Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Tuesday night MWC ride -- oh, purdy good!

Despite a storm threatening to beat us down, a big-thorn-induced Stan's conversion meltdown, and a quick visit by one of LPD's finest while huddled under the overhang of a strip mall office building with Bdiddy, CVO and Bonsall, we had a super sweet time on the MWC ride last night. I believe at our peak, we had 22 cyclists ripping in-sync through Wilderness -- everyone with a big silly grin on their faces too, because it was all about fun.

Several things made an impression on me last night during the ride:

Tara and Mike J. were both ripping the corners. It's obvious that Tara has ridden two-wheeled vehicles her entire life. Awesome style in corners is second nature to her, and someone tell me if I'm wrong, but I swear that some of Tara's awesome skills have rubbed off on Mick! He's a cornering animal now!

So was Hoss -- witness the pic above in the 'best corners in the park' (as I like to call them). One of the biggest inspirations I've had recently is observing Hoss' dedication to making the bicycle an integral part of his life. I've always loved Hoss for his incredible creativity and fun-loving spirit -- and I know he's always loved bicycles -- but there's a passion in him now for cycling is is clearly transendent. It's inspiring to see.

Cornbread has got to be one of the smoothest-riding big guys I've ever witnessed. He was rollin' on the KM last night.

EP is incomparable in Wilderness. I don't know what it is about that park that brings out the primal beast in him, but he just flies through the corners, and on the straights too out there.

I'm really going to miss Bdiddy, and I know I'm not alone. We all hope your move to Montana brings much happiness and prosperity, but you know you and your family are always welcome at my house.

Woodman can wheelie better than me. Even though I was joking back in the day when I told him he'd never wheelie as good as I did, he took it upon himself to prove without a doubt, that he's as good as anyone around at the fine art of pointing the front end skyward and riding it like a unicycle.

It has to be about 50-percent of the time that I come upon The Dark Night (aka Jim Winklepleck) out at Wilderness, though no effort on either of our parts. Just like EP, Dark Night thrives in the park's corners.

The reason Golden Showen has so many nicknames is because everyone loves him.

Even with a storm coming in, the entire group waited for me on two seperate occasions as we 1) tried to get the Stan's to seal the hole, and then 2) installed a new tube and aborted on the Stans. Even though we didn't get to hook back up after CVO and I bolted from the park in the heat of the storm (due to a tracks between us), I really, really appreciate that you guys waited. Thank you.

And finally, CVO proved that he's the most selfless, giving person we ride with. When the flat-debacle started, he stuck with me like fly paper (usually phone in-hand, getting the latest stats on the weather), despite my attempts to tell him to go on without me... Thanks CVO!

Happy Hump Day!
MG

7 comments:

cvo said...

awww, thanks buddy

I'm ready for more BRaP tonight in the hills of Platte

Cornbread said...

So wtf was up with the Stan's meltdown? Thorns? Pinch flat? Bummer.

Good to see and ride with everyone last night.

Did you two get wet? We managed to only get a few sprinkles on us. Shortly after the sprinkles fell the wind died down and the stars came out. Frickin' awesome.

MG said...

It was one of those big ass thorns from the trees... It was fine while lodged into the tire, but when the thorn came out, it left a big hole for the sealant -- too big, as it turns out. I thought we had it sealed once, but it continued to go down. There was no choice but to install a tube.

We didn't get rained on much. We had taken cover with Bonsall and Bdiddy (at Kevin Wilkins' urging -- he called CVO and told us to take cover) behind an office building on 14th street. It was pretty crazy, but no, we didn't get wet.

That was super cool how the stars came out 10 minutes after all hell was breaking loose. Incredible!!

That was one very fun ride though! Cornbread, I'll see you at Platte tonight, and CVO, I'll see you at mi casa around 5:15 to head out to the park. I'll try to have my shiznit together...
:-}
MG

Hoss said...

Thanks for the kind words gb. I intended to keep it up... Hope Platte is super-solid, brau.

redstone said...

nice one mg. wish I could've been out there and brappin at platte tonight. We'll ride soon enough, though.

Dude, talkin bout rippin thru corners, you'll shit yourself when you get on this 6.6. best carving bike ever. I find myself leaning back and pedaling out of switchbacks saying, "Braap!"

debaser said...

Lincoln: Pretty much everyone you see on the trails you know.

Yeah, I miss it.

MG said...

hoss, i know you're in it for the long haul. that's what makes me so happy. keep it up Brother!

platte last night was good -- for now, there are no trees blocking the trail anywhere on the horse trails. we removed three huge ones with the chainsaw, and i took out several smaller trees in rollercoaster that were placed sub-optimally. the riding was not great, because i forgot a cable for my light, and had to use the back-up turbocat cvo brought. it was at that point that i realized just how awesome my niterider HID is. i was flat-out scared anytime i dropped off of cvo's wheel by even 20 feet. i was literally riding off of his light, especially on the downhills. at platte, in the dark, that's not a great situation.

butchie had super bad chain issues too, and his ride was defined by a forced, impromptu singlespeed conversion after chainsuck-induced chain breakage. cvo even had some drivetrain issues...

butch correctly noted that it's rides like last night that remind us of how lucky we are when we have absolutely fabulous rides out there, and i suppose that's a valuable reminder.

dave, i can't wait to ride that 6.6, and as soon as intense does their 5.5 in a 29er, i'll be beating down your door to get on the list to buy one. i've heard pretty solid reports that it's at least on the drawing board... yes!

memorial day is gonna' be epic too. i'm about 3 hours away from having all the parts i'll need to finish up the bionicon, and so far, it's looking GOOD. cvo lifted it last night and just about shit himself, and that's with a heavy rear wheel! it's gonna' be under 30lbs, i'm pretty much positive - with most of the parts from my 41lb stinky deluxe!

ganzel, you'd have been right at home on that ride tuesday. just about everyone we came upon turned around and rode with us. it was very, very cool.