a minute behind us.


The stars aligned today during an 100° sweltering summer day! Both of the riders who are the bane of my existence suffered mechanical/technical failures.

I talked my “gamer” son who loves first person shooter video games into joining me for his first E-MTB (electric- mountain bike) race.

The end result was absolutely perfect. The trail was new to me and my son so we rode it blind. I fell into a comfortable 2nd position off the start with my son right behind me. I figured since we had 22 miles of gnarly singletrack we had never ridden before it would be smart to fall behind a fast rider and learn the course.

On lap two this plan paid dividends. A rider less than 1/2 my age managed to pop his rear tire so on lap two of four I took the lead with my son behind me.

We finished #1 & #2 on a FUN and VERY fast trail.

I cannot begin to tell you how awesome it was to stand on the podium with my son during his debut race!!! He had a blast tooo!!

What a fun race! I’ll never forget how fun this race was!!! Today might be the most fun I’ve ever had on two wheels. This morale boost was DEFINITELY NEEDED after the supremely disappointing results of my home race two weeks ago and dealing with a few BAD back to back crashes at speed and quite a bit of road rash. It’s amazing how much things can change from one race to the next!





My son’s Cannondale Moterra


My Cannondale Moterra first gen (it’s old but it still goes!!)





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neat!

That’s pretty awesome Stickman. Congratulations! Sounds like a fun day with your son.

Congrats, what type of watch are you wearing? Color looks like a Sinn.

That is awesome! Congratulations to the both of you! You only have them for a short time, good on you for making the most of it.

quote:

Originally posted by fischtown7:
Congrats, what type of watch are you wearing? Color looks like a Sinn.

I’m going with a Garmin. I know Stick is a watch nerd, but in the case of racing, I could see him wanting all the health data available.

Congrats!!!

quote:

Originally posted by fischtown7:
Congrats, what type of watch are you wearing? Color looks like a Sinn.

Beancooker guessed correctly. I wear a Garmin Instinct 2 Solar while riding and racing. For fitness tracking the Garmin is a wonderful watch.



I do have a few Sinn watches that I adore but they don’t tag along on rides. I don’t want to risk bashing up my 206 ST AR in a crash. The Garmin is expendable and the health/ GPS data it provides after races is nice to have.

Good stuff, Stickman!

Glad to see you got Stick II in on the action, too.

Awesome sauce.

Sorta of thought it would be a fitness watch but it sure looks like a U1 or U2 at a distance.

Awesome!

Greensboro is a really cool place.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
Awesome!

Greensboro is a really cool place.

Greensboro is awesome! Our family goes to Greensboro a lot to enjoy the sky wild and a zoo/science center. The restaurant scene in Greensboro is also very nice. There is a mom & pop Vietnamese restaurant called Pho Hien Vuong that I HIGHLY recommend. If you like exquisite noodle dishes and perfectly cooked chicken wings this is your place.

We raced at Bur-Mill park, which is a VERY FUN trail to ride! It’s hard on bikes but it’s fun. There is also a big lake that looked like a good spot to fish.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: stickman428,

That's awesome. Congrats!!