Since none of us were around or free for Father’s Day, we had all agreed to postpone our annual ride until a time more convenient. I spent Sunday with the usual suspects at Sugarbush Resort. We thought it might be fun to hurl ourselves down the mountainside at hight rates of speed on bikes with gobs of suspension.

enjoying the view

It was fun.

Except I was the first one to remember why full face helmets are such a necessity for this aspect of cycling. Being on a strange rental bike that wasn’t set up for me was only part of the problem. The other part was poor piloting skills, but the result was swift and severe. I lost the front end exiting a turn, and my face hit the ground at alarming speed. My hands never even left the handlebars. It took me a minute to get up, and when I did, I found that I had ripped my shirt, scuffed up my belly, and scared the crap out of myself. Not literally, but it did take me a few minutes before I could pull myself together and hop on the bike again. In retrospect, it was probably a good thing I had my confidence shaken so early in the day, as I kept the rest of my runs on the conservative side.

Besides being a banged up rental bike, the Banshee Scythe was actually a blast to ride. It was equipped with a Boxxer, and some sort of Marzocchi rear shock which had about 4 different knobs on it that did precisely nothing. The brakes were a 4 piston Hayes something or other that had terrible lever feel, and barely adequate stopping power. The front end was too firm, the rear to gushy but it didn’t stop us from riding some of the steepest and gnarliest stuff we’d seen in a long time. It’s amazing what these bikes will allow you to do.

Reveling in the trails we were riding, we all agreed that we could each use a new bike, something big slack and heavy, and most importantly, set up correctly for it’s pilot. Of course, downhilling is an expensive sport. Not only do you have to have the bike and equipment, you also need access to lifts. And the time to ride it, which is something that none of us really have much of.

Still, off in fantasy land, I picked myself out a real nice bike.

I used to race DH on a GT STS back in the day, before upgrading to an Ellsworth Dare. But I had always wanted a Schwinn Straight 8. I always thought that thing was pretty boss. These frames were made in Colorado by Yeti, and Yeti made some of the nicest stuff on earth. So I decided that my fantasy DH bike would be a no holds barred 303.

my birthday is coming soon...

It comes in black.

 

It’s hard to believe that the 2012 edition of SSUSA is going to be here in less than a week. I’ve been furiously tying up loose ends, crossing t’s and dotting i’s, and generally wandering around in a state of wondering what I have forgotten. I guess that is what lists are for.

The course is set. No I will not tell you where it is. You’ll just have to find out on Saturday along with every one else.

pretty

I rode part of it on Saturday to get some course miles and elevation. One of the underlying issues with SSUSA is the battle for DFL. I’m wondering if I should enforce some sort of a cutoff for certain sections of the course, lest we wait all day for those running the gauntlet for the prestigious title. We got things to do man!

Folks are going to be arriving over the next few days, and I have a metric ass ton of work to do in the shop. Time to get cracking!

I’m not dead.

I have had a full week of activity though, which has made quality blogging next to impossible. I don’t like half assed posts, and really, who wants to read that kind of drivel anyways? I’m the sort of person that needs things to be a certain way to be able to be creative, and let’s just say my routine was far from normal last week.

Last Monday was a first for me, I saw my first ever Luna Moth. Shaun and I set out for an early AM ride to the Adam’s Camp area, and found this little guy on the trail. Not sure if it was alive or not, but I took a picture so it would last longer. These suckers are big, the wings are about 4″ wide. Figures I would see something like that with a full moon on deck.

Luna Moth

Dejay appeared at my place, late on Monday night. I knew he was coming back, just not when exactly. With the 4th falling on a Wednesday, it was difficult to get into any kind of a rhythm. We tried to get some rides in, but the weather had other ideas. Instead I focused on trying to out cook Dejay, which is a fun game to play. He’s somewhat of a foodie, and I had to really step up my game. I came up with a bourbon brined steak with lemon pasta, which he said I won at. Damn skippy.

get in ma bellehh!!!!

The fun only got better when Dough, Ginger and Omega showed up on Friday night, followed by T-hom. It was a full house. We stayed up way too late, made delicious food, and lots of empty bottles.

Dejay's Dog Chorus

After a morning of bike shop, where several misbehaving forks were set straight, we set out on an afternoon ride to check out some of the SSUSA course, which is right around the corner. Conditions were great, and I really think folks will be pleased with the route. There were a lot of B29 kits in our group, and T-hom did quite a bit of filming. He may or may not have gotten footage of me coming within inches of slamming into a deer at full speed. It scared the crap out of me, but apparently the deer was not that freaked out. He only made 3 bounds deeper into the woods, and shot me a look that said “asshole” before going back to munching on leaves.

In a turn of events I was not planning for, Dejay found a new home for my A9C (aka Rambo), which caused Kermit to come out of retirement. Unfortunately, riding Black Sunshine all summer has severely diminished my singlespeeding skills, and really felt the ride like it was March, not July. Plus there were a bazillion little kinks I still need to shake out of Kermie before he’ll really be ready to ride again. Nothing quite like turning 3 bikes into 1 immediately before hitting the trails.

My dance card will be full all week again. With no day camp for the boy, the imminent VT MTB Festival, planning for SSUSA, and a host of other things, regular blog posting will be hit and miss.