Monday, July 17, 2006

Keep the Rubber Side Down

Sandi & I hit the trails in CB over the weekend. As we were getting readys at the Snodgrass trailhead, Eric, a rider out of San Antonio rolled up and was asking for directions, rather than send this poor lad off alone, we offered him to hitch onto our ride (Snodgrass, 403, & 401). Glad to have a guide, Eric took us up, and off we went. He had a very nice IF Deluxe, blue & yellow, nicely speced out with FOX and Shimano, and we chatted it up on the first climbs until things started to get fast and narrow. Seeing behind that we had dropped him, I stopped, and waited w/ Sandi. Jokingly I asked, "Did he go down?"

But he did. Now sporting a bloody elbow and knee, Eric made it back to us. He had slid out and Sandi wisely asked him about his tire pressure, "40 psi, why is that too much?" Eric replied.

We thought so with a tubeless setup and Hutchinson Pythons, so after letting some air out, we were off again with about 2 mile of sweet Snodgrass single track left. Just before the end of this trail, there is a fence crossing, there we waited again. A bit later, Eric showed up, this time wearing matching scrapes, scuffs and even torn shorts on the otherside. Eric informed us that indeed he met the trail again, and how he was suprised how scetched out he was. He was a fit rider, or at least looked so and races road and cross, no big deal. With just a few hundred meters left, Eric managed to find the wrong line once more. At first I thought it was Sandi as I heard a loud thud behind me, because she was always on my wheel, but it turned out to be Eric as he was lifting his face off a small wooden bridge. Ouch.

By now, we were geniuinely concerned for this guy, offered to guide him to the top, or offer to give him directions home. He opted to climb w/ us to the top of Washington Gulch. We talked a lot of about riding, racing and what we do in our daily lives, it was nice. But about three-quarters of the way up, Eric who had just arrived from Texas the day before, was in his own words "bonking." We offered to slow up and wait, but he insisted that we go on. So we instructed him on how to get back, and said we will see each other on thursday at the Pinnacle Race in CB.

The rest of our ride was pretty nice, typical CB singletrack, it was a little dry, especially considering the moisture we had the previous week, but still a lot of fun.

Sandi has been tearing up the local race scene, winning the hillclimb, and taking a close second in the first XC to Jenny Smith (who took fourth at the Deer Valley NORBA!) I have been testing some sweet new Piranha's, that hook up in a lot of variable conditions.

Troy from Over the Edge Sports in Fruita sent me this:

We are going to do the Chet Peach BBQ and Race again...

But I have the dates wrong on the tag of my email so... Here's the truth...


Chet Peach BBQ

*BBQ October 21st 2006, evening*
Back after a five year laps; a party to celebrate fall, singletrack and
12 years of Fruita!
location TBA, fun already expected

50-50 Bike Race

*October 21st, Saturday*
Half on Road Bike, Half on MTB... Teams, solo or do either one, details
and course to follow

Over the Edge Grand Junction - 1 Year party

*Friday night October 20th, 2006*
At the GJ store from 7:00pm till...

We hope you can join us for this weekend of epic good times and a few
pedal strokes

Sorry for the confusion and thanks for your support and for /staying on
the winning team...

Troy

Check out www.otesports for more info, last time was nearly an illegal experience, so don't miss it. I am thinking doing the whole thing on my SS 'cross bike???

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