Another Fall and another Old Flowers road is upon us. I haven't done this ride since I got the Yeti and I am looking forward to using some of 5 inches of suspension to bomb some of the rocky sections.
I meet Ron, Dave, Michael at the FCHS and we take 2 cars over to Stove Prairie. We are some of the 1st to arrive, and are joined
by, Gale, Scott, Todd, Mike, Bill, Mike, Mike. Yes there are 4 Mikes on this ride!
After all of the Photos and intro's and small talk is over it's time to hit the trail. We are all en-mass for about 1 minute before Ron and Scott go off the front. It's not that they were going that fast it's just that the rest of us were just taking it easy. Scott is training for Iron-Man Florida, so he needs to train and it was nice of Ron to keep him company.
So we are now in 3 groups, Scott & Ron, most of us and Mike and Mike and Mike? bringing up the rear. Usually we regroup at the last gate before the rocky double trak but this didn't happen... No biggie, just not what I expected.
We are ramping up the effort as is dictated by the hills. I can feel the extra weight of the Yeti, but it's not too bad cause I am not going hard. Dave and Bill and Gale pass me on the 1st climb but I have no interest in staying with them cause I haven't been training and don't want to blowup before the end of the day.
We go up and down and up and down. I am not up front with the leaders so I don't know who the best climbers/descenders are. We do regroup at the top of the 1st big climb as we wait for some of the others. Everyone (11 of us) are finally there and some
have time constraints so 3 Mikes turn back at this point.
Now we descend and play and the Yeti is performing super on the rocky descents. Having that bike really inspires confidence. Even in the air the bike feels at home even if the rider doesn't. The descent was all too quick and now it's time to climb. I have good hopes in cleaning all of the climbs ("Which I did"). The ground was damp which gave more traction and there were a bunch of folks who cleaned all of the hills today that had never done that before.
On the last descent towards Pingrie Park Rd Dave and I were flying down the rocky stuff until Dave pinch flatted. On minute he was with me and the next he was gone. At the time I didn't know what happened to him but I knew Michael was behind him since he was on the only hard-tail and if in an
ything happened he would let us know. In any case I slowed down a bit till the end....
We regroup again and Scott wants to do some more so we head toward White Pine. Todd turns back since he was spent from riding dirt bikes the day before. We sorta get lost and separated for a while but we eventually find everyone before it's time to head back. It's amazing how all of those dirt roads start to look a like back there....
Ok, time to head back and off we go. Now that I have gone half way it's time to push it a bit more and I join the melee for King of the Hill on this 1st ascent. Michael was really impressive on this one as he walked off the front and Scott, Bill, Ron etc couldn't even keep him in sight! Try as I might, without the training I am no match for the Big men and manage only a 5th place on this one after Michael, Scott, Bill, and Ron. I must say that Ron wasn't his usual self today, perhaps too many hard rides in the week(s) prior.
We regroup and now I am spent. Everyone is all amp'd up now and the ride is turning into a race. The ascents are really hard for me and I am starting to really tire. I was following Michael on his hard tail on some of the descents after we got caught back and man was he fying.
I couldn't have gone any faster and I was amazed how well that hard tail was descending. We like different lines, so I had to give him some space so I could pick mine.. but it was fun just watching him.....
After catching the group, it's game on again. Gale had gone ahead, but the group caught her as she has some chain suck to deal with. Scott, Bill, MIchael check out and I could only see Ron and Dave in front of me. I would make up ground on them when the ground fattens or pitched down but on the ups I didn't have it to hang on. I was just about to make contact with Dave on a quick down-up when I snapped my chain! Ok Game-Over.
Gale comes by and waits with me while I make the repair. After I get going I find that I have an issue with my front
derailleur so all I have is the little chainring. Gail gets a gap on me and I follow her on one of the descents but I can't reel her in. I must say that on loose descents she descends as well or better than I do. Hmmmm Not sure what;s she;s been doing but whatever it is, her skill set has really improved!
Now without the big chainrings, all I can do is hobble back to the cars. My legs are tired anyway so it's not like even if I hadn't had any mechanicals that I would have been in the game anyway. I would probably be writing about Dave walking away from me on some ascent and my will being snapped or some such, but I am spared that.....
Finally back at the cars, and a good time was had by all.
Not sure I liked that it was a hammer fest on the way back and that we didn't regroup at all but whatever! Good thing no-one got hurt or needed any assistance....
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