Wild Ride to the South End

I asked for it, so it really was my fault. I'd planted the bug in their ears and even sent out reminders, so escape wasn't happening. I had gathered together too many fast mountain bikers and cajoled them into a fairly epic ride. This past Saturday a.m. I met Fatty, Seiler(on a freaking single speed), Zack, MrWine and depot Joe, to do some stupid level riding. why do we keep tweaking the level of ridiculocity until the almost breaking point? I have nofa king idea.

We took off from the usual coffe spot outside of Cherokee Park, with a full pace-line of rumbling knobbies and conversation. The noise from the tires was a low hum that had people on the sidewalks turning their heads to see the source of the commotion . We were headed to Waverly Park. Waverly is across town and a blast to ride, especially since kymba local Billy Davis spent his vacation improving and fine tuning the trails. the main feature that Waverly is known for is a monster hill called "Montana".

A long road ride on the mountain bike followed by tough trails, always has me apprehensive. I think the best rides are the ones that have me thinking hard about them the night before. I always spend time kind of obsessing about the details-food, tire pressure, etc. to calm the pre-ride jitters. Add to that the company I'd assembled and it was iffy at best. All of these guys are faster than me and can definitely handle the bike more ably. My goal was to hang on and finish the ride as close to the group as possible.

We held a solid pace on the way to the park and had decided pre-ride to tackle Montana first. It works because you get the monster out of the way, but its tough because you dont recover before you start climbing. It was a long way to the top, but once we got there it was the expected fast, swoopy trail system all the way back down. The trails were a little muddy, but not bad enough to be an issue for trail or rider damage. Its a fun, fast roll across the bridges and switchbacks. It really is beautiful back there.

From there we re-grouped(you dont think I led the pack, do you?) and started back down the road. The 29er riders had a definite advantage on the road, and were really tough to keep up with. Im fairly sure I dumped a few gallons of sweat that day, but what a great ride. Perfect training for the Fools Gold race we have coming up at the end of August. At least it won't be hot in Georgia in late August, right?

Here's a sattelite view of the ride. Damn, technology's fun.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Fwww.trainingpeaks.com%2Fsw%2Fkml%2FJVLIZG3X664QAZ6JHX2JED63QM&ie=UTF8&z=12