January 2 the first Saturday of 2010, the morning started with temperatures in the mid 40’s and warmed up to the 60’s by 10am with low winds, great weather for the McCanalenburg challenge, I had seen the race pass behind my house twice and so this year a I just had to be a part of it.

It is about 10am and I am wearing the new Wally’s Bicycles Kit, at the front of the start line, black on white it stands out impressively especially when to my left was Alex Spish, Rod, and Wally, also wearing their new shop kits, behind me a pack of some serious mountain bikers a lot of them on full suspension high performance mountain bikes with all terrain wheels and rugged welds, I’m looking at the start banner, being held by two fishing poles, the race directors gives a prayer and thanks the sponsors, I pray I don’t get run over by the oversized wheels behind me, the race starts.

I clip in and take off I am quickly moving through the soft grass to the first turn, this is it, my hearts pounding fast no HR monitor needed to figure that out. I’m at the front with a group of eight. I quickly look back and see the dirt being kicked up by the wheels of the other racers. We then make it to the first canal, and I am feeling more and more confident riding my Cervelo; Wally is also on his Cervelo, as we increase our speed it just gets easier, each obstacle, holes, jumps, thick grass, loose dirt, anything, it seem that the bike enjoys it as much as I do, despite some really harsh roads and some even harder landings I was continually amazed. The race continues our group grows smaller until all I see are three Wally’s bicycles jerseys and a very strong mountain biker.

We continue working together jumping from canal to canal, then about 3 miles to the finish, I’m still testing the abilities of my bike, I’m pulling in the front, as we go off one canal and cross a road to the next, I see a steep incline leading to the next canal, I position myself. I am ready to fly over this! As soon as I hit the dirt I accelerate, my bike is ahead of me. I suddenly realize I flew to high and go down, I hear 3 popping noises as I land on my left ankle, I yelled and quickly get up, painfully clip in and look for the white jerseys to catch up, I’m going as fast as I can, there is a turn up ahead, and I see the black on white jerseys pass on the opposite side of the canal, Alex yells to me Focus Albert! FOCUS! I forget about the pain and just go.

Later, I see the guys in front of me come to a stop, as I get closer I see raised rail road tracks. I unclip, carry my bike, and hop over to the other side and clip back in. Next we’re in a golf course, the finish is near I make a final turn and see as Rod, Alex and Wally, sprint to the finish, Rod takes first! Even though I’m a about 50 meters back I’ve made it this far so I go put in a sprint anyways, in the end Wally’s Bicycles wins McCanalenburg challenge 2010 with Rod 1^st, Wally 2^nd, Alex 3^rd, and Me 4^th, an exciting way to start the Cycling season for 2010!

The shop was given the privilege of lecturing a local group of future Eagle Scouts on the importance of bicycle safety and maintenance. These group of boys are trying to complete the requirements to earn their cycling merit badge. They must complete 7 rides, two 10 milers, two 15 milers, two 25 milers, and one 50 miler. What a task!

During our 45 minute lesson we went over bicycle safety and the basics of maintenance. As the scouts get a few rides under their belt, we will have a second lesson that will go over more rules of the road.

Wally’s Bicycles would like to extend a huge congratulations to Ramon Hermida, Trey Crouch, Gilbert Sandoval, David Wallace, Erique & Eudy Carillo for riding in the 2009 MS Valero Ride. The group trained together for months on end to prepare for the fundraising event. The weather conditions were tough with much rain the entire first day. Ride organizers were compelled to cancel Day 2 with the increase severity of thunderstorms in the region.