What I Learned This Weekend...

This turned out to be a fun filled weekend. It was also very educational.

I learned that:
1-Elk is really fast, really strong, and he breaks more parts than I do.
2-I must find a good beer that comes in cans.
3-Spot Paul hates the British.
4-Dan the Man hates dopers.
5-German track guys are really, really fast (even if they are doping)
6-Matt run Forrest has a new name, Miss Daisy.
7-Riding with Les, Elk, fatmarc, Matty, Keith G aka Bobby's boy and Slick Rik the Ruler for 4 and a half hours really hurts.
8-Riding French Creek the next day was a bad idea.

Saturday's ride was a 4 park tour, Fair Hill, Carpenter, White Clay and Middle Run. We had a nice group depart nice and early from Marc's house. Les, Elk, Matt, Marc, Kurtee, and coming in from out of town was Keith G, and his friend Sean. We were looking for 4-5 hours of single track bliss. Marc led us on a nice loop and kept the pace brisk but reasonable.

As we started making our way to Carpenter from Fair Hill we had a little stop. Kurtee decided to call it a day. Elk and Les broke out the Iron City and wings. After our little break we were off again. Things were going well, I was feeling good and having a blast. We stopped for water and I decided to make a slight adjustment to my Jones bars. While going down the steep washed out descent my bars (obviously not tight enough) slipped while going off a pretty big drop off.

The trails were awesome, everybody was having a good time. We hit the Church climb at Middle run and stopped to talk to Marc's wife Diane. It was during this little break that Elk discovered his frame was cracked. After some discussion he decided to try and ride but take it easy.











Marc, Matt V, and Keith hanging out waiting for Elk and Les.

We ended up losing Elk and Les for a while. But we did hook up with Matt V and K-Man. They rode with us for a while then went on there way. We found Elk and Les again, Elk's frame was hanging on by a thread, but he still went down Shock and Awe, but that was the end. He and Les waited at the Ranger station while Marc, Rik, Keith, Sean and I made our way back to Marc's so he could drive back and pick them up. It was at this point that I hit the wall. Not only did I hit the wall but the damn thing fell on top of me to boot. I was shattered, but it was a great ride. Lots of miles and lots of fun.

Saturday night the fun continued as a group of us made our way into West Chester for the Iron Hill Twilight Criterium. It was a good time last year and this was just as fun. We saw all kinds of people I haven't seen in a while. It was a cool race too. Spot Paul's wife Lisa was doing the women's elite race. She got stuck behind the wrong group and things didn't go as well as she hoped.

The men's race was dominated by some German Track world champion. He took a flyer about 4 laps in and ended up lapping the field. He played to the large crowd, and almost lost while showing off, but it was fun to watch.

After the race we got the hell out of dodge. 10 of us ended up at the Half Moon for some good food and some good beer. Everybody was having fun, lots of laughing a trash talking. What better way to spend a Saturday than doing a 4.5 hour ride, watching a cool crit then having a great meal with great friends.

Today Matt and I were the only ones dumb enought to show up at French Creek. Don't get me wrong, I love riding French Creek, But when you are shattered, like I was, it can make for a long day. We did hook up with a few Bike line boys that just happened to be there. Andrew, Ralf, Chris, Mike, and Trevor from Guy's. It was a fun time, and it was nice to ride with these guys when we weren't racing. But Matt and I decided to bail out after an hour and a half. It almost felt like a DNF. At least the down hills were a blast.

Well it is time to migrate to the couch.
Thanks for reading,
Buddy