Ron and I headed up North to do a pre-ride of the Laramie Enduro course.  Ron had done the 1st half a couple of weeks ago, and it was time to see the 2nd.

We arrive there, only to find that Ron had the wrong shoes with the wrong cleats!!  As luck would have it, he had extra cleats in his tool box, so he swapped them out and we were good to go.

The 1st bit was good old East Cost Single trak.  Lots of roots and  rocks.  Some of the spots were moderately technical.   Definaltey one of those course that could get you into trouble if you just went blasting down stuff.  Considering that this would be in the 2nd half of the race, it' good to see it.

The wooded area was kinda tricky and if we didn't have Ron's GPS with the course  loaded, we would have been lost early.

So, just let me say now, this was a long day in the saddle.  So, let's skip to some of the hignlights.

We came across a guy walking with his MTB and turns out that he broke his frame.  Nothing we could do about it, so we kept moving.    

Ron was definately moving better than I was, and  after a bit I noticed that I had broken 2 spokes.  We took some duct tape and secured them to some other spokes becuase they couldnt be removed as they were frozen to the nipples.  I had to loosen up the rear brakes to keep the brakes from dragging....  

Let me say, and this can't be stressed enough,  "Without that GPS we would have been hosed".   Ther trail wasn't makred too well yet! so we were doing some bushwacking short sections.  Seems that someone had ridden this recently, so we could see where some of the grasses were pushed over a bit, but without that we would have had no clue.  I  should say that Ron's Garming 305 was spot on and that when in doubt, "Trust the GPS".

We emunterd lots of cuws and fence gates that we would have to open and close.  There were even a few fences we would have to hop just to continue.   THis is definatley a fun course and worthy or real  MTBr's. 

I guess there must have been some rain or something recently, cause we found a couiple of Mud Bogs that we would have to conquer.  Yep, just keep the bike moving and all is good, otherwise your're getting really dirty shoes.

Did I mention that this was  long ride.  I didn't really think about the distance at 1st, but this would turn out to be ~40 mile ride. Not at endurance race pace ~10 mph this would take 4 hours, but we were moving about 7, and with all of the stop etc. our real avg was pretty slow....

The scenery was beautifu and there was  interesting terrain everywhere.   It's kinda a long drive to get there, but it's well worth it for the variety.

The last 18 miles were pretty greuling.  There was a ton of climbing and I ran out of water with 5 miles to go.   Ron' s  frozen cambak wasn't thawing as fast as one would have hoped so he too was a bit de-hydreated at points.

Unfortunately, the last portions of this were techincal rocky and rooty and I  just had to walk some sections cause I was to tired to focus and didn't want to crash trying to clean something that I didn't need too.

We were so glad to get back to the car, where ron had his trademark heated  wet towels ready for us to wipe the grime from out bodies.

I must say a good time was had by all.  Glad I am not doing the race, cause I am not in any shape to be even thiniing about it.

I'm bummed my camera didn't work and I don't have any pics of this one.

Something a little different.  Most folks don't know who James Stewart is!   Just so you know, he's the fastest MX racer on the Planet.  Here's fum Video of, The Man, The Myth, My Hero" 

So yeah, yeah,  It's another Estes ride with Gales Crew.  I have probably done a ton of these over the years, so this time I will just list some highlights. 

A bunch of folks showed for this one and it's wasn't to far out that  Eric Crashed! on the 22nd Street.  The road and the cement were at an un even height, which made this difficult to see.  Eric's wheel hit this and there was nothing that he could do.  He had some pretty bad road rash and his bike was OK!

We got  going again and before long the pace hotted up pretty good on 34.  I think Ron was the person who ignited this whole thing!   Dave N.  Sledge, Eddie, Scott made some pretty good pulls too.   I really prefer a steady effort, cause there is no frackin way I could hold that effort all the way to Estes, nor would I want too!  Unless I was racing!  

The pace ebbed and flowed with Bruce putting in a soldid effort at the front during the 1st steep section!.  This separated some of the folks, or maybe they were just wise. 

After the break before the bridge,  the pace amp'd up to the point where I sand, "No Mas".  Ron, Dave, Gale, Scott, Sledge, Bruce etc. were going good, but I had no legs/lungs for this today.   It may have been because I didn't have any Cytomax and had only fruit juice in my camel bak.  In any case I let the group go, knowing that they would regroup in Drake.  Ilka passed me after I dropped off the pace, but I had no intrest in chasing ghosts...

After the regroup, the pace settled on the way to Glenn Haven.   Well at least for a little while.  Bruce, Dave, Ilka, Sledge, Scott were putting some good efforts at the front.  I was just hangin in for the ride on this on.  Could be my legs were weary from the MTB ride on Friday.    Ilka surprised me with how hard she was going at the front, and i think she was putting Ron in some difficulty at one point.    I did try and have a go at the sprint but I was too far back when I realized that Scott and Bruce were going for it.  Scott I belive won that one.  I think if I had the other bike I would have done better.....

Now it's onto the big climb and Dave N. is setting a good pace.  Ron decides to take it easy but I want to give it a good effort.   I get the lead for a bit, but Sledge and Scott walk by me and I have no answer for them.  Dave N. is close by and I really don't want him to beat me to the top.  Dave surges  a couple of times, but I am able to respond and summit 3rd behind Scott and Sledge (Not sure of the order here).

So we group up. head for town. Get some food.

Gale, Dave, Scott, Sledge etc  wanted to get some more miles in but Ron, Bruce and I had enough for today and were heading for home.   I am pretty tired, and don't want to work on the way down.   I get dropped by Ron and Bruce a few times.. but that's OK. 

I finish the ride home by myself at a leisurely pace. A good time was had by all. 

So, by chance I ran into Steve Lacey on the 3rd of July.  He stated that he and his crew (AKA the 4:50 club) were doing a ride and that  I could join in.  I spoke with Steve a bit about the terrain, and I figured that it would be a little bit rocky and a tiny bit technical.   Ok sounds reasonable.  So I have to meet Steve at 4:10 A.M for the trip to Brainard.

So Doug and I meet Steve at his Steve's place and we head over to JJ's to meet Yann.  We all pile into Yann's  van and off we go to meet Randy up at Brainard.

Hmmmm,  my 1st clue should have been when I saw all of the modified chanrings on the bikes along with all the 140mm + forks that this could be more than I bargained for. 

It's kinda cold to start with and we are climbing.  Yann etc are climbing pretty hard, but I am just warming up and taking it easy.  I am told that if Sammy were there then the pace may be a bit higher.   We start out on some double trak which is moderately steep but not too bad.   As soon as we get to the single trak I snapped my chain. .   I fix it and off we go.

The terrain is rocky and technical and I was having to focus to pick good lines.  It's pretty clear that the 4:50 guys do this all the time.   I end up going down on an up-hill switch back and tweaking my hand a bit, and it's only the 1st 1/2 hour.

Pics cann be found here:

So this is a different world.  It's a lot like East Coast riding.    The 4:50 crew is a lot more comfy on the rocks, but I am able to hold my own.   I can see the advantage of having plush suspension, and although mine is good, it's not great.  I could see that the 4:50 guys have their stuff dialed in for this kinda thing.

The Way up is a ton of climbing.  we got pretty close to 11,000 feet.   The climbs were technical, but ridable, although I did walk a couple of sections.  We got a chance to play in some of the snow and it was relaxing.  Yann and Steve were riding some logs and doing wheelie drops!   Makes one realize their place in the universe.

Soon it was time to descend and this was all good,,, Until  it was time to lower the saddles.  I really had to focus on some of the steep stuff and I fear'd for my safety a points.  I rode some stuff that had me sweating and was pleased to be able to clean a lot of it.  I did have to dismount the bike a couple of times, but  I didn't' get hurt.

A good time was had by all.   I'll inline some of my pics later, but my camera is dying as I lost a bunch of pics.

Som Jamie suggested that we do a ride up Fall River Road from Fort Collins.  He is training for the Triple Bypass and needed to get in some miles.  The usual suspects,  Ron and Dave were busy doing their own epics and so it looks like it will be a small crew.

There is no friggin way I am going to ride from Fort Collins up Trail ridge.  That's officially what I like to call crazy talk.  Even when I was training for Leadville I wouldn't do that!   A more reasonable ride would be from the Dam Store so that's the plan.  That' still pretty crazy for someone not training for anything, but I didn' have anything better to do.

I meet Jamie at the Dam Store and we take a leisurely stroll up to Estes Park.  Probably one of the easiest I have ever had, but it will be a long day so why suffer for no reason.  Jamie had a hard day Saturday so there were no complaints from anyone.

We did decide to go up Glenn Haven, and that's about the end of any forced extra suffering!  My legs are tired from walking around the Moto on Saturday,  Running on Friday and the TTH ride on Thursday...

We make to Estes, get some food at the Bagel shop. We  refuel and head up to  Rocky MTN park.   We get there and seems that now they will allow 2 cyclists to get in on one pass.  Also the ranger stated that 2 people could sign 1 pass!   So I purchase a pass and Jamie rides for free today.

Once we hit Fall River road, the effort increases about 10 beats per minute for me.  The HR wasn't high, but with tired legs I would have preferred to go slower cause I wanted to be able to make it without cramping.    We keep this pace for a bit then slow down then speed up.  The pace is still pretty slow but that's OK because I am tired. 

It's not as cold as I would have expected.  Even near the Summit, we didn't find it necessary to add any extra clothing.

At the Visitors center we  get some expensive food!   Jamie strikes up a conversation with some charity riders from Baltioore riding to Sanfran for Cancer etc.  They are a good sized group all riding Lemonds.  One guy made this camera mount out of an old tail light bracket and I will have to make one of these....

Once we are fueled we decide to ride up to Rock Cut and take traill ridge down. I was pretty sick of climbing but did it anyway.  

The descent was nice except the cars were going way slow.  I had to use a lot of break and my front brake shoes wore out and  were now metal on metal.  Jamie didn't mind going slower but I felt I was cheated out of my reward for all that climbing.

Finally back down to Estes and I was getting pretty cranky and tired.   I think I was like lecturing Jamie on some descending thing and I missed his point entirely.... Anyway,  sorry about that Jamie...  After getting back to Estes and getting more food I was feeling better....

We decided to go straight down the mountain..  Jamie did  90% of the work cause I didn't want to work.. Yeah, I could have worked, but I just didn't want to make this a training ride and just wanted to enjoy the day.   Anytime  my HR got over 150 I just didn't want to work any harder...

Finally we make it to the Dam Store and frankly, my legs felt pretty good, and that's a good thing!  I had a max HR of only 166 for the day which is a new low for me on that ride.  Jamie continued on as his legs were still fresh.

Long day in the saddle.  7+ hours for me.  I didn't think it would take that long, but it did.  Oh well.

So, What's this got to do with Cycling?  Well not a whole lot but it's fun to watch.    I figured this would be a good  chance to check out some Moto action, live  instead of always watching from the couch.

This was a new experience for me, as I have never been to a MX event.   With James Stewart etc. slated to be there, this was a chance to see the best in the world race.    The event was in Lakewood and it was to be the 1st night time event ever.  Yep, that was a good reason for me to go. 

Too bad I couldn't go earlier and get into the pits and have a shoot at getting some autographs and pics.  I was able to make it down in time for the main events for both the  MX and lites classes.

I must say that these guys are really impressive.  You've really got to be there to get the real sense of what these guys do.  TV is OK, but  seeing, hearing the stuff is much better.

I did a lot of walking around the track so I could see some of the race close up.  There was action everywhere and tons of good battles.  The top guys here were in a league of there own.   Stewart, Alessi, Vilapoto, Canard etc were making some impressive, moves/passes to score podium spots,

For the Last Moto I decided that I was tired of walking and that I would get a seat high up on the hill.    I think the word "High" said it best as the scent of burning  hemp product was pretty strong at times.....

Anyway,  I got to see "The Fastest Man on the Planet",  James Stewart sweep both  motos and keep is perfect season intact!

Another Sunday and the opportunity to do the Pinewood TT is one that sounded like a good idea.   The legs were good the past weeks so this could be a good baseline to see how things are going. Since I am not training for anything or riding anywhere near as much as the previous 2 years, I don't expect a PR, but just some good clean suffering.

I wake up early enough to ride to Gales, so I take my time and enjoy the ride.  I get there and I see bikes and folks rolling in.  Bruce is there, and has mended quite well since the crash.  Ron, Gale, Scott, Dustin, Eric, Ed, Sledge, etc. are there.  This should make for a spirited climb and I am looking forward to it.

So we take off and life is good and the pace is reasonable and all is well.   I had expectations that or at least hopes that this effort would hold but this was not to be.  I don't know who was up front, but the pace amp'd up and  I was starting to hurt a bit.  Ok, not really, but it was more effort than I wanted before a TT.

Heading down 34 and it seemed there were a lot of folks that were up for all of this hammering. I am thinking "What the Frack" is this!   IMHO this is way to fast for me, but I am here and I might as well hang with the group for a bit.  Now if I wasn't expecting to do as TT this would have been  all well and good, but this is not how I like to warmup for a TT.

We exit 34 and head towards Carter Lake,   We make the right had turn and the Hammer is still down.  Ok, "No Mas".  I will just take it easy and hope that there will be an ordered start and I can catch up later.  I ease up and watch as the group hammers away...

A mile or so pass and I don't really know where Gale starts the TT but I am sure it's somewhere after the turn for Carter.  I pass the Carter Lake road and look up the mountain to see riders already up the road.  I am a bit bummed that I missed the start but from the looks of the 2 riders up the road, there is no way that they all started together.   I don't know if everyone knew what the plan was.  I think they did but the testosterone got to flowing and they couldn't help themselves.   I can't believe everyone didn't know, but I guess I had different expectations as to how this was going to go down.  Oh, well, "It is what it is".

Now I have pretty much lost my motivation to climb hard, so I just setting into a hard pace, but I am way below my TT HR.    The legs are good but the motivation isn't there.  I see Gale up the road taking it easy, and I am able to catch her.  I continue going at a good effort.  I look at my time as I near the summit and it;s pretty clear that it's not great, but then I didn't expect it to be...

I make the top and all are waiting.  Gale arrives a minute later or so an it's off to ride to the dirt road and back. Oh Ok, whatever...

We now are making the climb back and there a rider up the road just oblivious to the car that had be more/less patiently waiting to get by.   I don't know who this was, but in light of the Sheriff  and all the cycling stuff going on, I would think that he would have been a bit more aware of traffic.  Finally the car gets around and it looked like some hand waving or something was going on.....

Time for the descent and  off we go.    At some point, my pump flew out of my camel back so I had to turn back to get it.  I am way OTB, but the group is waiting up the road.

Some folks do  Carter Lake while Gale and most of the crew head back to her place.  The pace is brisk and I am trying to motivate myself to wan to ride hard, but it's not working.....

We ride pretty hard as we  enter the final sprint territory with me up front.  I slow the pace a a bit so as to have a chance to get this one. Suddenly Sledge launches from the group, but  Ron is quick to go by  him to take the victory!  

The rest of the ride was uneventful, with the possible exception of Scott winning the hill sprint against Bruce?

After arriving back a Gales,  Ron, Sledge and I take it easy on the way back to the fort.  Ron and Sledge were going harder than I wanted at times, but they would wait for me after they saw I was back. 

Finally,  I am home and can enjoy Fathers Day and I look forward to watching  the 6 day races in the afternoon.

Ron and Steve Pick me up and we pile into Steve's Outback.    It's a tight fit but we get most of the stuff in....

We arrive on Friday to find Jeff and Tom from Team #1 setting up their pop up camper.  We set up Steve's tent and get our stuff out.    More of the crew roll in, but our 1st order of business is to go check out the course.

Ron, Steve and I head out for and easy Lap.   It's a  Pure Roadie coarse with only a bit of sand in spots to make things challenging.    After about a mile Ron walks away from Steve and I while we take it more or less easy.   I am taking it easier than either Steve or Ron so I find myself alone but that's OK.   The course is up hill on the way out with a slight grade which steeps a bit before the 1/2 way point.    The descent on the way back is fast, which some sandy off camber turns.    Speeds of 35 + are pretty easy but one needs to watch the waterbars.   I finish the Lap to find Ron and Steve waiting at the end....

After a bit everyone is here from Team #1 and #2.   We attend the pre-race meeting and prepare for the start.   We choose Will to start it off since there was a run involved.  In hindsight either Ron or I should have gone 1st for reasons of the strongest riders doing the most..... but hindsight is always (20/20).

We wait for the start and had a chance to meet some folks.   The "Tough Girls" were one's of note and they had their look dialed in.   The mood was festive with a ton of folks looking to take some pics of video of the start.

Since Will and Jason hadn't seen the course, they were slated to be 1st to do just 1 lap apiece while it was still light out.   Oh,  the race started at 6:30 and for an 8 mile lap would allow plenty of time.  

We watched as the 1st competitors returned, turning blistering times in the 27 - 30 minute range. 

Will and Jason complete their laps with Ron slated to be the 1st of our team to do 2 laps.  We figured that 2 laps each would give us more time to sleep.   Ron turns the 2 laps in under and hour which is really really fast!

It's totally dark now and it's my turn to go.   I am ready and I take off at a moderate effort.  I don't want to blow up too early.  I try and take advantage of the rollers to get some free speed without too much effort.  I pass a lot of people on that 1st lap.  Bummer that my bike is having shifting issues so I must use bigger or smaller gears than I would like and I feel like I waste a lot of time fishing for them.   I also over dressed a bit, with a jacket instead of arm warmers and I was over heating a bit which I am sure slowed me down.

On my 2nd lap I am still feeling OK,  Arm warmers this time and I don't overheat.  It was so nice to pull them down on the climbs!   I  can tell I am a bit slower on parts of the course, but it's early in the race and I must meter my efforts.  I am wishing I had better lights for the descent as I am forced to go slower so I don't out run my view.

Finally I am done and I hand off to Will.    Back to camp where I fumble to change clothes and get something to eat.  I  take some Ensure and a mojo bar for my 1st meal during the battle.  Time to get some rest, but I don't sleep much.  The legs feel good though so I am not too worried.

Results are posted sporadically so we don't really know how we are doing.  At 1st check we were in about 10th with Team #1 right behind us.   Ron is turning some blistering times and the rest of us are holding our own.  Bummer that Will got a flat/slow leak and had to pump it up on the trail. 

Hours pass ever so slowly and folks are talking about lap times etc.   Soon It's my turn again and yes it's still dark.    Steve comes in a few seconds faster than I expect and I was fumbling to get my  gloves and stuff on after fiddling with something.   These next 2 laps I am a bit more weary and this bike shifting problem is really getting old.  It's probably costing me more time than I think.   The 1st of the 2 laps goes OK, but on the 1st one, I seem to have a lot more trouble descneding.  The sun started to peak out abit on the 2nd one, which is a good thing as my lights were starting to fade... I am so glad to be done again.

Rinse lather repeat as I do another Ensure and Mojo bar.    Change the clothes and hit the sack.  The legs are still good though.   I try and get some sleep and I may have gotten some, but it didn't feel like it.

As some point during the night I heard Team #1 calling out that their "next" rider didn't show up for the hand off.  This cost them at least 10 minutes for the 1st time this happened. It may have happened again too, but I wasn't paying too much attention to their affairs....

Once Daylight hit it was time to go back to doing single laps. This was better for all of us and our times reflected it.  Some more than others however.   It was weird doing ny 1st 4 laps in the dark since I had no speedo or HR monitor to look at.  I can only hope I was riding where I should have been...

I don't know how much sleep the others got, but in our tent, I would say that Steve G. got the most.   I was starting to get sick of Ensure, and was able to down a cold can of some kinda pasta Ravioli in-a-can thing.  It was a welcome break from the ensure. 

As we wore onto the after noon, the winds picked up on the outbound leg and it was slowing a log of folks.   For some reason the wind didn'r really bother me too much.  Sure I was going slower but I was happy to be pushing into it.   Maybe this was because I knew I was only going to have to do one lap.  The only annoying thing was that shifting issue which I think was getting worse...

Rinse Lather Repeat the whole food thing.  I have had a bunch of Ensure's by now and get some Nuts and stuff to go with.  I was tired enough at this point that I think I got some sleep maybe.   In any case I layed down a lot.   I should mention that the tent was kinda hot and I was concerned about extra dehydration, so I tried to drink as much water and Cytomax to offset this...

Results are really sporadic with only the overall team times so we don't really know how we are doing.  We may have moved up to 9th but those #'s are hours
With 1 more lap for me to do, I take the bike down to the Shimano
Tech's to have a look at the shifting.  They find a bent tooth on the
cassette,  Loose Hub,  Bent Deraileiur hanger and an 12 tooth lockring
where I should have had a 11.   It took them about 45 minutes to
fix/diagnose all of this.  I am grateful to have this done and all Free
too!

I was soooo hap old.
py to have gears again and life is much better for my last lap.  The wind is still there, but I don't really care.  I push on knowing that this is my last lap,  I tried to improve my cornering as last time one of the "Tough Girls" and some other guy came blowing by me in one of the corners.  Their bikes were hooking up so well.  I did try and keep contact but without my 11 tooth cog, it was futile.

Any way   I felt pretty good after my last lap and I think I could have done a few more.  It was clear that after Will that the team could do one more lap.  Ron volunteered to do that last one.  I guess I should mention that he had crashed on one of his later laps  and had this nice bruise on his Achilles area, but he was still fast never the less. 

During Will's last lap it started to rain and there was some Lightning!  I was sure glad not to be out there!   Ron takes the final lap while the rest of us start to pack up.  Ron turns in a fine time even after doing 2+ more laps that some of us!

When it was all said and done we ended up 7th/23.  Not too bad.  I think that we could improve this if we ever did this again, just by chaining a few things, which I won't go into here....

I think a good time was had by all.   We had fun, met some cool people (Golite & Tough Girls etc.) , got to camp out and bond with our fellow mtbrs.  Everyone on Team #1 and #2 were really cool.

Needless to say I slept good that night.

So it's another Sunday and I have taken off the past 5 days.  My legs weren't feeling great so I hope the break is what they needed.

I meet Ron in the FCHS parking lot.  Dave N,  Peter and Wes are also there, but they are planning to do a road ride.  We exchange greeting and they are off to the road.

Ron and take Horsetooth and before long we find ourselves at the 1st hogback.  Ron was kind and let me lead up the 1st one which must have meant that my pace wasn't too bad.  I could have gone harder but I was just testing the legs to see if they were good and they appeared to be! 

So we continue on and on and finally find ourselves at Blue Sky.   As soon as we hit the trails my bike was having some shifting issues.   This forced me to ride gears that weren't optimal, but it was the best that I could do.

We had a good time flying down to Indian Summer Loop.  Oh I guess I should mention that I am on the Trek Y and I am testing it for battle in next weekends 24 hours of  E-rock.  So far so good except for the shifting.  This was quite annoying, but I could deal with it while the legs were strong.

We climb Indian Summer and then back down.   The Y bike is handling OK, but I miss the Yeti... 

We head over to towards the Devils Backbone and we do the best we can on the climb.  I clean a good portion of it, but I don't trust the  Pythons on the  Double  Step so I dismount.  Ron pretty much had the same luck on that one. 

Now it's time to head to the parking lot and the Pelton Demo Days rig to get us some new rides to try out.   I follow Ron and it's pretty clear that his Trance is better on the rocks.  I an reminded how the XC geometry is on that  bike as I must be careful on the steeper sections.   I am getting really tired of my gear skipping issues but  it will soon be over.

We reach the Parking lot to find Roy and Any his girl friend and the rest of the Peloton crew.   There were a ton of folks out on bikes already, so our choices are limited but still good.   We opt to get a pair of  Hardtail  29r's! 

Out on the trail and these things roll really well.  I can feel the extra weight of tires when the grades get steeper but it's not too bad.  Oh,  I should mention that my unit had "Rotor" elliptical chainrings which I didn't notice at all.   I did get some chain suck when climbing that 1st steep climb however. 

I watched as Ron just walked away from me on the climbs.  My legs were getting a bit tired, but his appeared to be fresh.    After we regroup we do some rocky stuff and the 29'r is the real deal.  However,  there is no subusitituition for some suspension which a Devil's back bone was sorely needed.

After doing the outer loop we head back to the Parking lot to retun our bikes.   We chat, give our opinions on the ride and head back on our old bikes.

I could really feel the difference with the old bike not rolling as well as the 29'r.   I was getting a bit tired, but this whole shifiting thing was getting old by now.

We head back  to Blue sky but we skip the Indian Summer loop.  My legs are much better than the previous weeks, but I didn't want to push it.   After making the Climb towards Coyote ridge,  Ron pretty much checked out.  I made no attempt to go with him due to gearing issues and not wantting to over do it.

Finally back to the roads and Ron checks out on the 1st climb.  A while latter I see Ron stopped talking to the woman who got her car stuck when a bee flew in her window and she drove off the road.  Apparently she is allergic....  So I stop and Ron and I push her truck out of the ditch.  She was grateful to us. 

We finish up the ride not working too hard.  Ron peels off at his place and I head for home. A good time was had by all.  

This Sunday's ride is a chance for most of the 2 teams that we have put together for the 24 hours of Elephant Rock to get together.  I invited the BC crew to join in, but only Jay accepted the invite.

Ron and I meet at the FCHS for a nice ride over.   My legs aren't feeling great and I am hoping that an easy spin over to the Canyon Grill will bring them around.   The pace we kept was pretty easy but my legs still weren't coming good.

On the 1st hogback, Ron of course does his thing and all I can do is watch.  We regroup at the top.   Then descent to the next hogback is uneventful.  We are caught and passed by 2 roadies right at the bottom.   Ron catches up to the weaker ridier and hangs out a bit before going after the stronger one, and eventually dropping him.  Pretty good show on a MTB with a rear shock that is bobbing big time.

At this point we make it over to the next descent and then the Canyon Grill.  Riders keep coming, and coming.  I didn't get a full count but I would say about 12 or so.  I didn't get introduced to all of them, so I don't have any names.  I do remember Jason who also road  over on bike.   I've not met all the members of Team 2 and that's enough for now.

After much getting ready we hit the trails.  Steve G. is leading and setting a brisk tempo for a warmup.  I have noticed that runner typically don't start off that slow, and seem to be able to spool up pretty fast..

All is good and it's kinda like a party.  One guy has some tunes and speakers playing some Pink Floyd and all is good.   

We hit the Tower road and Ron immediately engages and is off the front in seconds.  Before long he is out or sight.  I am hanging out with the crew, starting out with an easy pace.   I am holding my own, but it's seems like it should be easier.  My HR is OK but my legs are screaming....

I notice that Jay is climbing really strong early on and I might be able to match his early efforts but I question them as he pulls some ground on me.  Steve G and others are ahead of me and although there is ground between us, our paces are pretty similar.  After a bit I catch Steve and we hang out for a bit.  Ron has totally checked out at this point!

There are a couple of riders ahead of me that are doing a good job.  I pace them for a bit and when the grade steepen's I catch them. After a bit I find my self 2nd only to Ron.  I push on, but not too hard, only hard enough to make the steeps and then recover a bit with the road is kind.

I look back and I see riders not too far back, and I figure that I don't need to work to hard so I take it easy when I can.  Finally I make the summit but there's no one there.  I wait for a bit and then go looking for Ron.  I find him at the other tower.

Everyone trickles in except for Jay.  We wait for a bit and then we head for Milcreek.  On the way there we see Joe Bagleys group preparing for a guided tour or something.

Milcreek is nice except for the waterbars that IMHO are harsh on the MTBs and could have been made smoother.  They really impede the flow of the trail.... built I digress

We are flowing the mountain and the Yeti is pushing all over the place.  I have noticed that that bike tends not to like loose stuff.  I need to find a better setup  and position to get some more weight on the front end....  Some of the riders on Old School bikes are really good.  They are doing stuff that would have given me trouble were I not on the 575.  Following with some of the dust makes it challenging to pick my favorite line, but it's all good.

At some point on the way down Jay crashes, but is good to go.      I am fortunate to follow Ron for a bit and his bike handling in the loose stuff is much better than mine.  Not sure what he's doing different that makes his bike hookup.   Once Ron learns how to let the bike run on Trails like Michaud, then he will be as good a descender as he is a climber.... I am not too sure I look forward to that day, but it is coming!... but I digress

The group stops to count heads at the beginning of  SawMill.  Saw Mill is technical and most of the group wants to just hit the Fire road and then go over to Blue Sky.   So Jay, Steve, Ron and I head for Saw Mill.   It was pretty mellow at 1st and then it got technical.   It was rooty and rocky and challenging.  The Yeti handled most  of it  in style.  Ron and  Steve did pretty well too.    Jay had some issues and went down a couple of times, before it was all said and done.  This one is a must to again, and a great place to practice!

By now I am pretty tired and we head back to the Canyon Grill for a meeting.  Steve and Ron and Jay are riding stronger than I am at this point.   My legs are so tired.  I think I need to take some time off...

So we have our meeting and get some food and it's time to head for home.

Ron, Jason, Steve and I take off.  Ron hammers the 1st hog back and Steve, Jason, and I summit together.... Onto the next mellow hogback and Ron takes a Monster pull the whole way.  I am pretty spent by now and its all I can do to hang on for most of it, but I have had enough so I disengage.  I don' know if it's the 22 psi or the dragging rear brake that helped contribute here but whatever the reason it's time to chill.

Ron,  Jason and Steve Check out..... I see Ron when he turns back at JJ's to go back home.  I just take it easy more/less.  I run into another Steve and Ayla and we chat for a bit  before they take to the bike path.  Now I can relax and try to recover.  Finally I am home and really glad...