On the Road Again... - EFffffing Family

Going places we’ve already been.

After surviving the upstate winter, and just before everything came into bloom. We packed our bags, loaded the bikes – all 12 of them! -settled into our new traveling rig and started south.

Bags packed, and staged.

First Stop: Walnut Mountain in Liberty, NY for the first NICA race of the season. After taking last year off, both Rayleigh and Dillon were able to race this season. They raced on the Grey Ghost Composite team, for their only NICA race of the season. It poured the day we arrived for pre-ride, we kept the bikes clean and in good working order. But it was a VERY muddy race the next morning!

Muddy faced Dillon post race at Walnut Mountain.

Rayleigh cruising through the roots at Walnut Mountain.

Both kids had great race experiences, despite having all the weather conditions! Rayleigh had a photo finish sprint – landing herself on the 5th step of the podium. Dillon finished 7th with a strong race in a big field of 29 boys.

We left the race venue mid afternoon and made it a whole hour before we stopped… to ride bikes.
There was a Velosolutions pump track on our way, so clearly a biking detour was in order!

Dillon clearly didn’t race hard enough, since he was able to jump his bike all over this pump track.

Since he didn’t race, his legs were fresh for lots of pumps and jumps.

Recovering from a badly broken arm this winter, Ainsley is slowly getting back into jumping her bike.

Day 3 –
After getting warm, dry, and using the grandparent’s ‘laundry-mat’ post race. We started our journey westward. Today’s ‘activity’: Ray’s Indoor Bike Park. A favorite pitstop from our trip last year, with an obvious need for a repeat visit. Shout out to BikeAdirondacks for adding youth jersey’s to their lineup.

Our matching jersey’s made us easy to spot in Ray’s.

Kevin practicing some rollers at Ray’s Indoor Bike Park.

Okay… so I missed an important detail. The day we left New York was actually Grayson’s birthday! And while we were all excited about the trip, a car ride to a race you can’t participate in, probably wasn’t his ideal party plans. So, as a surprise for him we made a long layover in Ohio at Great Wolf Lodge.