40 it is.

December 17th was the night of my 40th birthday party thanks to Vanessa. That night was the culmination of a huge effort organizing an excellent get together with decorations, food, friends, a few drinks, and complete with a full size Quebec flag. Yeah it was originally planned to be a surprise party but that’s just not possible due to my superior detective skills.

Approximately 30 people were treated to a slideshow of way too many pictures of me – which I admit I enabled – and a music playlist of my favorites. There’s a chance that means some people can see beyond the assholeness and actually like me. Who knew? Although somewhat embarrassing the pictures were nice as a reminder of accomplishments and adventures. One baby picture got me to say “wow, that was a different life ago.” I don’t think I’d ever seen that one and must thank my mom for causing trouble from 700 miles away.

Kraig commented on the group being comprised of the old crew and the new crew which I thought about a few times since. I seem to make a few good friends along the way and keep them. I think the oldest relationship represented is from 1995 – 16 years ago – and the newest is from the 12 hours of Sundance mountain bike race just last October with plenty of people in the middle. Some of these friends grew out of the workplace and others out of leisure activities. Interestingly I think the group was split 50/50 among those two categories.

One common theme among the attendees is they all spoiled me by showing up but for some reason people felt the need to bring gifts. I truly never considered receiving gifts because by the time someone is THIS OLD they really don’t need anything, but people did awesome. Thanks to all.

Oh, and the whole “turning 40” thing? I had all bike racing season to think about it because I raced as a 40+ this year. One’s racing age is their age as of 12/31 of that year. And bike racing also helps me feel pretty good about my fitness compared to people of all ages, so yeah, I’m all good with 40. Bring it on.