My heroes have always been cowboys....
....And they still are, it seems.
Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin' dreams.
I had this floating around in my head yesterday during my ride up on the Pinhoti trail in Dalton Ga. We were up there for a hash ride with the wheelhoppers and like all hashes, had no idea as to what the trail was going to look like or what the distance would be, just a starting point (Pilchers pond) and a direction to head in. My weapon of choice for the day? My Niner SIR9 single speed, now for those of you who have yet to be enlightened, let me explain to you why riding a single speed in a group setting is an act of futility ( I know for most of my friends this is going to sound redundant, but I took the time to write it so you take the time to read it punks!) Since you only have one gear, you have a limited amount of options as to the speed at which you can travel. On a trail like the Pinhoti/Snake Creek Gap where everything is either straight up or straight down, you're limited to two speeds - either on top of your gear, cranking out and dropping everything in site w/ a little ring and a deraileur or walk. For most of the ride I opted for the option that involved more pedaling than pushing, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I spent some time off the bike too.
So way off the front and alone (which is usually where I like to be anyway) is where I found myself for the better half of the day, the trail was in great shape and just as rocky and fun as it was the last time I rode it. Funny thing about the relationship I have to this trail, the first time I rode it I swore that it was too technical and rocky and that I was too miserable to even consider going back to ride it again. Funny how a couple years later I go out of my way to ride places like this. Anyway, so with the elevation gain portion of the trail behind me the route started the fast and loose decent that leads to Dug Gap. Now at this point I've been riding in the same direction without seeing any other options for a long time. On a normal ride this isn't a big deal, but on a hash ride where misdirection is as important as proper direction, it means you're about to get screwed. Sure enough after riding all the way down to where that portion of trail ends I found three arrows telling me to go back the way I just came from, and thinking back on what I had just ridden I realized I was going to have to ride all the way back to where the Long/Short route option was, which was all the way back at the begining of the single track(5 miles up and over the same gnarly rocky singletrack that I had just ridden over) However I was happy to be out riding and turned my bike around and rode back to the spot where, sure enough that was the way to go. The rest of the route consisted of a few more longish climbs, some really great singletrack and finally a 2 mile ride, push, ride, push, ride, push, push, push, push. ehh screw it I'm riding back down service road that led up to an overlook, all I've got from that one is a blister on my heal
Finally the letters BN appeared in white flour which meant that beer is near and our ride was drawing to a close. Step it up one last time to get over that last hill, hoping that it was the last hill and sure enough there was the merry band of hashers w/ beers in hand. A few songs and some jokes at others expenses along w/ some beers and a good day was had by all.
Unfortunately Saturday mornings ride was plagued by disaster and we had three riders injured in two different crashes. The first happened when Shannon was taking her turn at the front of the group and pulling hard when she went down hard onto the road, cracking her helmet and aquiring some pretty painful road rash and two cracked ribs in the process. Just like with all group ride crashes, the domino effect took control and the british chap riding behind her ended up running into Shannon and falling onto his elbow. Thankfully Todd Park was on the ride with me and he gave me a hand in tending to the injured, ironic how it always seems to be the mountain bikers that know what to do in times of crisis. Maybe it's because we're a little more used to seeing injuries and have more experience in dealing with them, who knows? Once everyone was tended to and the sag vehicle showed up to take the injured off to the hospital, Todd and I finished our ride without incident. Later on I found out that the leaded of the B group ride had hit some sand in the road and ended up going down and breaking his collar bone.
So folks be careful out there, keep it shiny side up and rubber side down and I'll look to see you in the dirt real soon. Tumbling Creek is this weekend and I'm looking forward to kicking some ass in the last 6 hr of the year.
P.O.A.S.
Matt-
current playing on my iPod......
Falling away with you - Muse
Sadly, in search of, but one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow-movin' dreams.
I had this floating around in my head yesterday during my ride up on the Pinhoti trail in Dalton Ga. We were up there for a hash ride with the wheelhoppers and like all hashes, had no idea as to what the trail was going to look like or what the distance would be, just a starting point (Pilchers pond) and a direction to head in. My weapon of choice for the day? My Niner SIR9 single speed, now for those of you who have yet to be enlightened, let me explain to you why riding a single speed in a group setting is an act of futility ( I know for most of my friends this is going to sound redundant, but I took the time to write it so you take the time to read it punks!) Since you only have one gear, you have a limited amount of options as to the speed at which you can travel. On a trail like the Pinhoti/Snake Creek Gap where everything is either straight up or straight down, you're limited to two speeds - either on top of your gear, cranking out and dropping everything in site w/ a little ring and a deraileur or walk. For most of the ride I opted for the option that involved more pedaling than pushing, but I'm not ashamed to admit that I spent some time off the bike too.
So way off the front and alone (which is usually where I like to be anyway) is where I found myself for the better half of the day, the trail was in great shape and just as rocky and fun as it was the last time I rode it. Funny thing about the relationship I have to this trail, the first time I rode it I swore that it was too technical and rocky and that I was too miserable to even consider going back to ride it again. Funny how a couple years later I go out of my way to ride places like this. Anyway, so with the elevation gain portion of the trail behind me the route started the fast and loose decent that leads to Dug Gap. Now at this point I've been riding in the same direction without seeing any other options for a long time. On a normal ride this isn't a big deal, but on a hash ride where misdirection is as important as proper direction, it means you're about to get screwed. Sure enough after riding all the way down to where that portion of trail ends I found three arrows telling me to go back the way I just came from, and thinking back on what I had just ridden I realized I was going to have to ride all the way back to where the Long/Short route option was, which was all the way back at the begining of the single track(5 miles up and over the same gnarly rocky singletrack that I had just ridden over) However I was happy to be out riding and turned my bike around and rode back to the spot where, sure enough that was the way to go. The rest of the route consisted of a few more longish climbs, some really great singletrack and finally a 2 mile ride, push, ride, push, ride, push, push, push, push. ehh screw it I'm riding back down service road that led up to an overlook, all I've got from that one is a blister on my heal
Finally the letters BN appeared in white flour which meant that beer is near and our ride was drawing to a close. Step it up one last time to get over that last hill, hoping that it was the last hill and sure enough there was the merry band of hashers w/ beers in hand. A few songs and some jokes at others expenses along w/ some beers and a good day was had by all.
Unfortunately Saturday mornings ride was plagued by disaster and we had three riders injured in two different crashes. The first happened when Shannon was taking her turn at the front of the group and pulling hard when she went down hard onto the road, cracking her helmet and aquiring some pretty painful road rash and two cracked ribs in the process. Just like with all group ride crashes, the domino effect took control and the british chap riding behind her ended up running into Shannon and falling onto his elbow. Thankfully Todd Park was on the ride with me and he gave me a hand in tending to the injured, ironic how it always seems to be the mountain bikers that know what to do in times of crisis. Maybe it's because we're a little more used to seeing injuries and have more experience in dealing with them, who knows? Once everyone was tended to and the sag vehicle showed up to take the injured off to the hospital, Todd and I finished our ride without incident. Later on I found out that the leaded of the B group ride had hit some sand in the road and ended up going down and breaking his collar bone.
So folks be careful out there, keep it shiny side up and rubber side down and I'll look to see you in the dirt real soon. Tumbling Creek is this weekend and I'm looking forward to kicking some ass in the last 6 hr of the year.
P.O.A.S.
Matt-
current playing on my iPod......
Falling away with you - Muse
