2010 IdiDaRiDe STeP On A CrAcK BrEaK Yo MaMa's BAcK

All pics taken by Mike Shea. Don't know who you are but thanks.


On Two Hours of sleep I piloted the Platypus at break neck speed toward the home of Robert Roberts. A little late and bleary eyed from the previous nights donkey ride, I loaded up and we rolled out towards White Springs Florida.

Every year I make this pilgrimage to pay homage to the funnest ride in North Florida. It is one that the first time I did almost destroyed me. I remember pedaling along the double track in the Granny gear cause my legs were demolished.

Since, I have conquered this ride and dominated, much like a Man does his Mate that he has been with for years. I rode this ride Single Speed 26. Rode it on my Cyclocross way before everyone got on the Cyclocross kick. Last year I did it Single Speed 29er Fixed gear. This year I brought back my Mamasita for a rematch. The first time we did it we completed it, but I had to hike SEVERAL miles due to an exploded 7 inch gash in my Small Block 8 side wall.

The weather, was perfect, yet I still chuckled at the over bundled riders who were geared up as if they were heading into the depths of the Alaskan Tundra. Wow, am I the only one who has any respect for the fine art of Acclimation? Regardless, as we readied swiftly and ate the grain products that were offered, we got dressed, Rob Roberts and I, and before we knew it, the 400 riders were off the front.

WTF? its 857 am not 9.

Ok, well, no never mind. We set off.

Now I know that its important to devour the first 9 miles as fast as possible and pass as many as possible, literally ride like a super charged expert XC racer A hole, only to get in front of as many as you can when you finally hit the single track. I like to enjoy my single track and not hold anyone up or be held up.

Well, hammer we did, and eventually we hit some bottlenecks...




Got by the bottle necks and did more work and started munching on some fresh single track. We kind of had to settle into a pack cause there were a ton of riders in Front, so we just dealt with it.

A rider comes up..."can I get by"...

As if I don't want to pass the people in front of me. Dood if I could be off the front I would too. I was kind of perturbed by his request. I told him to wait, that I was waiting as well.

As soon as the trail opened up he zipped by, and so did I, in fact, I chased him down on purpose and we rolled into stop 1 almost at the same time, BUT, I had taken off with hardly any water but the old one that I had in the bottle from the fixie ride I did at Rob's house. LOL. So I had to stop.

I thought about that guy all day and thought about chasing him down all day. .LOL..

We refueled quick and rolled out again. Eventually getting stuck behind another rider in the single track.

Again, I get some guys behind me requesting to pass. I'm like you wanna pass me, dood I wanna pass this guy too, I'm trying not to be XC racer douche. SO, they guy moves over, and Rob Takes off, then I take off after Rob. Needless to say the ones who wanted to pass me, once I put the gap down, never closed it.

We rolled Stop two and encountered nothing but puddles and mud, as good as you can find in any cyclocross race. I am a trail Slut, so I love crap like this. I loved the puddles and the wetness and the adversity, I'm sure other riders cried. But at the end of the day, its a beautiful time in the woods, so get over it.




We hammered and hammered all day long. Rode with all we had, keeping our stops brief.

At one point I went over the bars and smashed my face into the ground. That freaking pissed me off so bad. I couldn't believe it I hardly ever crash. Then another time, while riding thru a series of whoops I hit this gigantic pyramid root and it totally smashed my balls and groin. I Had to stop and freaking enjoy that pain for a minute.

Rob had to pop in a tube. Then we hauled as some more. I had to keep moving cause I could feel my thigh getting stiff, but eventually we hit the final stretch, continuing to hunt down riders since the lady at the next to last stop told us we were 34 and 35 coming into that stop. So I got amped and pretend it to race it and 10 miles later, we pulled ourselves up to 18 for Rob and 20 for me I was about to get the 19Th spot, but he was 10 bike lengths in front of me and 10 away from the official finish so I sat down.

I always hammer this ride, I enjoy it. I have come along way from that rider 9 years ago who had to use the granny gear to finish a flat ride and had to take a nap in the middle, OMG. I think back, I had to pack extra clothes and wear a huge camelback mule and now, I do it, with two bottles and no pack.

progression is good.

Take Care,

Laters,

The NaKeD InDiaN