Sometimes you Eat the Trail>>>

Sometimes the Trail eats you....

That's exactly what happened to me last night when I went to the Bikeworks Thursday snowhill night ride.

Previous ride, I parked at Barr st. Ended up doing a face plant into the creek, it was a couple of weeks before the Cohutta.

This time, War Machine and I made our way to the Jones east trail head. I wanted to scout a trail that I want to use for the 3rd stage of the SS race that I am going to do, and I wanted to get the extra work out and miles. The trail has some very technical sections and with the big gear I'm pushing on the machine, I was puffy buttin most of the trail. On top of that, I was supposed to meet the guys by eight o five and I didn't want to keep them waiting.
Point is, I was riding hard.

Got to the lot, to see Jason's Brand spankin new Specialized Stumpjumper 29er. I'm not big on specialized bikes, but this thing was BADAZZ. On top of that this was going to be his first exploration into a geared 29, the only 29 he had ridden previously was his single speed Karate monkey on which he killz. Trevor was there as well and he had his geared bike, how funny, I bring the single, they bring the gears, usually its the other way around.

Most of the time, this is a nice easy paced ride, but today, Jason wanted to test his gears and I wanted to test my gear, so it was on. Early; barreling down the fire trail; Jason is putting down the big ring attack, I am hanging on, spinning my legs off and decide to just go ahead and make a pass. Unbeknownst to him, I was silently sneaking on his right and he drifted right and almost took me out, any other time and you would of thought it was intentional, but the SS is so quiet he never even noticed my counter attack. Well, once he noticed that I was right on his heel and not off the back, he really put the hammer down. Man, I tried to hang on, but backed off and counted to ten, once I got to ten, then I started spinning a steady effort hoping to reel him back in.

Eventually we ended up back together, and from then it was each one of us trying to take advantage of the front. And trying to shake the other, it was good times, but right around my mile 9 which was there mile 4, I almost ate it in a corner and manage to step out of it and bail. Ok, then, my front light falls off, not once but twice. Mental note, I need to put my Stella on the head and my miniNewt on the bars, for some reason the Stella mount doesn't work on rough terrain. Especially on this night, I couldn't see shit, the light would sometimes end up shining right on my face, and I'm here trying to chase and the light is simultaneously blinding and searing my retinas.

In the middle of the back section, going thru the deep rooty whoops, I miscalculate and end up trying to ride up the Root wall instead of the nice smooth well worn in spot. I end up, compacting like if I had ridden straight into a wall. Luckily, I went with the impact, and shifted my weight to the left and crashed as smooth as I could into a rooty cradle. I laid there for a minute then picked myself back up. My wheel looked a little funny, but it was still rideable so ride I did.

After a quarter mile, we ended up at a spot, where I knew I could ride about a mile of fire road then do two miles of singletrack or so to end up back at the lot. Or, I could continue trying to chase Jason, truth be told, I was smoked and decided to cut out about 6 miles and ride 3 straight back in the woods instead of the road.

As I pedaled thru the woods, I was feeling the effects of my efforts. I really had not ate too many calories all day and the calories I ate before the ride were plenty but I'm now sure it didn't cover the calorie deficit I had acquired from the day. I felt run down and tired but kept a modest pace back to the car.

Once at the car I packed up, made it home, ate and fell out, woke up, feeling tired and Hungry. Followed that up with a 14 hour work day, O how yummy life can be.

enjoy,
Laters,
LOS

Addendum:
17+ miles is what I rode that night. Not bad for a Thursday Night off road ride.
Jewel of the Night, I came across a PACK of Wild Boars like 8 to 10, everywhere Boars, it was a lil intense. But charming regardless.