WOW

I had a feeling today would be one of those rides. I got to the parking lot about 8:45 and found SS Dan waiting. Todd, Kieth, slick Rick, and Dan the man, were already out, they got an early start at 8:00. Soon Matty T and Mike K showed up and we had a great group. The weather was perfect and the trails were blazing fast. Todd lead us out and we went straight to the Skills Trail and then to Shock and Awe, we were cruising along nicely. Matty T wasn't feeling it today, he was still a little sick so he bailed out. We headed for the boundary trail where SS Dan had to change a flat. We chatted about, what else, Bikes. Mike told the story about his Dean, and for some reason we all started saying "wow" it turned into the theme of the day. Wow the trails are awesome, Wow Dan and Rick haven't come out of the big ring, Wow Keith is back and as fast as ever. We were having a good time then we had to climb the boundary trail. I went and tried to set a steady pace, the scary part is I am starting to like this climb. We got to the top and regrouped. Todd led us down and then decided he had enough. We headed for the cruised the rest of the loop and started making our way back to the top and then we lost Mike K, who was sporting his new Turner bike. Our group of 8 was down to 5. We headed for Middle Run. I was now leading us around and feeling a lot better after a day off. I tried to keep the pace up knowing the magnitude of riders that were following me. A little way into Middle Run Keith and Dan decided to head back, so now we were down to 3. We made our way to the Judge, and picked up Mike k again along the way. He bailed on us so we were 3 again. I was starting to fade a little, but the Judge was so dry and so fast I just kept pushing. We also suffered a little guilt trip as we went through a couple of work parties out improving the trails. But that didn't last long. On our way back from the Judge we ran into Craig, Lyn and Karen who were enjoying the beautiful day and dry trails. It was time to start heading back to the parking lot. Rick was looking for another hour and so was I. It didn't take us that long. I don't know what it was but it seemed like the pace never really slowed down. We got back and Rick and Dan ended with about 3:30 hours, Dan also said he had 36 miles with a 10.5 average. No wonder this ride hurt. It was, well it was WOW.

Well I now get two days off. Which is OK because the weather is supposed to be bad anyway.