Liquid Courage Part I
Sort of random thoughts from last nights installment of the Wednesday Night ride in Downingtown.
They said it was going to be mellow. Sure they've said this in the past and it wasn't, but they kept saying it. The mention of a beer stop solidified my belief it actually would be mellow.
It wasn't mellow.
Because I thought it was going to be mellow, I invited Buddy on a pre-ride at Marsh Creek. We got an hour and a half of speedy great traction riding in before heading over to Victory for the actual ride. On the way, we each grabbed a beer.
The ride got off a little late as Ben and Scott were still out stashing beers at the top of Mark D' Huez. Cool. Still looks mellow. We rolled out and headed for Skelp Level. Turn into the woods and suddenly it's not mellow anymore. Ben and Mark were way off the front and Ryan was going over the bars. Straighten up and take off again. Ryan, Yarnall (the vet), myself and Henderson had a nice little downhill freight train going. In a flash, we passed by some women's Beaners going the other way. On the climb out, Copper DeCarlo (he's a roadie and a Pig) boggled the one root I wanted to make and stuck Henderson and I with dabs.
Cross the road and into the forbidden lands. The route was down Vietnam, up the Center and out through Bulldozer. I moved to the front with Ben and took off. I pedaled my ass off (down hill) to keep up with him. Many times my life flashed before my eyes as they focused and refocused on roots, trees, rocks and trail. All the pedaling worked as we gaped the others in our decent.
The climb up the Center was uneventful till Ben made a reroute skipping dozer to take Butt-Pucker instead. Not at all the gnarly death drop it used to be Ben, Rick and myself dropped in over the rocks for the behind the seat decent. Halfway down I got the crazy notion to try and pass Rick, who was holding his own quite well, but ended up taking myself out (testosterone and adrenalin make a toxic mix). Scraped and dirtied I was relegated to the back as everyone else rolled to the bottom. Again Ben took a reroute and finished out the forbidden lands with a traverse of Clay.
To be continued...
-b
They said it was going to be mellow. Sure they've said this in the past and it wasn't, but they kept saying it. The mention of a beer stop solidified my belief it actually would be mellow.
It wasn't mellow.
Because I thought it was going to be mellow, I invited Buddy on a pre-ride at Marsh Creek. We got an hour and a half of speedy great traction riding in before heading over to Victory for the actual ride. On the way, we each grabbed a beer.
The ride got off a little late as Ben and Scott were still out stashing beers at the top of Mark D' Huez. Cool. Still looks mellow. We rolled out and headed for Skelp Level. Turn into the woods and suddenly it's not mellow anymore. Ben and Mark were way off the front and Ryan was going over the bars. Straighten up and take off again. Ryan, Yarnall (the vet), myself and Henderson had a nice little downhill freight train going. In a flash, we passed by some women's Beaners going the other way. On the climb out, Copper DeCarlo (he's a roadie and a Pig) boggled the one root I wanted to make and stuck Henderson and I with dabs.
Cross the road and into the forbidden lands. The route was down Vietnam, up the Center and out through Bulldozer. I moved to the front with Ben and took off. I pedaled my ass off (down hill) to keep up with him. Many times my life flashed before my eyes as they focused and refocused on roots, trees, rocks and trail. All the pedaling worked as we gaped the others in our decent.
The climb up the Center was uneventful till Ben made a reroute skipping dozer to take Butt-Pucker instead. Not at all the gnarly death drop it used to be Ben, Rick and myself dropped in over the rocks for the behind the seat decent. Halfway down I got the crazy notion to try and pass Rick, who was holding his own quite well, but ended up taking myself out (testosterone and adrenalin make a toxic mix). Scraped and dirtied I was relegated to the back as everyone else rolled to the bottom. Again Ben took a reroute and finished out the forbidden lands with a traverse of Clay.
To be continued...
-b
posted by JenBob at
7:59 AM
3 Comments:
Chris Ryan and I also stashed the beer. We climb duez on the trails. Chris carried a six and ryan and I carried a single. didn't want to give scott and ben all the credit for the beer.
Bob, the dangerous combination is adrenalin + testosterone + hopwallop. This leads to crashes.
Great ride Wed.
OMR
I hadn't had any hop wallops yet...
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