Burning at the Bluff or Homecoming

All year long I wait for the infamous Burning at the Bluff Mountain Bike Race and this year was no different, so I pulled a team together and planned for a great race. My teammates, Chuck and Mike and I even went as far as to make a trip out to Council Bluffs one night after work and ride the course. We had so much fun that we couldn’t wait for race day.

The plan was to enter the race after we did a course pre-ride. So when I got home that night my daughter, China, asked me if the whole family was going and camping for the race, she was excited, Burning is one of the few races that my kids like to attend. I said “sure we will camp” and asked if she wanted to bring a friend, she was all for that. Then she asked what the date of the race was, so she could call her friend, and that was when the nightmare started.

China’s high school Homecoming dance was the same day as Burning. Oh, so my brain went into overdrive, wondering, if I rode the first 2 laps maybe I could make it home in time to help China get ready for the dance and take pictures of the girls. After some thought I realized that there was just no way I was going to be able to make the race and Homecoming both. I had to make a choice, then I had to tell my teammates.

Chuck and Mike took it really well, they didn’t cry or anything when I told them and they even said there was no way they would race it without me, so it was over for all of us. I would have gladly helped them find a replacement, but they said “no, it’s one for all and all for one”. I do love those guys.

So the big weekend came, I was a little sad about missing Burning, but China will only be in high school for another year after this one and I really don’t want to miss any of her last few years at home.


I started the weekend by taking pictures of China and her friends in action at the homecoming football game.


Both China and her friend Madison said that since I wasn’t racing they wanted to be in the blog, because of course they knew once they made the blog, they would be famous.


China and Madison are both flyers they are left and center.
They also made the jumbotron at the game, so they are like super celebrities.


So the game ended with the Tigers beating Belleville East, a team that is actually much better than they are. The weekend really started with a bang, I guess when you have players this big anything can happen.


Saturday came and the weather was beautiful, even as I was getting in a good long road bike with the boys that morning, I was thinking about my friends who were racing at Burning, I kept thinking what a perfect day to be in the woods on a Superfly, but it just wasn’t in the cards for me this year. So I finished my ride then ran around all afternoon getting ready for my big night of taking just the right photo, or maybe just a million photos and hoping that a few of them would be good.

Of course China and Madison looked great, along with all their other friends.

I even took a picture of China and her boyfriend Alex, even though I would be happier if she didn’t have a boyfriend until she was 35.


I finally had to go home and let the kids go to the dance and have a good time, but at least I had about 150 pictures to spend my night looking at. And… as for missing Burning at the Bluff, it was totally worth it.