I'm Proud to be...

Married. (I know you were expecting me to say American cause of the whole bin Laden thing...)

I'd like to first say Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife.
(Yes, I'll admit this one time that your birthday is in fact today and not Cinco de Mayo)

My wonderful wife has always been super supportive of me.  I won't ramble on and on through the list, but we certainly have to acknowledge her support throughout my adventures in mountain biking (since that is the theme with this bloggy here).  So supportive that she finally realized the inherent awesomeness in the sport and decided to join in on the action.  She's even talking about racing in the future shhhhhh.  We'll all keep that a secret though because I want her jumping on the scene like a ninja!!!

There was a whole discussion over on singletracks.com about finding a girlfriend who rides.  Some had the viewpoint that no way should you ride with your significant other.  "You need time apart" some argued.  Well, I'm apart from my wife when we work.... and what better way to spend time with someone (you love) than to participate in the amazingly fun activity of mountain biking??

Others argued that one would be annoyed/slowed down by the other.  Hi - welcome to mountain biking.  Remember when you sucked ass??  And you were at the back of the pack??  And others waited for you to get up the hill/get through the rock garden/etc.?  We've all been there.  So NO.  It isn't annoying.  Instead, (and believe what you want Annie) I love it.
It fills me with a sense of pride to see her out there giving it her all and kicking butt (again, no matter what she thinks about her skills at this point she is truly kicking it).  Sure, I don't ride as fast/far with Annie... yet!  Again, she's starting out.  And that doesn't interfere with anything I'm doing.  I can use our rides together as light days in between "destroying" myself out there solo.

So all in all... Happy Birthday Baby.

And to the rest of you, Happy Cinco de Mayo (tomorrow)!