iMTB Best of 2018

What a year! Reflecting back on the year there were a lot of great things going on this year. I'm curious to what are everyone's most memorable moments?

I will lead it off with my top 3:


#3 UCI Women's World Championship race
The best mtb race I have ever seen. Went through the entire range of emotions and ended up in the promised land with this one. Kudos to Kate Courtney, and AMERICA!




#2 Stormy and the baby Bald Eagle Cams
https://www.imtbtrails.com/forum/threads/big-bear-eagle-cam.7046/
I was hooked on these cams. I checked on the baby Bald Eagles daily. I would drink my coffee in the morning and postpone whatever I had on my todo list for the day to watch them feed. When they started dying off on the Big Bear cam it upset me. Then as the story of young Stormy began to unfold with him falling from the nest in high winds had me on the edge of my seat. I watched for days hang on to a limb below the nest. Mom and pop coming down to him to feed and anxiously await for him to take flight. What a beautiful story on how miraculous unbothered nature is as survival perseveres.




#1 @Voodoo Tom rescue of @Mikie on Golden Eagle
https://www.imtbtrails.com/forum/threads/mcgill-mcgot-him-again…-mikie-is-down.7584/
Just wow, I can't even summarize because I would not do it justice compared to those that lived through the ordeal. But it cemented the brotherhood that binds all of us that call this forum our hub for the love of mtb. The rescue was 5star and @Mikie's comeback was just as impressive.

Is it too late to submit this photo to PB for best of 2018?



Looking forward to an even better 2019,and more memories with you all both live and from what you all share. Maybe without so many of us taking hiatus due to injury. Meeting @BonsaiNut gave a real sense of gravity to how much we know of one another without ever looking eye to eye just sharing tales and trails to groove out perfect single tracks. Can't wait to see what's (literally) next in store from https://www.imtbgear.com/ *hint* custom cnc head tube caps and bottle openers from @kazlx

 

My top 3 are the 3 times I rode in 2018.

 

Nice thread idea, Ryan, and some thoughtful comments.


• Saying goodbye to one dear, old family member and adopting two new ones
• Seeing the weez flourish in her new career
• The Arizona Trail
• Lake Tahoe riding and jamming with my Reno bros
• Riding with a handful of Eye Empty Beers

 

Wow @MrGreedom what a great and thoughtful thread. Damn it dude we gotta ride together. We definitely won’t run out of sh!t to talk and laugh about.

 

This is awesome....

For 2017 it was the GE Reveal Ride, of course. For this year? Doing the most difficult thing I've ever done: Counting Coup. Capped my year in April.

 

You’re a genius! @MrGreedom
Welp, my crashes have been pivotal this year, the toughest thing I’ve ever been through physically and mentally. Between the clavicle break in May and the knee blowout in July, I’ve never been off of the trail for this long before, but I have to say everything happens for a reason and I’m ok with it now.
Meeting you all has been a huge pleasure, whether in person or through the net you imtbtrails peeps have been extremely helpful, inspiring, encouraging, nutty, crude, confusing and downright hilarious....in other words y’all are the real deal
Also, my husband buying a road bike....never would I have imagined that happening! He’s a mans man, boots, Carharrt, power tools, diesel truck, etc. but I’m grateful to have something to share, and this roadie thing will have to do....at least until he gets into mountain biking.
Let’s plan a big ride for 2019!

 

Yes ..mtbkin is rewarding n memorable...santa cruz... demo forest..up sulfur spri gs down flow n repeat n braille. N repeat.. done? No. Group says one more climb and back into aptos....ran out of water... ran out of gas... one brother fished into pack.. found one last goo packet... shared it..kept riding...epic views..epic single track.. got a bit lost..sat on a stump... no one has water... skinny guys out of fat..fat guys out of..just out..brother reaches down to the ground and finds a bottle of water! Some hiker must have forgotten it.. we share n drink..water never tasted so good...me cramping dying.. my crew.. waiting n encouraging...finally made it to civilized area...saw a beautiful young lady in red ..running in the wood green forest...thought maybe i was hallucinating..deerlike ..running red in green...shook my head...n kept on peddling...made it back for cold micheladas n carne asadas...
Would drink beer.. laugh n freeze in cramping pain..epic bc of the brothers...
They all saw the girl in red too...

 

Oaks is waiting... hero dirt...kids r growing.. cant ever have that back...
Oaks will wait for u brother...

 

Y'all must be holding off on your list, thinking something memorable will happen in the last five days of '18. I love the optimism!!!!!

 

A lot of good things have happened this year....just struggling to nail it down to a couple.

 

For me, we finished a large re-model on our house that will benefit our family for years to come.

My oldest started Kindergarten this year, which is just seems crazy to me.

Being able to buy the Fadal CNC and get it into the garage and running with little complications is something I've wanted for years. I loved my other one and what it did for me, but something like this was always my goal. Edit: Just need a file and can easily make bottle openers or whatever other swag.

Riding is always good, annual Whistler trip with my crew, numerous outings. Every time all the middle aged dads can get together now and ride, I love it. All the stuff we used to take for granted pre-kids I appreciate now. When it was never a big deal to ride all weekend, or go away for a couple days, drive all night, crazy stuff. I just enjoy even day trips to Snow Summit with the dudes.

 

2018 was a memorable one... With some real highlights. In terms of rides, there were some real gems. Vision Quest, Chasing @mtnbikej around Saint George, Racing Rwanda with Ed, Using all of @mike 's bandages on Bell Ridge , Taco Social Rides, Hellacious Ride with the Canadians and @Sidewalk, Wednesday night Motorway rides, seeing @Mikie and @Voodoo Tom make a surprise visit to the OC, the huge group ride in Wrightwood, followed by my failed Wrightwood 50, Redlands Strada Rossa with J and Amy, and many many more...

I look forward to meeting more of you in 2019...

As far as personal, it was the year that the nest emptied, and the kids are both doing well- better than mom and dad. It was also the year that we had our first real medical wake-up call. C'est la vie, so ist das Leben... Readjust, reassess, and move forward.

Thank you, @MrGreedom... For forcing a little retrospection, with a dash of introspection.

 

1. Getting kicked out of the J-Zilla Group and riding Wildhorse to SART on 10/27 with @burt, TheDante, and Nate.
2. Chasing @Tom the Bomb down Hahn Buena Vista on Black Friday.
3. [UPDATE] Chasing @Tom the Bomb, @redwoods, and @PatPartyTrick down Hahn Buena Vista on 12/28.
4. "The Joke" (actually, @Mikie 's reaction) at the bottom of Willow on J-Zilla's Birthday ride.
5. Blue Moon Red Moon Full Moon Eclipse Ride with @Wolfie.
6. Palm Canyon with The Dante and Da Booges in April.
7. Itchy Scratchy to Webb Canyon with Sensei on May 20.
8. The 113-degree jaunt on July 6 and subsequent miss-my-queue on July 7 (sorry @herzalot, Keller, and Nate).
9. The four (4) times I rode Barrett Stoddard this year...

 

As they relate to IMTB specifically, the highlights this year were meeting @pperrelle and @pdqmach26 who I now ride with on at least a semi-regular basis. Always good to have somebody to share the passion with. Joining up on the Wrightwood ride was another IMTB highlight for me.

On a more personal level, the highlights were:
1. Whistler road trip with stops along the way in Ashland, Bellingham & Squamish.....The INDISPUTABLE numero uno for me and I'm already looking forward to returning in July 2020
2. Downieville trip in September where I met and rode with Bob @pdqmach26 - what started out as a plan for him to join us on one shuttle turned into a whole weekend of rides...and even a shared meal or two
3. Taking Paul @pperrelle and his buddy Andy out to St George/SW Utah and watching them experience the riding and epic, unbelievable views from all the riding spots out there. They were hooked on day one on Guacamole.

Now the next step is getting 2019 to compare to 2018. It all started in Sedona this March and I hope to hook up with @mike when I'm up in Tahoe for a week in mid-September. I need to somewhere in July as well; maybe Oregon or at the very minimum, back to Downieville and Quincy (where they're currently working on a new "black" level singletrack option to accompany the Mt Hough ride!!)

 

Ever since @MrGreedom started this post, I have tried to think of what to post myself. The OP was so well written I have been flummoxed as to what to embellish upon.

• The enlightenment of what transpired in one of my better crashes. The feeling of helplessness was probably the most eye opening experience for me. I had grown so accustom to self reliance so that when it was not there, my faith was tested, and He pulled through via @Voodoo Tom. Once I talked to Tom on the cell, I knew it was all going to come together. The overwhelming pouring out of imtb friendship and support afterwards could get a guy emotional, and on occasion still does. Thank you.

• Helping to get @mountaingirl sara out of a jam at Tapia. You just always feel right when you got your brothah’s (in this case Sistah’s) back. Making sure she got what she needed and seeing that through. Because of that incident it led to her becoming a full on imtbmember, and my adoption of a little Sis!

• Huge paradigm shift in my career at Northrop Grumman to become Manager of Employee Development for Global Operations. Best job/career a guy like me could ever have. My boss is awesome! I love what I do which is empowering others.

• No doubt would once again be the imtbtrails community. For me it is far more than a forum. Far more than mountain biking. It’s the family. Before imtbtrails I had many acquaintances, but few friends. Although quite the social butterfly, the people of imtbtrails grounded me into a circle of many friendships! Mountain biking saved my life, and imtbtrails is my support group.

• If there was one thing I would share that I never like and totally struggle with is people leaving imtbtrails. In particularly under harsh or angry reasons. I can’t help it if I take it personally, like I was not doing my job and failed them some how.

My new year resolution is to work really hard at being more open minded. To new technology, new ideas, things different than me, to be more accepting of things I may not initially agree with. Be open for change.

2018 was a great and tough year. Tenacity is the key. Stay tenacious and let’s focus more on the reason for this forum and not let divisive outside entities get the best of us! I hope I get to ride with more of you all in 2019! No injuries!

Best I could do with my beebee in a boxcar size brain!

Mikie

 

Very well said my friend, you have a way with words! Here’s to 2019!!!!!! Lotsa’ hugs and mountain biking!OOOO

 

Yay! E-bike section on the forum..

 

That does it! You’re banned!

Mikie

 

I thought the same thing. He used the letter "E" over 20 times in that paragraph alone. It can't be a coincidence. Foreshadowing.

 

1. Life is good. Wife, kids, puppy all good too. Kids both landed awesome jobs. We still have 3 grandparents active, healthy and close by.

2. Although my cycling mileage was 20% less than planned, my gravel grinding world has continued to expand and I somehow snuck in three destination rides - Utah, Flagstaff & Marin.

3. Ah, the biggie.....The wife and I made the grown-up decision to close our business after 25 years (and now I have a really great year???). Machinery is 95% sold; building is leased for 5 years, Triple Net, with a solid tenant (this is our long-term 401K in disguise); and most selfishly, I signed a nice consulting contract which means I will get to enjoy a 40-hour work week (vs. my current six/seven 10-hour days), no employee headaches and substantially more time to ride, be with family and start traveling.

It's going to take a while to make my internal time clock stopping waking me at 4am, but I'll take it!

Best wishes to all and happy 2019!

 

Keep it up stEvE!

 

^^^^^^

 

Great thread. 2018 has been a weird, but oddly powerful year for me. LOTS of things not working out as I had expected or hoped means that on paper 2018 looks a bit of a dud year for me. Two injuries to bookend the year, and a diagnosis of Reactive Arthritis have had me, someone who as always been very physical and active, feeling very at odds with my body. I've felt quite rattled by this at times. I took some big swings at work on things that sucked up a lot of time and energy, and ultimately did not pan out. Long planned 10 year anniversary trip with Mrs. Gravy to Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur got cancelled at the last minute due to child care issues that we couldn't rectify. Seeing my little bro struggle with some things that I can't control or be of meaningful assistance with. But I also went on a very conscious and deliberate journey of personal growth, and have found myself very aware of feelings of pervasive gratitude and contentment here towards the end of the year. I expect 2019 to be off the charts.

Highlights:

Getting back into mtb after a couple decades away. Though I only got out a couple handfuls of times before going under the knife it immediately ignited a fire in me, and I'm super stoked for the 2 wheel journey in '19.

Kid stuff: Seeing my daughter dance. She's not overly good, but it's the first thing that she has been passionate about, and genuinely sees the value in working hard and practicing to get better at. Though I wish the fire had ignited in something we will do together, it's just good to see the fire. Along the lines of doing stuff together, I taught her to ride her bike without training wheels at the end of last year, and this year mellow bike path riding has provided some real bonding moments between us specifically, and among all three of us as a family.

Not to sound superficial, but I'm a car guy, and I got the fleet dialed in this year in a way that has been fun and has me pretty stoked.

I also ate a lot of bacon this year. A lot.

 

I'll remember 2018 as a politically charged year I was introduced to mountain biking, and adding a new steed to my stable, my Nova.