For the past three straight weekends I have been racing or traveling to races.  I successfully completed 10 races in 15 days. The next four straight weeks are packed full of World Cups and US Cup races. With that said I figured I should take a weekend off from racing and enjoy the finer things in life like the Yarmouth Clam Festival.

Friday was the kick off to the festival with the annual parade. Turns out the parade is a pretty big deal to some people.  On Tuesday people were setting up their lawn chairs on the side of the road for the ‘perfect viewing spot’. To secure their lawn chairs the owners would come up with some creative locking mechanism that probably cost them well over a $100 to lock up a $10 lawn chair. This might seem a little crazy but how can one put a price on the perfect viewing spot for the Yarmouth Clam Festival Parade?  So just how awesome was the parade???? Well it was your average parade, some people walking down the street, the school’s band walking down playing some upbeat music, the local car dealerships driving down the road showing off the new car, and of course the local Shriner’s cruising around in go-carts.

Saturday I wasn’t able to spend much time at the Festival. I had to squeeze in an early am ride before heading to work for the day. I wasn’t to upset about missing out on Saturdays activities as it rained all morning long. By 6:30pm the sun decided to come out and it was looking pretty nice outside. Hattie and I decided we should go check out all the vendors before the fireworks started. Hattie and I found this sweet belt shop run by two older gentlemen.  I was in the market for a belt since I just picked up a very sweet belt buckle for finishing the BC bike race. I browsed through the selection of raw-hide and found a great match. That night Hattie and I enjoyed a great fireworks show put on by the Town of Yarmouth.

Sunday was another fun packed day. We were up early and at the Clam Fest by 8:00am for the Road Race. Cycle Mania puts on the road race and since they are a sponsor of mine I figured it would be a good time to give back to those who support me. Hattie and I tag teamed and guarded the intersection of Portland St. and Main St, a great place to be a spectator. I held my ground as a course marshal telling any driver who approached my intersection to turn around and to find another way. It felt good to have such authority; I think it was the Race Day Marshal  T-shirt that really scared off the drivers.

I was back at work Sunday afternoon, this time not at Starbucks. Since sometime in May Tim and I have been trying to find a time in each other’s schedule that would work for us to work on Tim’s bike handling skills. Tim and I spent about two hours cruising around Bradbury Mountain while working on a variety of skills. I am not sure how great of a bike skills teacher I am but I did have a great time. Not to mention the trails are in great condition.