Riding with Metal

We spent Saturday and Sunday at the cabin.

Dahn Pahrs and Stik were coming up early Sunday morning to ride the trails. I knew I'd have to be extra rested to hang onto Dahn. He's been putting crazy miles in, despite terribly separating his shoulder in June. He'd also never been to Kennerdell, so there was some excitement to show him some new trails.

Birch and Chase stayed up super late beating all the girls at Sequence. They seemed pretty confident in their abilities, and I'm pretty sure if there were a Sequence Strava, they'd have all the KOMs.

Some time after midnight seemed like a good time to turn in. Ian, Gotch and I slept outside on the porch. I figure every hour of sleep in fresh air is equal to about two and a half hours of inside sleep. By sun-up, I'm Rip Van Winkle in a down bag. Washington Irving tucked me in, kissed me goodnight and read me a bedtime story. Now I'm awake. Refreshed. Loose. Ready.

Ian's back has been bothering him quite a bit lately. He moved a bunch of stuff into a new house, and now he moves like he's 85. He woke up on Sunday morning in an incredible amount of pain, so he was out for the day. I made plans to fly back south with Big Cat after the ride.

Jason decided to do the ride on his Fargo. Flat pedals. Generator hub & light. $300 bamboo fenders. No one should be surprised by this.

Pahrs and Stik show up at 9:00 sharp. Pahrs is decked out in his Twin Six Metal kit.

We climb Blunder, then continue along North Ridge. Windows is next, then Strip Mine. After a bunch of descending, we start the gated, unnamed quad climb. We have a head start on Stik, because he's spinning out a little more than everyone else on the flat prelude.

The climb starts. The ruts and loose rocks are there, but it's in better shape than usual. Gotch burps his front tire at the beginning and stops to pump it up. Pahrs rode 70+ miles the previous day, so I try to take advantage of his partially-weakened state. It kind of works, and I manage to stay within 15 feet or so for about half a mile. I have another half mile to go, and I realize I have no way of keeping up with him the rest of the way. He's climbing way too well, so I bid him adieu. The Metal glimmers away. Stik catches up soon after, ripping up the hill pretty much in the same style he ripped past me on a ride we did in Laurel Mountain a few months ago on gravel roads. Another minute or two, and I'm at the top. Probably my fastest time on that climb. Riding with Metal will do that.

We continue the awesome day doing Fisherman's Cove, more Windows, more Strip Mine. Climbed Goat. More climbing, more descending. More rocks. More Pahrs nervously watching my steripen in his stream water-filled bottle. More fun times.

In the end, we were all worked over. I think those guys got a ride in that was well-worth their drive. We climbed back out to the cabin, and Ian was waiting for me, which was super nice. I knew it was a big bummer for him to miss the ride, and he was still in a ton of pain. I guess I really didn't think of this until now, but I should probably buy him an Americano tomorrow.

Not an Americano. But this would suffice.