August 30, 2009

  • BobCat, Ginny and Powerline etc.

    Time to get back on the MTB again and I am looking forward to seeing Kent again.  I didn't post the ride to Velocal  cause I didn't have to have 2 BC rides but I guess I could have anyway. 

    I arrive a bit early and so does Kent!  We make ready or mounts and off we go.  Kent is looking really fit and the pace that he sets is one that I wouldn't be doing unless in the company of others.   It's good to be pushed a bit and it wasn't so fast that I was suffering, but it was fast enough that I didn't have enough left over to clean some of the technical stuff.  It's all good though and I was feeling kinda rusty on the up hill stuff anyway so I walked a lot of the stuff that I had ridden in the past.

    Up Up Up we go and this is much longer than I had remembered.  Seems that there are a lot more exposed rocks or perhaps I my memory has failed me here.  On the way up we see some of the 4:50 boys coming down.  They were pretty strung out and it looked like one of them had some blood on his knee. Hmm this cold be a bad omen!

    We make the summit and it looks like we have taken 2 hours just to make the climb!  Hmm,  I don't remember what it normally takes but this just seems long.  We arrive at the top and get some food and then head towards the fire road.  We almost get there, but Kent needs to head back so we turn around.

    It's fun time now and we are ready to head down.  I need to reset the lever travel for the front disc and after a few squeezes without the wheel on, I am good to go and the left brake is factory sweet again!   I opt to follow Kent on this one cause I don't want to get myself into trouble.  Oh I should mention that I brought my Fox Knee-shin guards to try out and they are actually pretty comfy.

    We ride most of the stuff but there were a few sections that we just walked.  I am rusty and there is no need to crash today. Half way down I do take the lead, but I am conservative and just happy to be out riding again.. Kent had fallen over and it turns out his cleat was loose and he could not un-clip and boom, he fell over. We make it too the bottom and life is good.  Kent needs to leave but I am thinking about going up the power line trail and doing the Ginny trail descent again.

    Here we go again and I decide to head up the power line trail.  I haven't done this one in a while and I was curious to see how much it has changed.   Funny how time dulls the memory cause it was pretty challenging and being a bit tired, I had to walk some of the rocky sections.  I don't think I could have cleaned those sections anyway.

    About 2/3 of the way up I hear a bike behind me and it's a young woman on a hard tail old school bike.  We chat for a few seconds.  She has dropped her husband and is waiting for him.   We end up swapping positions on the hill a couple of times.   I get to the end of the fire road and I am hungry.  I stop to get some food and sit on a nice comfy rock.

    After a bit the young woman  Valerie and her Husband Justin come along and we chat for a bit about cycling.   We ride together for a while.   They are pretty strong and better than decent skill wise.  

    We come upon a rider who had a flat "Phil" and we chat with him for a bit while he works on his tire.  He decides to join us after the tire is fixed.  It's Phil's 1st time here and I had chatted with him earlier as he was going and Kent and I were almost done..

    Anyway it's time to descend and I don't want to push it cause I am tires and getting sloppy.  I hang back and just chill for a while.   Val is really stoked to be cleaning so much stuff and I am impressed that she's that good on a hard tail.   She was faster than the gentleman who I was riding with earlier in the day.. sorry Kent!    Justin and Phil were pretty fast and I just let them go.

    We regrouped a couple of times and I decide that I need to see if I can stay with Justin.  I am surprised at how good he is on that hardtail and I am glad he doesn't have a FS bike.   He would walk away from me anytime the trail went abit up but .  I could bring him back when we were descending, but it wasn't a cake walk.

    So now we are near the bottom on one of my favorite sections.   I go to hop this rock but the front tire hit it kinda hard.  No problem, I'll just ride it out.  Ohhhhhh sh&t the front tire is washing out  and I am going to crash! Oh man and I am on the ground.   I hear this loud hissing and I realize that the front tire went flat when I hit the rock and that cause the front to wash.  I was going pretty fast and that fall hurt.   I do a parts check and I have a few scrapes and my leg and back are pretty sore.   I think I cracked or bruised a rib and my right quad was pretty sore.   Oh well,  guess the leg armor helped!     Val and Phil find me a bit later and I fix the flat and we ride back down.  I am taking it easy cause well I am sore.

    Finally back at the car and a good time was had by all.   I am pretty sure the rib is bruised cause it hurts when I sneeze or stand on the bike, but it's not a bad pain it's just annoying.. Oh well, guess I will take it easy for a while.Bummer my camera got hosed and I lost a few shots...