NEMBAFest 2018

Well, well, well... more than a month has passed since I was in East Burke for the 2018 edition of NEMBAFest Powered by Pedro's. I guess I lose some points for not keeping my blog up to date, but you, the reader, get what you pay for.

It was, by all accounts, another excellent event. The trails were in primo condition and it was great to hang out with friends and family. The group included Mississippi Dave, Tito the Swedish Bimbo, and myself in my luxury camper; Glen the Cottage of Wattage in his tent; and my brother, brother-in-law, nephew and a smattering of North Conway hooligans in my brother's camper. There were more than 1000 other riders there as well, but I don't have much to report on them.

We arrived relatively early on Friday afternoon and were surprised to learn that the RV camping was already full and we were directed to the "overflow" area. To be honest, the overflow area was flat and close to the action, so that was fine with us.

In the past, I've spent a considerable amount of time taking pics or making videos, this year I focused on the riding.

Here are some of the rides:






Other than riding, we drank adult beverages, oogled bikes, and worked on replenishing any spent calories with "health" food like pulled pork sandwiches, french fries, and cheeseburgers. Mmmmmm.... cheeseburgers.

As with many bike excursions, there were some casualties.

My bike squeaked, Jeff's fork collapsed and Dave's chainring exploded.

Yeah, a squeaky bike is not the end of the world, but I've got some OCD and I can NOT abide a squeaky bike. Fortunately, the folks at Cannondale did a little bit of magic with the linkage and BB and my Bad Habit was then smooth and silent.

Fox also hooked up Jeff with a rebuilt fork in about 90 minutes! Gotta love the vendors!

In other bike damage news, on the Trail Boss ride that Jeff Lenosky organized, and Glen and I participated in, one of the riders slid about 20 feet on his side the entire length of a wooden bridge. He was fine, but his rear wheel was pretty bent. It took seemingly forever, but the group was actually able to bang the rim into close enough shape to allow the tire bead to hold and he was able to pop a tube in and finish the ride.

There's really not much else to report. The trails were in great shape (as always), the weather was *mostly* good (a little rain but that made the trails even better), and the company was excellent.

Thanks to Pedros and all the sponsors. Thanks to Giant and Jeff Lenosky, and Thanks to NEMBA. See ya in 2019!