9AM on Saturday morning came early for me and I sent out a text to Mike
R. 'Running 10 minutes late' I said. A minute later the reply came back
'No Rush'. Excellent. That was going to be the theme of the day. I
arrived at Yellow Gap at 10 after in frigid conditions to a fun crew
assembling: Mike R., New Guy Chris, Eric C., and Jared C. We were on our
way by 9:30 but as soon as we hit the woods we took our first break, we
were all overdressed, the temps were rising quickly.
Mike C and Eric C. took the lead for the climb with me following. There
WAS a bit of a time constraint on us though, no rush was not quite true,
so we didn't regroup again until the meeting log. Jared was the last to
the log and had pretty much decided by then that he was only going for
the first leg (Laurel->Pilot) of the ride. After the meeting log I
could hardly hold sight of Mike and Eric and for a great part of the
time it felt like I was riding by myself, or with ghosts. We regrouped
and took an extended break just before the steeps though and I was able
to hold on after that.
The group arrived at the Pilot connector together so we just
continued on to Pilot for the next break. By this time I was really
missing my granny gear (I was on the 1x6 Green Machine) and watched as
Mike and eric both almost cleaned all the way to the next intersection.
Great climbing fellas. Just as we were finishing our first lunch break
Mike P. arrived on the scene. I had facebooked with Katie M about the
ride and Mike picked up the chatter and decided to hop onto our ride. He
had started at the bottom at 9AM and caught us at Pilot. I warned him
that the pace may be a bit slow for his liking but if you know Mike then
you know his answer: 'That's allright, I'm just looking to have some
fun'.
As we lined up for the downhill something strange happened.
Mike R did NOT take the lead position, He ceded his normal place in line
to New Guy Chris! OK NGC, let's see whatcha got! Well, what he's got is
downhill skills. Following Mike R following NGC was a hoot. We were
absolutely FLYING down that mountain. We slowed at the triple switchback
but didn't stop until the big overlook down below. It was a spectacular
run.
We regrouped (holy hell Mike P was next in line on a full rigid!), took a
few photos of the view, then railed to the bottom. Eric C had gone
ahead to get photos from the Hum-Vee section and caught me floundering
through it but that was probably my only 'Off' line of the day. I was
feeling pretty good at that point. Three switchbacks and a few long
straights later we were filtering water out of the creek at the bottom.
We bid adieu to Jared there. He took 1206 back to Yellow Gap, we went
the other direction: 1206->Horse Camp->5018. I was
surprised to find that none of the group had been on Horse Camp as it's a
great little singletrack that cuts off probably a mile of gravel road
but now they know. Mike P. (as the only singlespeeder) hopped out front
for the 5018 climb. It didn't take long before I was trying my best to
hold on and he was my rabbit for the entire climb. We stopped for a
regroup at the overlook but otherwise pressed on in great time to the
top.
Mike P. was just soft peddling, too. He would look back, smile, then
come up with conversation that was just him talking and me grunting.
Thanks for the Yes or No questions Mike! My head would have exploded if I
had to form a sentence.
New Guy Chris was starting to really feel the miles at the top of 5018
so we took an extended break there. Mike R. and I explained that what
was next though was one of the very best ribbons of singletrack in the
ENTIRE UNIVERSE and spirits remained high.
Squirrel Gap did not disappoint. I was in the lead position from
Horse to Cantrell and the Green Machine was riding like a dream. It
STILL is my favorite bike at the moment. Mike led out after Cantrell
with the pledge of 'no dabs til the gap' and we tried our best. Two dabs
later (and a total time warp for me as Phish was noodling away in my
right ear and I followed every line Mike R took) we arrived at the gap.
After a quick regroup and a few Hell Yeah!s we were headed to Laurel
Creek. When we stopped briefly at Pounding Jill NGC looked like he had
just had an epiphany, had seen baby Jesus, and maybe dropped some acid.
'Wow! That is the best singletrack I've ever been on!'
Yes Chris, Yes. Yes it is.
Mike was first down Laurel Creek, I was second, NGC was third. Even
though Chris was starting to bonk good it was impossible to shake him.
Did I mention his downhilling skills? Well we regrouped for the final
time at 5015 and the guys were settling in for another extended break.
Chris asked about the time and was floored when he heard 3PM. Talk about a time warp, when pressed he said yeah, I figured it was about Noon or so. Well, I had a 4PMish curfew so it was time for me to get going. I wasn't looking forward to climbing out of there by myself so was happy to see Mike P cranking along about 10 seconds behind. I told him that my legs were shot and if he wanted to just get out of there I understood, there was no reason to wait for me. After a moment of consideration he said 'No, It's more fun to ride WITH people... and I'm just out to have fun'. Spectacular. 5015 was then very similar to the 5018 climb. Mike talking, me grunting. He was my rabbit to chase and even with me dead legs we were at 1206 in just over 30 minutes, one of my fastest climbs out.
Thanks for the great ride everybody. Perfect company, perfect trails, perfect day to be in the woods.
