Dirty little secrets

A brief update before I turn in. I have an early start tomorrow and need to catch up on some sleep.

I've finally met my parner in crime for my adventures here. After some brief conversations, it's obvious that we have a lot in common. It hasn't been the most relaxed introduction I've had here, but I think that's really a function of still being under some pressure before we head out for our trip to Sea Otter on Thursday. We managed to get out on the bikes for a quick spin tonight, and I think that has helped things a lot. It's amazing how being able to go for a ride with someone can establish the groundwork for building a friendship. Above all else, we both have a love of all things bike related.

If I haven't told everyone, the skinny is that Chrissy Redden raced mountain bikes professionally for the last 9 years, first with Ritchey, then with Gary Fisher. She was on the Canadian national team for the past 11 years, and was a member of the Olympic team in 1996. In yet another small world example, I just found out today that she was one of the Fisher racers at the Ft. William World Cup race last year, and I remember seeing her.

We were at dinner tonight with a guy that used to run the Fisher team. The two of them were catching up and sharing stories of people they knew and hadn't heard from. It was a Who's Who of the race scene, and it was funny to hear the gasping tales of who's living with whom now, and what the real story is behind that person's departure from that team, etc. etc. There was a lot of name dropping going on, but not at all in the context of 'Oh yes, of course I know so'n'so, but do YOU know la laalaa?'. On the contrary. It was a conversation like most old friends have who share a circle of some sort, and who catch each other up on the happenings of their mutual friends. It just happens that the 'friends' in this conversation are names that appear regularly in cycling publications, and people who are at the top of the sport.

I finished my meal first because I had little to contribute to the conversation.