Thankfulness

It was a very nice weekend off the bike in the quaint little Alaska town of Talkeetna. A really charming place to visit, good food, great scenery and welcoming people. Definitely a place to see if you are traveling through that part of Alaska.

Beyond the great food and all of the amazing fatbikes, this weekend was one of those times that really highlighted the power of connection and the overwhelming kindness of people.

In short, through the power of Twitter and Facebook Dan Bailey was able to acquire a SOL E bivy for me and then through his Facebook account found someone that could bring it to me. Thanks Tony and Dan.

Another Tony hooked me up with Sean on Saturday so that I had a place to sleep. I shot photos of the race so in exchange for a slideshow at the after party Errin got me in, eating and drinking for free. The next day I realized that I needed to score a new tube, which Tony number one gladly gave to me.

Sunday afternoon I began to sort out the bike in anticipation of heading out Monday morning when I discovered that my pedal was busted. It had acted strange on the way in to town, but honestly I had forgotten about it. So I walked to a small coffee shop that had a fat bike leaning outside and went in and asked for help. After a bit of discussion, Will, the owner of the Surly, lent me his crank brothers . Problem/crisis averted, just like that.

Finally Monday saw a kind soul buy me breakfast, am a jumbo sized piece of freshly baked quiche. All in all an amazing weekend that continues to reinforce how connected we all are.