this weekend past was an amazing race weekend as well as being an awesome family weekendnot just for myself
but for so many others that were at the 24 Hours of Big Bear
Laird Knight is a visionary
he created the 24 Hour Mountain Bike Relay format
within his vision he created a monster
a monster that imploded upon itself
some of the failure was hubris
the majority of the failure was a curse of bad weather
unlucky with the weather over and over and over again at Canaan and then at Snowshoe
within Laird's vision there was not just the race but a festival around the race
there was a three ring circus that was being created around the race itself
at Snowshoe Laird had entertainment for the people who were not racing
there were trials riders and guys doing big jumps
there was music
there was.... well, I do not know.... as I was racing
in the end it did not work
had it worked cross country mountain biking could be a different sport
no one can deny that 24 Hour Mountain Bike Relays have not changed the sport of mountain biking
that is why Laird Knight is in the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame
in the shots above Laird is giving the same attention and energy to a kids race thrown during the main event
this is a classic example of how mountain biking can be made into a family event
there were lots of families
there were lots of kids
Dean got fourth in the six and under category
he thought he got last
I asked Laird to look into the birth certificates of some of the racers
the final results are being withheld until we get the official notorized documents