I was mitigating some crappy trailbuilding on The Mountain when I heard that textmail sound come out from my backpack. It was the Redneck saying that he and Braapsil were leaving his house momentarily for The Mountain, exactly where I was at. I had a feeling I'd run into some locals here today but didn't know for sure as I left around 8am with the Hunter on this Memorial Day Monday. I always like going early but especially today because it was during a dry window in the weather as thundershowers and more rain were predicted after noon. 
I found a spur off 'School's out for Summer' that used to go nowhere, but now goes somewhere - to the teepee seen above and beyond. That was where I parked to do some trail mitigation after trying to stop water from running straight down the Aspen trail (a lost cause, but gotta try!).After a response back to the Redneck to figure out where to meet, I backtracked my route and met up with him on his Spot 29er and Braapsil on his Brown 69er not a half-hour later...a trifecta of singles!
The first singlespeed rides of the year on trails are the most difficult. Every up is much harder than it is a month later. The rhythm and momentum-keeping-technique is not remembered fully yet, my body is still in that steady endurance SKI mode. The short bursts of power required by singlespeeding needs to be re-learned.
We do the normal route on The Mountain and head over to Stu's and then the Flume. Stickman has had a successful winter as all the trail obfuscation remains (for now). At the bottom of the Flume, the Redneck and I both take a right to take the side-line on the moss-covered rock. He pulls it smoothly but having followed him too closely I have to brake while up on the rock and do a mini-track stand. After the "i can pull it off...wait...wait...!" didn't work, I almost went head over heels into the creek flinging the Hunter into a headspin and myself into the shrubbery. We we did another 'take' for the camera. It doesn't look too impressive from this angle but it's a cool little feature.
The Redneck and myself going over the moss-covered Flume Rock.
After some Pave' we headed over to the place where many usually roam, but we thinks the weather scared everyone off as we only saw 2 other riders on Hamster's Revenge. Towards the end of the ride, Braapsil took a flyer over the bars after his crank spun in place. It had loosened itself off the teeth on the spindle somehow and lost its grip. So when he stood up to pedal....WHABAMM! He walked up the hill looking kinda worked and said, "I think there's something wrong with my cleat or pedal!" But we saw that his cranks only 90 degrees separated. Uh, no dude, you're cranks are F*&%'d up!!
We all split shortly after that and went our separate ways. Thunder and lightning hit hard that afternoon, pouring hail and then rain throughout the rest of the afternoon and even through the night. There's not much like that feeling of making it home just before the worst of the thundershowers hit and relaxing on the couch while watching the rain pelt down with a warm drink. For me, riding in 3 of the 4 seasons (Fall, Winter, Spring) just has a wilder feel than the riding in the summer.
We do the normal route on The Mountain and head over to Stu's and then the Flume. Stickman has had a successful winter as all the trail obfuscation remains (for now). At the bottom of the Flume, the Redneck and I both take a right to take the side-line on the moss-covered rock. He pulls it smoothly but having followed him too closely I have to brake while up on the rock and do a mini-track stand. After the "i can pull it off...wait...wait...!" didn't work, I almost went head over heels into the creek flinging the Hunter into a headspin and myself into the shrubbery. We we did another 'take' for the camera. It doesn't look too impressive from this angle but it's a cool little feature.
The Redneck and myself going over the moss-covered Flume Rock. After some Pave' we headed over to the place where many usually roam, but we thinks the weather scared everyone off as we only saw 2 other riders on Hamster's Revenge. Towards the end of the ride, Braapsil took a flyer over the bars after his crank spun in place. It had loosened itself off the teeth on the spindle somehow and lost its grip. So when he stood up to pedal....WHABAMM! He walked up the hill looking kinda worked and said, "I think there's something wrong with my cleat or pedal!" But we saw that his cranks only 90 degrees separated. Uh, no dude, you're cranks are F*&%'d up!!
We all split shortly after that and went our separate ways. Thunder and lightning hit hard that afternoon, pouring hail and then rain throughout the rest of the afternoon and even through the night. There's not much like that feeling of making it home just before the worst of the thundershowers hit and relaxing on the couch while watching the rain pelt down with a warm drink. For me, riding in 3 of the 4 seasons (Fall, Winter, Spring) just has a wilder feel than the riding in the summer.
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