Amazing Race: 9th Annual Bicycle Balloon Race

Gravel, schmavel! Here's a race that will really take your breath away. The event is part of the Warren County Farmer's Fair and Hot Air Balloon Festival. The premise is fairly simple. Bicyclists and balloonists pair up to compete against other teams. Participating pilots launch with a bike and bicyclist. After flying for a predetermined distance or amount of time, the pilot will land and let the bicyclist out, who then must cycle back to the Fairgrounds. The team who returns to the Fairgrounds first wins a cash prize. This year the proceeds went to Adopt a Soldier Platoon.

Meesh (riding her new Soma Wolverine) and Tracy (the balloon pilot) were able to raise over $5000 for the charity. Congrats on a job well done!

Soma NYC Photodump Part 1

I know I said I would post these a couple weeks ago. Sue me. It's been busy out here. Anyhow, here's the goods.

The first day of the trip began a little way outside Hackensack New Jersey. I was lured into a local diner by this awesome sign. 10 points if you know what that's about.

I won't attest to the accuracy of this, but it was very authentic. They had a number of signed picture of celebs including Robert De Niro on display.

You have to love the Art Deco metal work in here; just gorgeous. I got the sense that the same folks that were eating breakfast had been coming there for years.

This was my first time in New Jersey, so I wasn't sure what to expect. My friends who come from NJ assured me that they no longer practice human sacrifice or cannibalism.

Here's our little Soma table at the Action Bicycles Expo.

I gave away a couple hundred stickers, Soma and New Albion catalogs and got to meet a lot of great folks from shops around the New York Metropolitan Area. Thanks to everybody for coming out!

Had a couple minutes to walk around and check out some of the other vendors that were there too. Thompson brought all the bling.

Maxxis had some nice skinwall 29er tires on display too.

After the show I grabbed my Chrome backpack and hit the road. Riding through NJ was a surprisingly pleasant experience.

The view of Manhattan from the NJ side of the Hudson River was quite imposing. Makes SF look like a fishing village by comparison.

Hopped a ferry across the river to Lower Manhattan.

The weather looked a bit ominous, but the temperature was actually very mild.

I snuck through the snarl of traffic and made it past all the tourists across the Manhattan bridge over to Brooklyn. After dropping off my bag and taking a quick shower I took off for a night ride to explore the city. Stay tuned for part 2.