More photos from 2010:
[Nona Perez] [Carl Burchfiel] [Ed Matthews] [Jeanine Stephens]
Boggs V is Over. Thanks for coming!
Event photography is available from Mom!
http://www.perezoo.com/
The laundry is done, the bikes are hosed, and our toes are finally registering nerve impulses again. While that wasn’t the worst weather in five years of Boggs and Bike Monkey, it was pretty close. So much so that Beloved Fearless Race Director Number Uno, Carlos Perez couldn’t even escape it in his dreams. Post-event, he ruminates thusly:
If the burning question you all have is “what kind of nightmares do event promoters have?” I will tell you that on Friday night they woke me up.
When it was time to start the race, I had slept in and nobody knew where I was until an hour after the scheduled start. Half the field of racers packed up and went home proclaiming how lame Bike Monkey was. The pace-truck wouldn’t start and the course was never marked. I had to mount my bike and lead everybody who was left for the first lap (pretty ingenious if you ask me), but I was out of shape and every angry participant was breathing down my neck. Then we were told by a ranger that we didn’t have the proper paperwork completed to enter one area of the course, so we had to turn back. I was a hated man.
In the middle of the night on the eve of the big day I awoke in a panic. Everything that needed to be done had been done: course marked, food arrived, PA ready, timing system loaded, supplies checked. Still my mind was being over-imaginative. Maybe three days of bad weather caught up to me, but that was scary. At least my bad dreams offset reality enough to make it manageable. Maybe it’s because of them I can cope with missed laps or a mis-placed racer without going ballistic.
But year 5 almost became a tough reality. My friend Colin and I arrived at Boggs State Demonstration Forest Wednesday afternoon as the snow started to fall. Several inches of the stuff piled up on every inanimate surface. We laughed for a while, but as it continued, a pit formed in my stomach. This storm was a lot bigger than it had been forecast and Boggs V seemed to be in jeopardy.
When the sun came up Thursday morning, the air temperature was well below the freezing mark. We could see our breath rising out of our sleeping bags. Nestled up against us, the dogs shuttered irregularly. It was time to decide whether to get tough or sleep the day away. We climbed out of our bags around seven thirty in the morning and made breakfast burritos. We started marking the course around the “monkeytown” staging area as though everything was gonna be alright. When the sun rose, the snow-scape around us began melting quickly, and I was encouraged to see things more optimistically. It looked as though it was going to be alright.
Call it whatever you want to call it, but it always works out for the better. I don’t think there’s actually a choice. The rain came Friday and washed the rest of the snow away. The sun set and we were ready. Fate has had its way with us for years now; I’m just glad it’s usually in our favor. For those of you who believed in it and showed up in spite of forecasts, thank you. You’re the reason we always make it through and so we hope to see you all again next year.
Cheers!
Not much else to say after that, but we do have some lingering details to handle.
Signature Line
First off, we all know that without sponsors, these events would lack a lot of luster. The folks who come out to support events like this are drawn to down-home, grass-roots racing that may defy the typical demographics. For this, they deserve our business and our thanks:
- Specialized and NorCal Bike Sport dropped a swag bomb on us for this event and are regular supporters of our Santa Rosa Cyclocross Series. We’re mad about Specialized gear and the enthusiasm they bring to all our events. NorCal Bike Sport has caused the needle on our stoke meter to be buried with startling regularity and we have a hard time seeing that diminish in the near future.
- Camelbak has been with us for years and they did a huge job on our Bike Monkey stealth model Podium bottles, in addition to other sweet prizes. Check out these good fellas out at Sea Otter in a couple of weeks. You tell them you were at Boggs and you’ll get a hot high five that’ll leave your palm pink. Camelbak has already said that they’ll throw in a sweet swaggy hook-up for you, since you’re all old friends now. Seriously, they’ll be waiting for you to stop by, so don’t disappoint. Boggs racers will be a welcome relief from the 7,500 teenagers running around Laguna Seca.
- Marin Bikes is no stranger to the Bike Monkey scene and did a great job with neutral support and with the tossing out of prizes. Those guys are a kick in the chamois and they do bring the goods. Plus their van is spacious and well-appointed.
- Beer doesn’t come out of vending machines (*sniff*) and if it did, it certainly wouldn’t be in 15.5 gallon barrels. It for damn sure wouldn’t taste as good as what New Belgium kicks down for Bike Monkey events. Consumption may have been a little off due to plunging temperatures, but that doesn’t mean that the product or the thought behind it wasn’t appreciated
- Fox Racing Shox has made their Bike Monkey debut and we couldn’t be happier. Packing more bounce to the ounce, they gave us a fine F32 fork to be doled as we saw fit. And yes, it looks great on the woman from the beginner class out on one of her first MTB races, thank you. Good on Fox for providing this kind of support and to continuing with work with us.
- Lonjevitea Kombucha, what can we say? Kombucha must work because those folks looked faster, happier, and warmer than most people out there, myself included. Thanks for Lonjevitea for bringing along a keg of their fine brewed product and for keeping a chipper face out amongst the mud.
- Soulcraft Bikes was a force at Boggs. By that I mean that in the staging area, CEO Sean Walling asked me to tell his teammate coming in off the course to “cool it, since I’ll be in the mud room for a bit.” With this, he walked away towards Porta-John Alley with 22 pounds of toilet paper in his jersey pocket. This actually happened and likely surprises no one.
We Reaped, Now We Gotta Sow
Stay tuned for a trail day call up coming up soon. While the course held up well, there were 600 riders out there turning anywhere from 1 to 10 laps on 8 miles of dirt. We’ll need to go back out, armed with McLeods, Pulaskis, and beer (see above, New Belgium) to throw a healin’ on those trails. It’ll likely be a day trip, but we’re a flexible bunch and happy to entertain your brilliant ideas should they expand our recreation opportunities in those sylvan hills. If we want to keep coming back, we’ll need to make sure we demonstrate a light touch and clean up our messes. Just like momma said.
Instamatic Fantastic
There’s photos all over the inter-twitee-facesmack-net of Bike Monkey events. We’re a little late on this one, but we’ve got a home for all those wayward shots. We’d consider ourselves pretty lucky if you dropped your pictures over at Bike Monkey’s new and amazing Flickr page. Don’t be shy, especially with that photo of your boyfriend horfing up his lunch after a particularly tough lap.
Once Was Lost, Now Am Found
Oh, and we found some of your stuff. We’re not telling what it is, but if you send us an email saying what you lost, we’ll let you know if we found it and who’s currently enjoying it.
That’s it everyone. Nice job out there. We’ll see you next year, but we’d both be blowing it if we didn’t see you sooner. All our best…
