Ghetto Carny Land

Ah yes...the colorful array of sights I see while bouncing between cities and events. Today we trekked from Burlington down to Readington, NJ through some serious rain, and past some pretty country sights. We arrived at the event site to scope out our spot and upon pulling in, I realized exactly what kind of event and weekend this will be...Ghetto Carny. I unfortunately do not have photos at the moment but will post some tomorrow. Here is a little bundle of words to describe the scene and let your imagination take off, just like the hot air balloons at this festival will be doing!
- Miniature rollercoasters
- All kinds of meat served from rolling carts
- A Monster truck on display
- Funnel cakes (I'm pretty psyched about that one...not gonna lie)
- New Jersey
- Boys that instead of using a forklift to move a food and beverage stand, they pick it up and move it by hand...don't worry ladies, they aren't cute

Yep...should be an interesting weekend of families traveling by station wagon and kids running rampant without parents, demanding free stuff.

Mount Snow, VT

This past weekend I was at the USA Cycling National Mountain Bike Championships in Mount Snow, VT. It was 3 days of some serious hard core mountain bike action and some fun times. The weather held out for us amazingly, with only a few drops of rain one day and a good storm another, but overnight so it didn't affect our work during the day. We had a sweet spot for our big set-up and were located right across from an amazing set-up done by Oakley...a really rad trailer w/all kinds of lens testing going on inside and their massive truck for pulling the trailer (if we get recognized quite easily with the SoBe vans, these guys are in a whole other league above us).

The event was really fun...super laid back so we were all able to cruise around, mingle, check out events, etc. I brought my awesome new road bike to do a little bonding and cruised to and from the hotel on it as well as around the venue...I'm in love. She's awesome, and gets lots of looks from people. I named her Betty Davis. The one unfortunate thing is that I've basically had a personal bike mechanic since getting her and he's now about to head off to many months more of events...how will I ever trust anyone else with Betty like I trust the person who built her from the ground up?!? (he also took the sweet photo of me on her to the left here)

Met some really cool people, made some good contacts, got seriously hooked up from Oakley, hopefully made a friend for life. Had a realization that although my travel schedule makes it tough to have a normal life, there are people with a much rougher situation. I take for granted the fact that I actually have a few days a month to see friends, maintain relationships...there are people who don't get that luxury. I couldn't do it...I couldn't be on the road all year round, literally all the time. I'm not strong enough for that.

It was different being at a close community type sporting event and not have any major post-event activities...usually these type of events have some sort of party or at least a gathering spot that everyone hangs out at. This one didn't...it was tough to really mix and mingle post-event with everyone...but we managed to get together with at least a few people each night. I guess West Dover is also not exactly the mecca of entertainment and dining options.

Next up, Readington, NJ for a Balloon Festival. I can't wait to find the right person to talk my way into a hot air balloon ride! Granted, if I wasn't going there I'd be on a private jet to Nantucket...alas.

Next up!

I have been home for an astonishing 3 weeks. In my current world of travel, that seems like a year. I have managed to squeeze in as much friend time, running, house stuff and more in these few weeks home. Tomorrow I head out for a weekend event in Mount Snow, VT. It is the Mountain Bike National Championships and should be a good event...expected attendance of about 10,000 people. It's really beautiful down there and events like that are fun b/c people are just so psyched to be surrounded by their athletic peers, and the mountain bike crowd is very laid back. Another fun aspect of this particular event is this is one of the first events I ever went to back when I was an intern the first time around at Fuse 4 years ago. I made some great friends and contacts at that event, people I've kept in touch with all these years, been invited to their weddings, gotten hooked up with cool gear, etc. So, I have a good memory of this event and am excited to be back there! Not to mention that I JUST got my road bike and am planning on bringing it with me to take it for some small spins...nothing crazy, no clipping in to my pedals yet, just getting to know my bike, and cruise to and from the event, so that is exciting too.

After this weekend, I will be home for 3 days and then head out again next Thursday down to Readington, NJ for the New Jersey Festival of Ballooning. This should also be an interesting event and it already makes me think of going to a Balloon festival when we lived in Arizona. My goal is to talk my way into a free hot-air balloon ride.

The weekend after next I will be heading to Attitash, VT for another mountain bike event, the SoBe Downhill Series. This is a pretty small, super mellow event .

So, there you have it. The next three weekends gone. Bitter sweet the travel is. Going to different cities, meeting new people, being outside all day is great but summer is my favorite season and there's so much going on that it's really hard for me to be away and miss out on so much time with friends on weekends. Summer is the time of BBQ's and lawn games, festivals and concerts on the grass, random rendezvous out in the sun and more. So, it's tough no doubt and it has definitely begun to take it's toll on me but I just have to look forward to time home, maximize time with friends when I am in town during the week, and then pack my weekends-at-home full of fun events and activities.

Upcoming schedule

Here is where I will be the next few weeks...subject to change of course:

July 17-21: Mount Snow, VT for USAC MTB National Championships
July 23-28: Readington, NJ for the New Jersey Festival of Ballooning
August 2-3: Attitash, NH for Downhill MTB event