… well, I never SAID it would be a recovery day. Although I did NEED a recovery day…
So at the appointed time all the usual suspects were assembled… Mig, Brit, Randy, Duncan, Total Service, Lunchrider, Prez, the Pirate, Mammajamma, and Dirtus Baggus. Only to hear Total Service require some service as he blew out his rear tire rolling up to the assembled gaggle. So another tube was thrown in, and that one also went K-Effing-boom. Looking at the tire, it looked like he’d been doing sideways brake skidding on it, and he made the difficult decision to stay in, on such a beautiful day…
So then there were 9 gunslingers, rolling out late at high noon, to ride up MaryAnn and then over to Benfield. Little interest in pushing it on the roll out, the heat and impending climb(s) kept it all together.
Hit the bottom slopes of Mary Ann and it stayed mostly together… started to string out as we hit the steep part at the middle, and over the top it was LR, Prez, and Randy all together with Mig putting on a full head of steam on the flat part to catch back on before the stop sign. Fully regrouped and rolled over to Benfield, where Prez craftily rolled off the front before the start of the climb, cueing no chase for a while… However, could not resist the bait for long, so the pace ramped up in pursuit and LR caught/passed by the top, and Randy rolled over the top with Prez… made the right (evidently losing MJ and DB who went left) and regrouped after a close encounter with a big ass hawk taking off from the right shoulder, nearly clipped him on the descent… close enough to smell his dirty beak, guess he hadn’t brushed lately… regrouped and rolled down H-ville, thru Alburtis (very civil), and onto Spring Creek.
Prez ramped it up and handed off to the Pirate, and the bottom of the little rise the Pirate swung over and LR jumped, passed by Mig and Randy over the top… Brit caught the tail end of that and as we cleared the light (for once, perfect timing) Mig and Randy ramped up the speed all the way in… Coming into the chicane, Brit hit the front and LR realized his batteries were drained, so urged Brit to roll off the front (After all, Brit was rocking the full MS-SB kit today), but Mig caught/passed him before the line….
All in all an excellent ride and shouts out for great riding to Randy and BestBrit for great strong riding, and for Prez for craftily rolling off the front at the bottom of Benfield…
Adding Mig to good wishes for a 6-hour MTB enduro race on sunday. Me? Glad you asked… real recovery ride tomorrow. Have a couple bottles of Avery Salvation calling my name, too.
Evidently the Major missed us as we rolled late. Not a good day for the Major as he first met officer John Darms in Macungie for “not stopping in a crosswalk” but avoided a ticket, and then turning for home, fell/landed on his right shoulder – the one healing from his MTB crash a couple weeks back… Ouch! Will some good Karma over to the Major, please.
So Mammajamma and I come to a stop sign. You have to wonder. Which way did they go? I could swear they were just in front of us. MJ says left, definitely left. Oops. So we set off and…wait, what are we doing at State St.? Now where to? DB finally decides to consult the iPhone map and…the screen is too full of condensation to see anything. Damn, it’s hot out here. Left, we’ll go left, ’cause Bear Creek is to the right and we don’t want to climb THAT hill. Fine, left it is. Wait, what are those fancy lightposts doing here? Maybe I’m hallucinating. You mean I’m ABOVE Bear Creek? No wonder I’m sweating like this. But excellent news…gravity is on our side. So this is what 40 mph feels like. A quick turn onto Mountain Rd, down H-ville and through Alburtis on the way back to the mother ship.
Thanks to all who waited at the top of Benfield. Sorry to have kept you waiting for nothing, though I hear you enjoyed a nice rest in the shade.